Offensive lineman Conan Amituanai is one of the current Wildcats with Polynesian ties. His uncle is UA defensive coordinator Mike Tuiasosopo/2007 Tucson Citizen photo

The Arizona football team, building on its tradition of recruiting American Samoa and players of Polynesian heritage, has added defensive tackle Aiulua Fanene to its recruiting class.

Fanene, the brother of defensive end Jonathan Fanene of the Cincinnati Bengals, is from Tafuna High School on the island and was part of a recent “60 Minutes” feature on football in Samoa. You can watch it here. I’d recommend watching the whole thing if you haven’t seen it, but the part with Fanene begins at about the 6:12 mark.

Fanene was recruited by UA defensive line coach Mike Tuiasosopo, who has known the family since he recruited Jonathan to Utah.

In a 2006 story in the Tucson Citizen, Tuiasosopo talked about Arizona’s connection to the island.

“Others claim they have been there, but if anybody has a history, or can make that claim it is Arizona,” said Tuiasosopo, who was born in Samoa and has a nearly endless list of relatives who have played football in the United States.

“Utah and BYU can make a claim they have been involved because of their Mormon influence, but Washington and Oregon, I get a tickle out of that. They can say that now, but trust me, Arizona has a history.”

Former Arizona coach Dick Tomey, who had previously been the head coach at Hawaii, was, “instrumental in building the Samoan pipeline,” as described in a 2003 Sports Illustrated story titled “Football in Paradise.” And not just the pipeline to Arizona — the prolific pipeline from Samoa to colleges to the NFL.

The magazine wrote that Tomey had more than 120 Samoan players on his rosters at Hawaii and Arizona, spanning 24 years.

“There are no athletes that are, in my estimation, more competitive, more athletic or more family-oriented, or who fit into a team concept as well as Samoan athletes,” Tomey told SI. “The more we could get on our team, the better I felt.”

The Wildcats have sent at least a dozen players of Polynesian ties to the NFL: DL Stan Mataele, OL Mu Tagoai, OL Pulu Poumele, OT Edwin Mulitalo, TE Brandon Manumaleuna, DE Van Tuinei, OL Makoa Freitas, OL Makai Freitas, OL Steven Grace, OL Kili Lefotu, OL Manu Savea and DT Joe Salave’a.

The long list of Polynesian players at Arizona includes quarterbacks George Malauulu and Willie Tuitama. Malauulu is the president of the AIGA Foundation, which, according to its blog, seeks to “bring exposure to Pacific Islander football players excelling at the high school, collegiate and professional level.”

Many of the current and former Arizona players with Polynesian ties come from Hawaii or the West Coast, but some have come directly from American Samoa, including Savea and the late Young Thompson.

Salave’a, who was born in Samoa and grew up there, lost several family members in last September’s devastating tsunami and has been active in relief efforts through his foundation.

In another good story on the subject, this one a 2000 story from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer written by Ted Miller, now of ESPN.com, then-UA defensive coordinator Rich Ellerson was quoted about the values of the Samoan culture.

“Their physical profile is outstanding for the game,” Ellerson said, “but I think the cultural profile — the family values, the idea of sacrifice, taking pride in your performance, the importance of toughness — that’s also important. Their chances of success are impacted by how close they are to their culture.”

Family values, sacrifice, pride and toughness: In the 60 Minutes profile, Aiulua Fanene was said to “do a day’s work before school under the direction of his father, David.”

Fanene will see plenty of friendly faces when he arrives in Tucson, and he won’t be fazed by the rigors of coach Mike Stoops‘ fall camp.

Marquis Flowers was on the cover of the Arizona edition of ESPN Rise magazine in October.

As of late Wednesday night, with all but a trickle of signees still to come across the country, Arizona’s recruiting class was ranked close to the bottom of the Pac-10.

Rivals.com ranked the Wildcats eighth in the Pac-10 and 36th in the nation. Scout.com pegged Arizona ninth in the league and 40th nationally, even below Washington State.

That’s not quite the ratings that were expected after two bowl seasons and plenty of positive momentum in the past two years, but I’m a big fan of taking the rankings as a good dose of entertainment, not gospel.

