Beaver fans have been first had witnesses to the rewards coming from recent
pipeline providing talented players from Kahuku High School in Hawaii. The last
two seasons have seen the both Jeremy Perry and Al Afalava
emerge as key contributors to the program. The next Kahuku alum poised to make
his mark in Corvallis is redshirt freshman safety Suaesi Tuimaunei.

Tuimaunei came to Oregon State with the reputation as a playmaking safety with
big time hitting ability. With what he has shown over his first year in the
program, he has done nothing but enhance that reputation. When he arrived last
summer it became apparent that he would need some time to adjust to the level
of play that is seen competing in the Pac-10.

Defensive Coordinator Mark Banker talked about where Tuimaunei was
at when two-a-day practices started last August. "Suaesi is a guy that
was aware of the scheme and how to apply it to the schematics of an offense.
He was always trying to do the right things early on in practice and maybe that
was clogging things up. His reaction time wasn't as good as it could have been."

Suaesi has gone through the needed learning curve in his redshirt year so he
is no longer thinking too much on the field and he can read and react to what
he is seeing in front of him. This development will give him the opportunity
to compete for significant playing time this upcoming season.