Motekiai Langi Is Smart Recruiting Gamble for BYU Football

Despite not being a high-profile recruit, Motekiai Langi is one of the most intriguing prospects to watch from the 2015 class. He's also exactly the kind of player a school like BYU needs to be taking a chance on. 

Langi drew headlines on national signing day after committing to the Cougars, mainly because of his massive size, via BYU's official Twitter:

It's not unusual to see large athletes playing football, but a 6'7", 410-pound lineman is a rarity. For comparison, New England Patriots defensive tackle Vince Wilfork is a mountain of a man who "only" checks in at 6'2" and 325 pounds.

What makes Langi so unique is his lack of football experience. BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall said with a tongue in cheek at a press conference, via Tony Manfred of Business Insider, what his plan for the new lineman will be.

"Maybe we'll just have him lay sideways right off the snap and just block the whole thing out," Mendenhall said. "There's got to be someway he can do something."

Mendenhall's recruitment of Langi was unique, as Kevin Draper of Deadspin noted the BYU coach made a scholarship offer after an assistant saw him play basketball.

"But there was a good reason [no one knew anything about Langi]: apparently his own future head coach has only spent 15 minutes with him, and he was recruited because a BYU assistant coach thought he was light on his feet during a game of pickup basketball two years ago," Draper wrote. 

Saying that Langi was off the radar this recruiting season is an understatement. On 247Sports, he's listed as the 247th offensive tackle and ranked 2,563 overall. There are no photos, and a scouting report is impossible because he didn't play organized football in high school.

Mendenhall told Jay Drew of The Salt Lake Tribune what he knows about Langi and why he wanted to take a chance on the young man.

"It is not a fat 410 [pounds]," Mendenhall said. "Lean isn't the right word. He is a solid-looking, healthy, giant man. I shook his hand, and his hand went almost up to my elbow. … I have never done anything like this before. … I just felt, why not?"

Drew also mentions that Langi won't enroll at BYU until 2017 because he "will serve an LDS Church mission in Arizona" first. 

The last question is critical to understanding why this is such a notable move for BYU. The Cougars aren't the kind of program that's going to attract the top-tier recruits. They ended signing day ranked 59th overall by 247Sports with 23 total commitments and 16 3-star recruits. 

Being an independent program has its benefits, as the school doesn't have to share revenue with other programs, but it's also limiting unless you're a prestige program like Notre Dame. 

Mendenhall has been able to build a consistent program over the last three years, winning 26 games and going 2-1 in bowl games. He's not going to lose anything by offering someone the coaching staff clearly sees a lot of potential in. 

If Langi turns out to be such a good athlete that he can handle himself against FBS competition, BYU will have gained more than it risked in this case. 

There's also something to be said about the publicity Langi's signing brought BYU. More national exposure can only help entice future recruits who may not have had the school high on their lists. Everything in sports is an opportunity. Mendenhall took full advantage of an opening he saw to upgrade his program. 

The jury is still out on whether Langi will work out, yet there's little doubt his journey when arriving at school in 2017 will be worth watching.