BYU Football Lands Commitment From JUCO RB Hinckley Ropati
Jul 10, 2020, 10:52 PM | Updated: 10:54 pm
Photo: Courtesy of BYU Photo/Jaren Wilkey
PROVO, Utah – With or without a college football season this fall, recruiting will not stop. As evidenced on Friday when BYU landed a commitment from a Junior College prospect in Hinckley Ropati for the class of 2021.
A 5-foot-11, 210-pound running back from Cerritos College, Ropati announced his commitment to BYU on his personal social media.
”Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.”
– Joshua 1:9
This one's for you momma…#LLL🕊❤️ @CerritosFB @BYUfootball pic.twitter.com/Cwbuo80IJ4— Hinckley F. Ropati (@hinckleyfr3) July 11, 2020
“After much prayer and conversations with my family, I’m blessed and excited to announce that I’ll be pursuing my dreams and academic endeavors at Brigham Young University!! Thank you Coach Sitake, Coach Grimes, Coach Roderick, Coach Unga!”
A member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Ropati ran for 647 yards in 11 games played during his freshman season at Cerritos. Rushed for 10 touchdowns last season, which included a four-touchdown performance against Fullerton College. The four TD performance tied a Cerritos College record for most touchdowns in a single game.
On his Cerritos College bio, Ropati stated his goal was to transfer to BYU, West Virginia, or Stanford. Now he’s achieving that dream by giving his verbal commitment to the Cougars.
With Ropati now committed, BYU has five commitments in its 2021 recruiting class. Ropati is the first commit in the 2021 class that is expected to be part of the program next season. The other four commits are expected to serve missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints before enrolling at BYU.
BYU’s running backs for the 2020 season are a relatively young group of players. If the season is played, the Cougars will have only one senior running back and that’s Utah graduate transfer Devonta’e Henry-Cole.
BYU Football 2021 Commitments
Hinckley Ropati – RB – Cerritos College
Raider Damuni – DB/ATH – Timpview High School
Weston Jones – OT – Romeo, Michigan
Kyson Hall – WR – Maple Mountain High School
Ricky Wolfgramm – DL/OLB – East High School
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12-3 pm) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.
