“A lot of people, when they first think about Hawaii, they think about the paradise. They think about the nice sandy beaches. But where I’m from, it’s a place that people don’t talk about and don’t show. It’s something that people want to keep hidden.” — UW freshman defensive lineman Faatui Tuitele
Faatui Tuitele still remembers the sound of the rats.
Washington’s incoming freshman defensive tackle remembers the tap-tap-tap of their paws scurrying stealthily across the kitchen, dodging rat traps and fellow rodents in a desperate search for dinner. When the Tuiteles were awake, and the spring-loaded traps weren’t working, they’d bludgeon the remaining rats with a blood-stained cricket bat.