Arizona signed a total of 23 players, including Texas transfer receiver Dan Buckner (who has to sit out this season under transfer rules) and two mid-year junior college transfers.

Coach Mike Stoops doesn’t need a lot of immediate help on offense, needing mostly depth on the offensive line, which he got. Defense is a different story, with pressing concerns at defensive tackle, linebacker and safety. Stoops and his staff seemed to address that just fine.

So, no, the class rankings aren’t exactly going to send the fan message boards into a buzz, but it appears as if the impact players come at all the right spots … and, at this point, Stoops has earned a bit of trust in the kind of players he identifies and signs.

Here are five players we’re most looking forward to seeing in action right away. Call them the top five impact players:

1. S Marquis Flowers, Goodyear Millennium High School
He’s the headliner of the class, the top-rated recruit in the state, which is a rare get for the Wildcats. “Marquis Flowers is a very unique individual,” Stoops said. “A big safety who can run. A very athletic safety. One of the best I have seen all year.” At 6-3, 200, Flowers gives Arizona two young, big, athletic safeties, joining one of the top recruits from the 2009 class — Adam Hall.

2. DT Willie Mobley, Orange Coast CC
Arizona tried to recruit him out of high school, but Mobley signed at Ohio State, where he redshirted in 2008. He tried to transfer to UCLA (where the Bruins thought he was the answer to their decimated defensive tackle position), but he didn’t qualify, and his recruiting relationship with UA assistant Mike Tuiasosopo led him to Tucson. He didn’t play in junior college and has three seasons of eligibility remaining. Stoops said Mobley, combined with Saneilia Fuimaono and Kirifi Leuta-Taula, are the “best three interior defensive linemen we have recruited in some time.”

3. LB Derek Earls, North Dakota State College
Arizona has to replace all three of its starting linebackers, which meant it was critical to get immediate help. Finding a couple of talented mid-year transfers was critical and Earls (6-3, 230) fits the bill as a NJCAA first-team All-American. Stoops said he saw Earls and the other JC transfer linebacker, Paul Vassallo, work out Wednesday for the first time. “They did some things athletically that I thought we were getting from them, but it’s nice to see it with your own eyes,” Stoops said.

4. LB Paul Vassallo, Sierra College
Stoops said he didn’t know yet where Earls and Vassallo (6-3, 240) might fit into the linebacker group — inside or outside — but that will be sorted out in spring ball. “They’re big; they’re long. These guys are pretty athletic for their size and they give us a lot of different options,” Stoops said. Vassallo redshirted at Nevada for a season before transferring to junior college, where he has 14.5 sacks in 2008. He missed seven games last season because of a concussion.

5. WR Garic Wharton, Las Vegas Valley High
Arizona has dependable possession-type receivers, but is looking for a bit more pizzazz from the position, such as what Mike Thomas brought to the team in 2008. The Wildcats have moved quarterback Richard Morrison to the position and have added Wharton, whom Stoops called “probably the fastest football player in the country coming out of high school.” Wharton (5-11, 168) is a sprinting star who was an all-around skill player in high school, including returning three kicks for touchdown last season. “He has unique size to him and he is a guy who can the distance at any time,” Stoops said. “He has crazy speed.” (JC transfer Dexter Ransom is a 6-4 receiver who could make a quick impact on the outside for the Wildcats.)

Safety Tony Bouie (far right) and linebacker Sean Harris (top) were part of Arizona's 1990 recruiting class.

It’s football signing day, and the fun of it is to get caught up in all the hope, all the rankings. Somewhat sadly for Arizona, those rankings are expected to be fairly average.

Whatever.

The thing is, you just never know how these classes are going to work out. (Related: Cats get three signing day surprises.

Several seasons ago, I wrote a story for the Tucson Citizen that revisted what is almost inarguably Arizona’s greatest recruiting class ever. I reached into the archives for the story from February 2005, which is posted below in its near entirety (taking out parts that are now irrelevant).

