Warriors land Corona defensive tackle

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

A heralded high school lineman from California yesterday accepted a football scholarship from the University of Hawai'i.

"Hawai'i feels like home," said Clarence Tuioti-Mariner, a senior at Corona High in California. "I was considering a lot of schools, but I feel more comfortable with the University of Hawai'i."

Tuioti-Mariner, who is 6 feet and 275 pounds, is the cousin of Kalaheo High football coach Tony Tuioti, the starting defensive tackle on the Warrior team that won the 1999 Western Athletic Conference championship.

Tuioti-Mariner, a three-year starter, was named to the Riverside County all-star team as a lineman on both offense and defense for three consecutive years. He said he will compete at defensive tackle at UH.

"With Lance (Samuseva) gone," Tuioti said of his successor at defensive tackle, "Clarence will fill the role of short defensive linemen. But he's a good one. ... They have to reserve Lance's jersey for him, and he'll be ready to go."

Tuioti-Mariner can bench press 350 pounds, squat lift 585 pounds and run 40 yards in 5.0 seconds.

He was scheduled to go on a recruiting trip to Boise State this weekend and to Utah State next week. But he canceled those visits after returning from last week's recruiting trip to Hawai'i.

"I couldn't stop talking about the trip," Tuioti-Mariner said. "My parents wanted me to stop. It was only three days, but I felt like I was there a long time."

Tuioti said: "He didn't want to go home. He met some great people here."

Tuioti-Mariner said he was impressed with the school's academics — he is considering majoring in business — the coaching staff and his future teammates. During a tour of Aloha Stadium, he went into the stands and began chanting, "Go UH! ... Go UH!"

"The coaches told me, 'You don't have to do that. You're a player now,' " he recalled. "It was an amazing experience."

He said he picked up phrases like "choke" and "solid" from his hosts.

"I tried to speak pidgin, and they started laughing at me," he said. "Right now, I'm trying to use it at home."

Tuioti-Mariner was born in American Samoa, but moved to California when he was 3 months old. His grandfather George Mariner, a doctor in American Samoa, received the name "Tuioti" when he was named as a chief.

Tuioti-Mariner said playing in the recent all-star game in American Samoa and visiting Hawai'i fueled his interest in Polynesian culture.

"Everyone around me had the same personality," he said. "I felt like I had come home."

Max Tuioti-Mariner said he hoped his son would choose UH, although he promised not to influence the decision. "When he told me he wanted to go to Hawai'i, I was so happy," Max Tuioti-Mariner said. "I knew that was the perfect place for him."

Clarence Tuioti-Mariner, who is known to family members as "Lafu," said: "I'm not doing this for my family or my parents. I'm doing it for myself. I took Hawai'i to my heart. This is what I choose."

Tuioti said: "This is a dream come true for him, but for the whole family, too. UH has been good to us."

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8051.