By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
It took just one season for Topeka High product and current Hutchison Community College defensive lineman Danny Saili to draw Power Five interest, and it also didn't take too much time for Saili to decide to commit to the Oklahoma Sooners to finish his college career.
Topeka High grad Danny Saili will head to Oklahoma after a final season at Hutchinson Community College. [Twitter photo]
It's been a dream for Saili to play Division I football and the 6-foot-2, 389-pound defensive tackle joined recently acquired defensive linemen Davon Sears, Jacob Lacey and Da'Jon Terry from the transfer portal to boost Brent Venables' defense after Saili plays his final season for Hutch this fall..
The visit to Oklahoma was eye-opening for Saili. Being a Sooner was a dream come true, and when he stepped on campus, he realized he could make it happen.
"I had to wait a couple of months to be recruited because that's the way things work with juco," Saili said. "Around the spring time, colleges started to hit me up and talk to me. When I went to Oklahoma, I had never seen anything like that anywhere else.
"All that money put into such a great program was cool to see. I met all of the coaches, and defensive line coach Todd Bates is a legend. So I just fell in love when I went down there."
For Saili, the platform and opportunity Hutchinson gave him were necessary. Saili thrived in the Blue Dragons' 4-3 defense, got his grades up and has established himself in the college game with just a year of playing experience in junior college.
"The move (to Hutchinson) was really to help me get my grades up," Saili said. "I knew I could play DI, I just knew I needed to get my academics right so I could do that. Being here has been amazing.
"I've learned more here about football than I ever learned in my time in football. My defensive line coach is amazing. Last year, he sent the entire group to Division I, and that was what I'd hope he'd do with me."
While Saili possesses all of the dominant traits a defensive lineman needs to possess, he wasn't a highly recruited prospect. After his junior year at Jefferson West High School, Saili transferred to Topeka High to play for coach Carlos Kelly.
Saili's goal was to get his name out to the world, play at the highest level he could and experience playing at the Class 6A level.
That move was the best decision for him.
"I moved schools so I could really put my name out there," Saili said. "I know nobody was really looking at Jeff West because it's such a small school. The difference between Topeka High and Jeff West was just the competition. I didn't have that at Jeff West because we were playing such small schools that didn't have as good of talent as the 6A schools had."
One of his favorite parts of the transition from Jeff West to Topeka High was blocking for his friend Tylan Alejos. Alejos, who recently transferred from the University of Kansas to Washburn's football program, was raving about Saili's work ethic to TopSports.news last week. Saili also feels good about what Alejos can bring to Washburn.
"I feel like he could do whatever he wants at Washburn," Saili said. "He could break whatever record he wants. That's one of the hardest workers that I have ever met in my life. If he puts his mind to it, he can achieve whatever he wants to achieve."
Saili has one more season to go with Hutchinson and is aiming to win it all before he heads to Norman.
"I plan on winning a national championship here at Hutch," Saili said. "With my juco brothers that I met down here, I just hope we have a long season. I want to play with my team just one more time before we go our separate ways."
