Achi news desk-
At 6’8″ and 350 pounds, there’s nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and attended high school at Pitt Meadows.
“Humble beginnings. I was born and raised there until I was 10 and then immigrated with my brothers here to this great city of Vancouver, Canada,” Manu said in an interview with CTV News.
Blessed with a rare combination of size and quickness, even by National Football League standards, Manu has drawn interest from several teams heading into next weekend’s NFL Draft.
Sixteen teams showed up to watch him practice at UBC’s pro day, where he ran a 5.03-second 40-yard dash and completed 23 reps in the 225-pound bench press.
Several other clubs have hosted Manu on official team visits, including the New York Giants, New England Patriots and the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.
“I got to see Andy Reid, and he’s kind of a character,” Manu said of meeting the Chiefs’ head coach.
He arrived on campus at UBC when he was just 16 years old and was credited with the Thunderbirds coaching staff helping him grow as a person and develop into an NFL prospect.
“Coach (Blake) Neal, he’s like a father figure to me. And even my position coach, Dan Durzio. They’re great guys,” he said. “I cherish the six years I was here. It is definitely something I will always remember and tell my children in the future.”
Manu lives with his aunt in Pitt Meadows and his parents still live in Tonga.
They’ve never seen him play football, which is something he hopes to rectify if he gets on an NFL field.
As a prospect, he is considered somewhat of a project and is likely to be selected in the mid-to-late rounds of the draft.
“When you have 16 teams come to his pro day, and 11 more that brought him in for visits, and even more than that doing private workouts with him, everybody knows who this kid is now, and everybody knows that there’s some scary potential,” TSN NFL insider Farhan Lalji said. .
In part because he’s only played against Canadian competition at the USports level, Lalgi suspects Manu may begin his NFL career on the team’s practice squad.
“But I don’t think it will be long before we see this guy in the National Football League,” Lalji said. “It’s not a question of if, but when.”
Just a few months ago, Manu and his Thunderbird teammates beat the Alberta Golden Bears with a last-second touchdown to win the Hardy Trophy.
A few months down the road, he could find himself competing for a more famous piece of football: the NFL’s Vince Lombardi Trophy.
“I’m ready for it. If it happens to me in my first year, I’m going to attack it the same way I approached the Canada West Championships here, I’m going to be ready for it and it’s going to be really exciting,” Manu said.
He has a chance to take the first step on that journey in next weekend’s draft.
