5-star DT Faatui Tuitele picks up Texas offer following weekend visit

Elite Honolulu (Hawaii) St. Louis defensive tackle Faatui Tuitele arrived in Austin for his weekend visit and left with an offer from the Texas Longhorns.

A five-star prospect ranked as the nation’s No. 2 overall defensive tackle, it was previously reported that Tuitele already held a Texas offer, but possibly never reported it and perhaps waited for the offer to become official during his time on the Forty Acres.

In any case, as of Saturday afternoon, Tuitele is officially on the Longhorns radar, with his Texas offer joining 35 other offers, including invitations from USC, UCLA, Washington, Clemson, Alabama, Florida State, Georgia, LSU and Oklahoma, among numerous others.

With Tuitele in town, current Longhorn offensive guard Patrick Vahe, who also shares a Pacific Islander heritage, took to Twitter to put forth his recruiting pitch.

To this point, Texas has been tremendously selective on whom it offers at defensive tackle, with Tuitele joining five-star Amite (La.) product and top-ranked defensive tackle Ishmael Sopsher, and four-star Converse Judson standout DeMarvin Leal as the only three defensive tackles with a Longhorns offer.

USC is currently considered the frontrunner for his services, although Tuitele doesn’t plan to make a decision until after his senior season.

A 6-4, 299-pouns prospect, Tuitele is ranked as the nation’s No. 23 player and the No. 1 player in Hawaii, per the 247Sports Composite.