It is, to me, nearly impossible to believe it has been 20 years since these guys signed, but, anyway, here is the story …

* * *

In 1990, Dick Tomey signed 24 players in a class that had some sizzle — including Parade All-Americans Mike Ciasca and Chuck Levy — but was largely relegated to the middle of the Pacific-10 Conference by recruiting analysts.

The headline in the Tucson Citizen read: “UA recruits get ‘average’ tag.”

Average?

“There was a lot of attitude in my class,” said Rob Waldrop, a defensive tackle who became the cornerstone of the Desert Swarm defenses.

“You couldn’t tell us that we couldn’t do something. We knew we were going to be better than a lot of people who were already there, and I think that rubbed some of the older guys wrong sometimes. But we knew we would change things.”

Individually, the group is without peer in the history of UA football and, judging by the postseason honors, would rank as one of the best in the Pac-10.

The class signed in early 1990 featured:

**Two national award winners: Waldrop (Outland Trophy, Football Writers Association of America defensive player of the year) and place-kicker Steve McLaughlin (Lou Groza Award).

**Four All-Americans: Waldrop, McLaughlin, free safety Tony Bouie and punter Josh Miller.

**Five first-team All-Pac-10 players: Waldrop, McLaughlin, Bouie, Miller and linebacker Sean Harris.

**Two second-team All-Pac-10 players: Wide receiver Terry Vaughn and offensive lineman Mike Heemsbergen.

The depth of the class was also impressive, with starters such as offensive linemen Mike Ciasca, Pulu Poumele and Mu Tagoai, defensive end Richard Maddox, defensive back Mike Scurlock and several others, including Vincent Smith, a mammoth transfer from Colorado.

“Anybody would be hard-pressed to point to any class at any school during the period we were at Arizona and say that that class had a better result,” Tomey said.

Collectively, this group would provide the main thrust to Tomey’s best days in his 14-year UA career, including a 16-3 victory over No. 1 Washington in 1992, a co-Pac-10 title in 1993, a 29-0 shutout of Miami in the 1994 Fiesta Bowl and the cover of Sports Illustrated’s 1994 season preview issue.

How did Arizona pull it off?

The recruiting pitch was simple.

Tomey had just completed his third season and was coming off a 17-10 Copper Bowl victory over North Carolina State, only the second bowl win in school history.

“You know, they weren’t overselling anything. That was the neat thing,” said Ciasca, who was rated the top offensive lineman in the country by SuperPrep magazine.

“Michigan, USC, Florida State … they were selling tradition, ‘we’ve done it, we’ll do it again.’ One of the things that stood out in my mind was the chance to be the first to start the history, to not just be a spoke in the wheel.

“It was all the same pitch to everybody. We all bought into the fact that we wanted to be the first.”

Tomey’s plain talk appealed to Waldrop, even if the coach might have taken the regular-guy approach a bit too far.

“Tomey came into my house on a recruiting visit, opened the fridge and pulled out a carrot cake and starting eating it,” Waldrop said. “Who was I to argue? I mean, he must have been comfortable.”

Ciasca led a large Tucson contingent that included Harris and his uncle (but more like a brother) Lamar, who were considered “at-risk” academically but earned degrees. Ciasca’s teammate, Joe Lohmeier, suffered a broken leg in his senior season of high school, but Tomey visited him in the hospital and assured him he still had a scholarship.

In all, six local high school players signed with the Wildcats, most of whom weren’t heavily recruited.

“I think back then, diamonds in the rough were what we were looking for,” said former UA assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Bill Morgan, now the Arizona athletic department’s compliance director.

“We had a good feeling about so many in that class. There was a kind of a satisfaction when it was over. And then we got them here in August for camp and some of the luster goes off and you say, ‘Hey, he doesn’t look as tall as when we were recruiting him.’”

Waldrop and Vaughn were a couple of the instant hits, playing as true freshmen. Others took longer to develop.

“The first time I saw Josh Miller punt — and we laugh about it to this day — he was awful,” Tomey said.

Much of the class signed in 1990 was rushed into duty as redshirt freshmen in 1991, when injuries decimated the starting lineup. By early 1992, it was all systems go, and an 8-7 loss at No. 1 Miami — when the Wildcats were four-touchdown underdogs — signaled that the class had arrived.

