East High School Duo Set To Face Utah State With LSU
Oct 4, 2019, 4:00 PM
(Photo courtesy of Amy Donaldson, Deseret News)
BATON ROUGE, La. – When the Utah State Aggies face the LSU Tigers on Saturday, two familiar faces will be lining up on the LSU side.
Junior outside linebacker Soni Fonua and freshman Siaki Ika will both have a role on the stifling LSU defense that is ranked among the top in the country.
Both were highly recruited with Fonua ranked the sixth highest recruit in the state as a three-star prospect according to 247.
Ika was the second highest ranked recruit in the beehive state with Orem high school wide receiver Puka Nacua as the top prospect, all according to 247.
Soni Fonua
Fonua had a different route to LSU as he joined the program from Mesa Community College in Arizona. He was considered one of the top defenders in the junior college ranks in 2018. Fonua had 114 tackles and 4.5 sacks in junior college. With LSU, he hasn’t recorded any statistics.
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Siaki Ika
Ika is a big and physical defensive tackle, who made an immediate impact in his first spring with LSU. He has been in contention to start as a true freshman for the Tigers. Ika has played two games and has recorded 3 total tackles, including one for a loss. Currently, he is listed as the backup defensive tackle behind sophomore Tyler Shelvin.
During the recruiting process, Utah State did not offer Fonua a scholarship, but they did offer Ika a scholarship, just like every team in the country.
Utah State and No. 5 LSU will kickoff on Saturday at 11 a.m. on the SEC Network.