Posted on: Tuesday, September 3, 2002

UH could have had BYU senior

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

BYU's Reno Mahe had a "Y" printed on his right big toe for the Cougars' media day on Aug. 8. Associated Press

ON TV Hawai'i vs. BYU, 1 p.m. HST Friday ESPN

Like many people, Brigham Young football player Reno Mahe sometimes plays the game of "What if ..."

As he prepares for Friday night's nationally televised game against Hawai'i, Mahe, a senior wideout who is the Cougars' most versatile offensive player, wonders what it would have been like to be a Warrior.

"You know, actually, I wanted to come to Hawai'i," said Mahe, who has several relatives living in the Islands. "I wanted to take a (recruiting) trip out there. My uncles wanted me to come out there. But (the UH coaches) were never really interested, I guess."

In 2000, Mahe was a junior college All-American at Utah's Dixie College, which is considered a feeder school to BYU.

"His name came up, and stuff, but those kids ... sometimes they're destined to where they're going," UH coach June Jones said. "We know that already, so we don't (recruit them). He certainly would have been a great player in our scheme."

Mahe said: "I'm not saying it was their fault. They probably didn't figure out that I was interested."

When asked if he would have picked UH, Mahe said, "Oh, come on, that's Hawai'i. ... I would have come."

But Mahe acknowledged his choice probably would have been vetoed.

His wife, Sunny Tonga, a former BYU volleyball player, is from Utah. The couple has a son, Jeffery, and is expecting a daughter in November.

Mahe said there is no added incentive to play UH, even though the Warriors' 72-45 victory last season ended the Cougars' drive for an unbeaten regular season.

"It's just another game," he said. "There's no rivalry. To us, we have one rivalry. That's Utah. It's an in-state rivalry. Any other game is just another game to us."

Still, Mahe will be indelibly linked to UH. Mahe suffered a knee injury in last year's meeting, and that injury was cited by BYU officials as one of their reasons for claiming Aloha Stadium's artificial turf was inadequate and needed to be changed. BYU's threat of boycotting future games at Aloha Stadium helped lead to the decision to change the surface at the end of this season.

"I hurt my knee on it when one of the linebackers fell behind on my leg," said Mahe, noting the impact "slammed my knee right to the ground. It pretty much shattered my knee, so I guess (the turf) was pretty hard."