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A flip on National Signing Day was inevitable, and it has now happened with Tustin HS (Tustin, Calif) three-star linebacker Alema Pilimai flipping to BYU. In addition to Utah and BYU, he had offers from Oregon State, Utah State, and Washington State.
Welcome Alema Pilimai ( @painkilla6 ) to the #BYUFOOTBALL family!!#BYUNSD16 #GoCougs pic.twitter.com/OKPXAL2b1d
— BYU Football (@BYUfootball) February 3, 2016
Pilimai is LDS and plans to serve a mission. The flip likely had everything to do with BYU hiring Kalani Sitake to be their head coach. He would have been a nice get for Utah and would have helped provide depth at a position of need after his mission. He was a bit undersized (6-4, 205) and would have needed to bulk up to play linebacker in the Pac-12. He has good instincts and is always around the football at linebacker. He also played quarterback in high school as well, so Derek Kirchhoefer Vanquish the Foe thinks he could play offense as well potentially.