University Southern California Trojans
Man on a Mission
August 03, 2018 | Football, USC Ripsit Blog, Features
USC redshirt linebacker Tayler Katoa has announced that he will step away from the program for two years to serve a Latter-day Saints Mission in Richmond, VA.Katoa, who hails from Layton, UT, enrolled at USC in the spring of 2017. After suffering a right knee injury during spring practice, Katoa had surgery and missed the entire 2017 season.
Katoa had the option to go on a mission straight out of high school, like many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints do, but he decided to spend one year at USC before re-evaluating.
"Growing up as an LDS kid, you were asked to go on a two-year mission, so it was always on my mind," Katoa said. "When it came time to decide, I wanted to go for the right reasons. I didn't want to go just because everyone else goes right out of high school in Utah. I wanted to go because I had conviction in my faith and it's something I wanted to do."
Katoa looked at former USC DL Stevie Tu'ikolovatu as a model when he made his decision to come to USC before going on a mission. Tu'ikolovatu redshirted as a freshman at Utah before embarking upon a mission in the Philippines, then returned to Utah before graduate transferring to USC, where he was named the Defensive MVP of the 2017 Rose Bowl Game.
This summer, when Katoa approached USC head coach Clay Helton about his desire to take temporary leave from the program, he was initially afraid Helton would ask him to leave for good.
"I went in there really, really nervous, because I know USC doesn't do missions," Katoa said. "But even before I told him I wanted to come back to USC to finish school and football, he stopped me and took over the conversation. He was the one who brought up that he wants me to come back and all that type of stuff."
On Sept. 5, Katoa will head to Richmond, VA to serve his mission, during which he will spread information about the religion and participate in community service. Katoa will return in June of 2020 and will not lose any NCAA eligibility.
In the meantime, Katoa said he'll stay in football shape by working out first thing every morning, during the time he's allotted to exercise.
"It's definitely going to be a grind, but I know it's do-able," he said. "A typical missionary's day, you wake up at 6:30 and you have 30 minutes to work out. Then you have to do your studying and your scriptures ... I'll just have to wake up really early for two years, but football's prepared me for that."
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