Signee Q and A: Simi Fehoko
Stanford withstood a late official visit to BYU to land one of the nation's top 2016 wide receivers, Simi Fehoko. Fehoko will serve an LDS church mission before beginning his college career, but he's wrapping up his senior year by continuing his athletic dominance - Fehoko has registered some scorching times on the track.
Cardinal Sports Report recently caught up with the four-star standout to discuss post-Signing Day life and the recruiting process.
Cardinal Sports Report: I've seen several photos of you popping up Twitter winning track meets. It sounds like things have been pretty busy. How is track going? Have you done it before, or is this your first year?
Simi Fehoko: This is actually my first year really running track and competing. It's just been fun to get out there. The quarterback that we had, he got me to come out and run track with him this year. It's been pretty fun.
CSR: What's been your fastest time so far?
Fehoko: I run the 100. My fastest time is a 10.54
CSR: When was that?
Fehoko: I ran a 10.8 today. I ran a 10.54 last Saturday, I believe.
CSR: That's pretty incredible... Was there any sort of a learning curve?
Fehoko: I've taken what I've learned from doing all of those 40's at the Opening Regionals- I tried to incorporate that with track and starting. Obviously it's been great to have my head coach, Knute Rockne - his grandpa played football at Notre Dame and coached. He's a great coach. He's just getting my fast and working on my form. Overall I thin he's the one he's really been helping.
CSR: I know a few months ago you got your mission call for South Korea. What are the preparations for that and what is the timeline - you move to Provo to spend time at the learning center? What's the timeline for all of that and then your actual departure?
Fehoko: Since I got called we had to get all of my immunizations for going to South Korea. So I had to get a couple of more shots and get all of my medical stuff done. My farewell when I talk is May 29th. And then I graduate June 2nd and leave to Lake Powell (for a family vacation) on the 3rd and get back like the 12th. And then I leave the 15th.
I go the MTC, which is the training center in Provo, for people have been saying nine - 12 weeks just to try to get me the basis of learning Korean. That's one of the longest times in the MTC because of the language and how hard it is to learn and learn how to write it. Basically I'm there nine - 12 weeks and then they ship me off to Korea.
CSR Have you started to immerse yourself in Korean culture at all?
Fehoko: My family and I have been trying to hit all of the best Korean barbecue spots in town and try to find some good food and try all of the kimchi - I heard I have to eat that basically every meal. Really, we've been just trying to find the best places in town just to try. It's been good. I've been trying to brush up on learning some words, the words that I'll say every day. It's going to be good.
CSR: I know you guys hae gotten your workout plans, your HUDL playbook from Stanford. Anything kind of catch your eye or any impressions of getting some of that stuff and going through it?
Fehoko: Obviously I've been checking it out looking it over. I just like the whole play style of the offense and the way they incorporate their wide receivers. I think overall it's a good fit for me and I'm excited to get back in two years and play. The pace of it and everything - the coaches are outstanding. I've grown to love all of the coaches. It's awesome, the way they play.
Regarding the workout plan, they've also given me a special workout plan more focused on body weight that I can use on my mission with bands and stuff like that, which will help me somewhat keep in shape so that when I get back I can train for a couple of months and get back out there.
CSR: Shifting gears to recruiting, you obviously signed with Stanford but did take that late visit to BYU, an a lot of other schools were pursuing you until the end. How close was it between Stanford and BYU and maybe even some other programs there in the last few weeks?
Fehoko: Ever since I was committed I knew Stanford was the place for me. It was just an overwhelming feeling as soon as I got there that that was the place for me. BYU tried to hop in late - it also helped because my high school position coach actually ended up being the running back coach, Reno Mahe. It was hard - I love Reno. It was hard saying no.
In the end it was just cool how they said at the end of the day we just want you to fit in where you think is best. And at the end of the day it was Stanford.
CSR: What was that like for you in those last few weeks as far as social media and in your high school when it was publicized you were going to take that trip to BYU, and with other schools recruiting you. What was that dynamic like with the in-state people?
Fehoko: For the in-state there was a lot of pressure for me, whether it be at my church - saying, 'Oh, go to BYU, go to Utah,' stuff like that. There was a lot of in-state pressure for me to stay home and be a hometown hero.
At the end of the day, like I said, you have to do what's best for yourself and I saw myself better at Stanford than any other school. And I believe that it's going to open plenty more doors than any other college in the United States. I think at the end of the day I felt like it was what was best for me and I went with it.
CSR: Moving to a few bigger picture recruiting items, I know you talked to a ton of coaches and you took a lot of visits. Was there a particular recruiting pitch that struck you as being funny? What was the funniest recruiting pitch you heard from a coach?
Fehoko: Oh, there were plenty of recruiting pitches that I thought were pretty funny. I think overall, near the end where BYU, their receiver coach I think it was, tried to say something about how BYU's degree is more than or better than Stanford's degree. I just kind of laughed - my whole family thought that was hilarious.
He tried to clarify and I get what he was trying to say - I know he probably wasn't trying to come off like that. It was just funny how it came out. I thought it was pretty funny.
Other than that, people trying to compare their schools - not just BYU, but other schools - all the other schools were just trying to compare their education to Stanford's. They tried to compare them - they said, 'We're like Stanford.' But Stanford is Stanford. In the end they're trying to compare themselves to Stanford, but nobody is better than actual Stanford.
CSR: You kind of touched on it, but did anybody try to negatively recruit Stanford over your process?
Fehoko: Nobody really tried to negatively recruit Stanford. There's really nothing you can really talk bad about Stanford. You can't talk about their education, you can't talk about their football team. Those two aspects really go into the recruiting game, and there's nothing wrong with Stanford in my personal opinion. I don't think anybody really negatively recruited Stanford in any way, just because they couldn't.
CSR: Finally, knowing what you know now, several months removed from signing after going through the process, what would your advice be to your freshman year self about the recruiting process and how to go through the recruiting process?
Fehoko: I think there's nothing that can really prepare you for the recruiting process and what you're about to go through. But I think for me, I think it's just be patient. My first offer came early. I've been telling this to my little brother, Jeremy, who's going to be a senior. I've been talking to him about really just staying patient. A lot of people try to compare him to me but we're two different players. So stay patient, keep balling out and eventually if you are doing it and putting in all the work, it's going to pay off.
I think stay patient and I think above all stay humble. Overall there are a lot of kids in the recruiting process who kind of go a little crazy with the recruiting process. But I think overall it's just stay humble - there's a reason you're doing what you're doing and it's going to pay out in the end.