USC’s Faaesea Mailo Puts the Bump in a..... : BUMPER CROP : One of Trojans’ Strong Freshman Class Might Have a Future in Sumo

Overheard at a recent USC football practice: “Geez, look at the size of that kid--he looks like a sumo wrestler.”

That’s no joke.

He is a sumo wrestler.

The man had pointed to Faaesea Mailo, a growing, healthy 18-year-old lad who rises 6 feet 5 and weighs, depending on the time of day, about 350 pounds.

He comes from the only high school in America with a sumo club, Kahuku High in Honolulu. Last June, Mailo was one of 15 Kahuku wrestlers who visited Japan, trained with pro wrestlers in a Tokyo gym, then competed against high school and college wrestlers in Osaka.

“He won a significant number of matches, and he lost a significant number,” reports Kahuku’s sumo coach, John Jacques, himself a 300-pounder.

“In one match, he became the only American high school kid to ever defeat a collegiate champion Japanese sumo wrestler.”

Mailo, whose heritage is Samoan and Japanese, also plays football. And he was good enough to have dozens of major colleges express interest in recruiting him.

He narrowed his choices to Colorado and USC, and Mike Barry, Trojan offensive line coach, landed perhaps the biggest USC football recruit ever. Certainly its largest sumo wrestler.

“Coach Barry struck me and my parents as a real up-front guy, a straight-shooter, and we liked that,” Mailo said.

“He told me he thought I had a lot of potential, but that he’d work me harder than I’d ever worked in my life. He was right.”

Mailo has delighted Barry, Coach John Robinson and the rest of the staff so far. He showed up in surprisingly good condition, for one thing. In practice-ending wind sprints, Mailo finishes last, which was expected, but he runs hard.

He shows both quick feet and strength at tackle, but signs of inexperience as well. Robinson hopes to play him a little in USC’s opener against Penn State in the Kickoff Classic on Sunday at East Rutherford, N.J.

The coaches would like Mailo to play at about 330, and he seems headed in that direction--with no assistance of anyone in the football program.

When he reported three weeks ago, he weighed 362. He was 355 on the first day of freshman practice and late last week said he was down to 350 pounds.

USC has 12 coaches, three strength coaches, half a dozen trainers, nine student managers and eight physicians. The Trojans even have a team psychologist.

But there isn’t a single dietitian or nutritionist. Mailo was told only to “eat salads” at training table.

So one recent day, he sat down to an immense salad, covered with about 2,000 calories’ worth of thousand island dressing, as opposed to a zero-calorie vinegar-based dressing.

Even so, the workload of training camp seems to be shrinking the Hawaiian’s waistline.

He has already been designated for the team’s field goal and extra point teams, and says his goal is to be a starter before the season ends.

That would give Robinson and Barry something to look forward to . . . for the 1999 season. Mailo is a Mormon--like quarterback Brad Otton--and says he may make his two-year mission during the next two years.

And sumo? Mailo says it has practical applications to playing offensive tackle.

“Basically, sumo is the same thing as playing offensive tackle,” he said.

“In sumo, you’re trying to push or shove a guy out of a 15-foot circle, and you can use your hands. It teaches you balance too. When we’re run-blocking in football, it’s basically the same as a charge at a sumo opponent. It’s a leg strength sport.”

Not much help for football conditioning, however. Some sumo matches are concluded inside of three seconds.

USC strength coach James Strom calls Mailo’s strength “decent.”

“I bench-press about 365 or 370 pounds,” Mailo said. “I can get much stronger than that, and I will.”

Twelve members of the football team bench-press more than 400 pounds.

Sumo also teaches how to make lots of money.

“The top sumo guys in Japan make Michael Jordan money,” Mailo said. “People in Japan told me I could do well over there, with training. They said I had good quickness, power, enthusiasm and the fighting spirit of sumo.”

He reported to USC’s camp in surprisingly good shape, he said, because of a month he spent on Maui with an uncle.

“I worked out on my own with weights and I did a lot of running on the beach and on a high school track,” he said.

“I prepared myself mentally for training camp by expecting this to be the worst experience of my life. Coach Barry said it would be.

“But it hasn’t quite been that bad. Football is a lot faster at this level, though. For the first time, I’m competing with a whole bunch of guys who’re as big as me and stronger than I am.”

Mailo’s first day in a Trojan uniform, Aug. 1, wasn’t too pleasant.

As the first drill began, Mailo discovered that his helmet was too small.

He said to Barry, “Hey Coach, my helmet doesn’t fit.”

Barry, a tobacco-chewing, old-school type, reacted accordingly.

“Whaddya mean, your helmet doesn’t fit?” he yelled, jumping into Mailo’s face.

“Why didn’t you try it on before you came out here? From now on, you take care of that . . . in the locker room! This is my time!”

An equipment man suddenly appeared, with a bigger helmet, and all was quickly forgiven. And Mailo began the task of dealing with players faster than he is.

“Slowly but surely, I’ll get there,” Mailo said. “But right now, I’m a little overwhelmed by everything. Especially the speed of these defensive ends. I think my run-blocking has been OK, though.

“I’m getting better at handling fast guys. I couldn’t believe how fast [defensive end] Willie Lowery was going around me when camp started, but I’m doing better now. I’m getting there.

“In fact, I’m showing some speed myself that I didn’t know I had, just trying to get to these guys.”

Mailo said his one-month Maui football training program began after he returned from Japan and had won the Hawaii state sumo championship.

His sumo coach, Jacques, doesn’t know if Mailo’s long-term football future is any brighter than his sumo potential.

“This is a young kid with a lot of great natural athletic ability and natural strength, and good discipline,” he said.

“All the sumo people in Japan were really impressed with his strength and focus.”

Mailo’s parents spent early August in Southern California--Mailo spent his junior year of high school at Banning in Wilmington. His father, James Mailo, watched USC practice daily. He was also there to coach folks in the proper pronunciation of his big son’s name.

“Proper pronunciation of names is very important in the Samoan culture,” he said. “Some of his teammates are calling him ‘Fa,’ which doesn’t mean anything.”

“Faaesea means ‘Someone who does things differently.’ ”

OK, by the syllables: FAW-aw-eh-say-aw Maw-EE-low.

Faaesea himself says FY-saya is acceptable, as long as you’re not Samoan.

This is also a guy whose confidence matches his size. When asked if his family would return to see him play, he said, “They want to come back over for the Rose Bowl game.”