“Something happened on that trip,” Waldrop said. “Everyone just let loose. We lost, but we destroyed them statistically. That is where a lot of frustration came out.”

It was this class that propelled Arizona to the second-most overall victories (71) in the Pac-10 during the 1990s.

“I think that the run in the 1990s is probably underappreciated in Tucson, but as time goes on it will be looked at as a real outstanding decade of football for Arizona,” Tomey said. “And, no question, this class really helped get it going.”

Related links from the TucsonCitizen.com Sports Network:

Brad Allis, Wildcat Sports Report: Cats mostly fill their needs, Part I

Brad Allis, Wildcat Sports Report: Cats mostly fill their needs, Part II

Marquis Flowers was on the cover of the Arizona edition of ESPN Rise Magazine in October.

The Arizona Wildcats football team received a commitment Saturday afternoon from safety Marquis Flowers, giving UA a rarity — the top-rated player in the state.

At least that’s how Rivals.com currently ranks Flowers, from Millennium High School in Goodyear. Flowers made his choice during the Army All-American all-star game, picking the Wildcats over UCLA, ASU and USC.

“Mike Stoops is making a statement getting Marquis Flowers,” recruiting analyst Tom Lemmings said on the telecast. “For Arizona State and Arizona, to become elite teams, they have to keep the best ballplayers at home.”

That certainly helps, even though there are still only a handful of elite recruits in the state. USC has done a nice job recently of poaching those elite recruits — Devon Kennard, Everson Griffen, Kristofer O’Dowd (see list below) — while Arizona State is often next in line.

But the Wildcats grabbed highly rated safety Adam Hall from Palo Verde High last season and now have landed Flowers, whose all-around skills were on full display as a senior. He had 62 tackles and two interceptions last season, also rushing 135 times for 1,247 yards and 16 touchdowns. He caught 13 passes for 162 yards.

A bio on the Arizona Republic’s web site lists Flowers at 6-3, 195 pounds and says this:

“Easily passes the eye-ball test, there seems to be no position he can’t play. He can move from outside linebacker to safety to end on defense. On offense, you can put him at receiver or running back. He could be this year’s version of Adam Hall, last year’s Big School Player of the Year from Tucson Palo Verde, who is now at the University of Arizona.”

Here are the past seven top-rated players in the state (as rated by Rivals.com) and how they are faring/have fared since then:

2009 — DE Devon Kennard (Phoenix Desert Vista), USC
Made 34 tackles as a true freshman and played some outside linebacker late in the season. He had eight tackles in the regular-season finale against Arizona.

2008 — ATH Gerell Robinson (Chandler Hamilton), ASU
Once committed to Arizona, he was disappointing in his first two seasons at Arizona State. Robinson had 26 catches for 261 yards as a sophomore.

2007 — DE Everson Griffen (Avondale Agua Fria), USC
Had eight sacks as a junior and then declared for the NFL Draft without living up to his hype as a national top-10 prospect. Salpointe Catholic center Kristofer O’Dowd (USC) was ranked second in the state this season, but would have been No. 1 in most years.

2006 — DE Jermaine Williams (Phoenix Maryvale), ASU
Failed to qualify academically.

2005 — DT Ekom Udofia (Scottsdale Chaparral), Stanford
Turned into a solid plugger in the middle of the Stanford line who had 36 tackles as a fifth-year senior.

2004 — TE Zach Miller (Phoenix Desert Vista), ASU
Developed into a first-team All-Pac-10 player as a junior in 2006 and has had an increasingly good career with the quarterback-challenged Oakland Raiders.

2003 — DE Kyle Caldwell (Scottsdale Saguaro), ASU
Was a three-year starter for the Sun Devils, compiling 10.5 sacks and 17 tackles for loss.

One final thought: For as good as Flowers might be, getting the No. 1 player in the state next year — CDO running back Ka’Deem Carey — will be 10 times as important

More on Flowers from ESPN Rise Magazine:
Flowers is must-see on the gridiron