Tuioti to Attend San Diego State, Not USC

George Tuioti, an All-Orange County linebacker at Santa Ana High School last season, said Thursday he will not attend USC because he did not meet freshman eligibility standards.

Tuioti, who had signed a letter of intent with USC, said that he will attend San Diego State University this fall and that the Aztecs had offered him a scholarship.

Tuioti will have to sit out his freshman season under the NCAA rule commonly referred to as Proposition 48.

A spokesman for USC, who asked that he not be identified, said Tuioti did not have the necessary score on the Scholastic Aptitude Test, one of the requirements for freshman eligibility under Proposition 48.

Colleges may allow athletes who fail to meet the standards to attend school, but they are not eligible to practice or play as freshmen, and they lose a year of athletic eligibility.

Tuioti said USC officials instead asked him to attend a community college, then transfer to USC. But Tuioti decided against that course.

Tuioti, who is 6-feet 4-inches tall and weighs 226 pounds, would have been unable to play this season anyway because he tore ligaments in his left knee while practicing for the Orange County All-Star game and recently had surgery.

“I felt at this time, the best thing for me was to go to a university,” Tuioti said.

He said he contacted San Diego State and Brigham Young University 2 1/2 weeks ago and both accepted him under Proposition 48 provisions.

Dan Underwood, assistant head coach at San Diego State, said: “George came down and interviewed with our admissions people, and they were very impressed. He was really, really close on his SAT. He was down in the verbal, but he’s Samoan, and the main language in his family is not English.

“Sometimes those tests don’t indicate everything. George has an excellent high school record, and our people feel he will do very well academically.”