Center OF Attention : Size and Athleticism Make Pauliasi Taulava a Two-Sport Standout at Morningside High

Pauliasi Taulava, a senior football and basketball standout at Morningside High, knows the disadvantages of being a big man on campus.

In Tuesday’s Ocean League basketball game against Mira Costa, the 6-foot-9, 255-pound Taulava was surrounded by two or three players every time he touched the ball. Several times it appeared he was fouled attempting to shoot, but no calls were made.

“An official told me once this year, ‘You’re big enough that you shouldn’t need me to make a call to get the shot off,’ ” Taulava said. “He also said that I should be able to make every shot I take. I’ve just gotten used to it now.”

Taulava said he had the same problem during football season.

“It seemed like every game the other team would use two guys to (block) me,” he said. “If they held me and I asked about it, the official would tell me that I should be able to get by them with my size.”

On the bright side, Taulava’s size and athleticism have made him an attractive offensive line prospect with Fresno State, Colorado State, Oregon and Arizona, among others. He recently took the Scholastic Aptitude Test and is awaiting the results.

Morningside basketball Coach Carl Franklin said that with some work, Taulava, who is averaging 7.6 rebounds a game, could become a Division I basketball prospect as well.

“He has a lot of potential and he works hard,” Franklin said. “In fact, the harder he works, the better we play. This year will do a lot to determine (which sport he plays in college). The kind of success we have will play a factor.”

Franklin cites Taulava’s strengths as aggressiveness, rebounding and the ability to be an effective post player, especially when he is scoring well.

While he did not have a big scoring game Tuesday in Morningside’s 64-60 victory over

Mira Costa, Taulava did come up with a clutch offensive rebound with the score tied at 60 and less than a minute to play.

Fouled on the rebound, Taulava made two free throws for the winning points.

As the center on the basketball team, Taulava is more in the limelight than he was last football season, when he was a two-way lineman for the Morningside team that won the Southern Section Division VIII title and finished 11-2.

“That is the big difference in basketball, he plays a very focal position,” Franklin said. “In a basketball game you notice how big he is and you can visualize him more.”

Franklin would like to see Taulava lose some of the weight the senior put on during football season so he can be more mobile on the court.

“He’s lost some weight and his speed and mobility have improved as the season has gone on,” said Franklin, who runs with Taulava every Sunday.

Jumping is the main skill that Franklin feels Taulava needs to develop in order to become a dominant post player.

“If he improves his vertical jump, we’ll be able to get a few more rebounds,” Franklin said. “Once he adds verticality to his game, he’ll do the things other big guys do.”

Taulava is just getting used to his height himself. After growing about six inches between his sophomore and junior years, he decided to play football.

When he first started on defensive, Taulava enjoyed being able to hit people. And when Coach Ron Tatum wanted to have him play both ways, he initially resisted.

“Coach Tatum just came up to me one day in practice and told me that I wasn’t going to play any defense in the next game, that I was only going to play offense,” Taulava said. “Eventually I saw that you can hit people on offense, too, and I think it helped me learn new ways to get around lineman having to study blocking as well.”

Taulava said his most memorable game last season was against Torrance when he had two sacks of Tartar quarterback Jason Kendall in a 55-30 Monarch victory.

Impressed with Taulava’s athleticism, new Morningside baseball Coach Jay Wallace recently asked Taulava if he would be interested in trying out for the team as a pitcher.

Taulava, who only knows how to throw fastballs, had a smooth tryout, but an unexpected problem developed. After two or three pitches, all of Morningside’s catchers wanted to stop because their hands were sore.

“Coach Wallace told me that was the first time he’d ever seen that kind of thing happen,” Taulava said, laughing.