Is there really such a thing as falling through the cracks in recruiting?
Only time can tell, as in the case of the St. Louis Rams' Kevin Curtis, the former Utah State receiver who clearly streaked under the radar in Utah.
But what about the case of Charlotte, N.C., high school defensive lineman Peter Vailahi, a 6-foot-4, 290-pound defensive lineman at E.E. Waddell High School, the most valuable defensive player in his league?
Vailahi just committed to BYU and had a home visit by offensive line coach Jeff Grimes on Tuesday. Vailahi will be an offensive lineman in a Cougar uniform.
Coaches from Virginia Tech, South Carolina and Nebraska all joined the Cougars in coming late to this kid after he had early offers from Appalachian State and South Carolina State and it appeared he was headed to a smaller school.
The gist of Vailahi's story is that he played at a new high school that just opened. His coach, Benny McMurray, had tucked Vailahi away, hoping he'd follow in his footsteps to South Carolina State, just 25 miles away. McMurray had told Vailahi's parents, Sione and Sieni, that they wouldn't need to send out any video on Peter until the third or fourth week of January.
Of course, that would be very late for Division I recruiters, who usually commit their scholarships to high school and junior college players in the fall and just clean up loose ends in December and January.
Sione and Sieni really got concerned just after Christmas when coach McMurray told them he was sure glad Peter didn't play in the North Carolina-South Carolina All-Star Shrine game or people would be breaking down their door — and he'd saved them. "Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech would have been all over him," he told the Vailahi family.
Sieni scratched her head. This didn't make sense.
Sieni then took things into her own hands. She demanded films. When they didn't come, she went to the high school and got them. She created a highlight video of her son and sent it to some of the major schools they believed might show interest after making phone calls.
This was three weeks ago. It has been a blur as recruiting attention for her son blossomed. One day a few weeks ago, Peter's older brother, Joey, walked in and asked Peter and Sieni if they'd considered BYU.
They hadn't. The whole family had been tied up in keeping him close to home, where they could all watch him play.
"I had a feeling we ought to look into BYU and give them a call," Sieni said.
BYU requested one of her tapes and, according to Sieni, once BYU got the video, BYU coaches immediately requested an actual game film be delivered FedEx the next day. Upon viewing that film and a personal visit by a Cougar coach in the home, Peter visited Provo with Sieni this past week and was offered a scholarship. He accepted.
Just days before, Nebraska coach Randy Jordan, a player for the Oakland Raiders for 10 years, was in the Vailahi home. He'd seen the tape, did a home visit and informed the family that apparently their son was what coaches call a recruit "who fell between the cracks" in the process.
"We have given out all our scholarships at this point, but we'd like your son to walk on at Nebraska this fall," Sieni remembers Jordan saying.
On Monday, after Peter returned from Provo, Virginia and Virginia Tech called, wanting to get in the game and bring Peter on trips. "Nope," Sieni said. "We are done."
Now, it remains to be seen if Peter Vailahi becomes a Division I lineman and helps shore up the Cougar line. BYU's two priorities this recruiting season are offensive linemen and defensive backs.
But Vailahi at least has athletic genes. His father, Sione, is a professional wrestler known as The Barbarian in a WWF career. He just returned from Korea doing wrestling exhibitions and clinics and will travel this year to Japan and Africa.
As a kid growing up in Tonga, Sione was one of five teens sent by the king of Tonga to Japan to study Sumo wrestling under a master of the art.
Nobody knew he would end up making it a career and traveling the world.
"My son is very big; he is a good athlete," Sione said.
Both Sione and Peter's uncles wanted Peter to play defensive line in Division I. But apparently, BYU coaches have convinced Peter his future in the game is as an agile, strong, quick pass and run blocker.
"He is a very quiet kid, a homebody," said his mother. "The thing that really gets him going, gets him excited, is playing football. When he's on the field, he's a different person."
Sieni said their trip to Provo, seeing BYU's facilities, "blew them away," and it became apparent he should make a pledge to sign.
Of course, his LDS roots also came into play. His maternal grandfather is an LDS patriarch in San Francisco named Nephi Tonga. His great-great grandfather, SioneMa'u, was one of the first Tongan converts to the LDS faith back in 1911. Peter, the youngest of seven children, has never lived anywhere but North Carolina.
There are other coincidences or ties. Sieni'sgrandmother and BYU assistant coach Steve Kaufusi's great-grandmother are sisters.
Small world. Full of cracks.
But is Peter any good? He's successfully avoided recruiting databases — something many fans scour with furor to add credibility to recruits, seeing if they have one, two, three or four stars before some kind of rank is somewhat ascertained.
Does that matter? We shall see.
It apparently doesn't matter to BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall. In fact, he may be tired of "paper athletes," "camp wonders" and "Internet all-Americans." Mendenhall just released one of those, Ofa Mohetau, and sent him back to Texas.
So, what is Mendenhall thinking? He can't say until Feb. 2 when recruits sign.
It should be an interesting day.
E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com