HE BELIEVES

PALMER — More than six years ago, as Junior Aumavae sat in the Palmer High School weight room, flanked by his teammates, ready to sign a National Letter of Intent to play college football at Western Washington, the Moose football standout didn’t know where the ensuing journey would lead.

As it turned out, it would be a long road for the 2004 Palmer High graduate, one that would include major injuries and the end of the Western Washington football program.

But now, after a stellar college football career, Aumavae’s six-year journey could lead him to the highest level of play the sport of football has to offer.

Aumavae has signed with Imani Sports, an agency that is now working to find Aumavae a spot on a National Football League roster.

“It’s pretty exciting stuff,” Aumavae said during a recent visit home to Palmer. “I always watched the movies, and they said, ‘call my agent’. And that’s what I’m doing right now. It’s pretty crazy.”

Aumavae caught the eye of NFL scouts during his senior season at Minnesota State-Mankato, a campaign that included a number of honors for the 6-foot-2, 330-pound defensive tackle.

Aumavae transferred to Minnesota State prior to his senior season after learning that Western Washington opted to cut its football program. Aumavae made an immediate impact for the Division II Mavericks, making 10 starts. He was dominant in the interior of the Mankato defensive line and was named first-team All-Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and the NSIC Defensive Newcomer of the Year following the 2009 season.

“(Imani Sports) gave me a call after the football season, after I graduated, and told me they heard from a lot of NFL scouts about me, and would like to represent me,” Aumavae said.

Imani, which means belief in Swahili, believes he can be an NFL player, Aumavae said.

The agency has already set him up with a professional trainer who has worked with NFL’ers such as Arizona Cardinals standout Larry Fitzgerald. Imani Sports has set up a “Pro Day,” at the University of Minnesota so Aumavae can show his athletic talents to scouts. Imani Sports is also working to get Aumavae invited to the NFL scouting combine, an annual event held in late February that gives draft-eligible college players the chance to display themselves in front of all 32 NFL teams.

Aumavae said that, through the agency, he’s talked with almost every NFL team.

After redshirting during his freshman season, Aumavae started strong during his college career. During his first season as a full-time player at Western Washington, he made eight starts and played in each of the 10 Vikings games. Aumavae made 24 tackles, 17 solo, and was named first-team All-Great Northwest Athletic Conference following the season.

In 2006, Aumavae started nine games as was named an All-GNAC honorable mention.

As a junior, Aumavae made seven starts despite suffering through a number of injuries.

Shoulder and ankle surgeries forced Aumavae to miss all of the 2008 season.

“Last year I was walking around like a robot with all kinds of braces,” Aumavae joked. “My nickname was RoboCop.”

Aumavae worked through the various injuries, and as he was about ready to return to the Western Washington program, the university announced it was cutting the football program, which the school founded in 1903.

“It was a mess,” Aumavae said.

With the Vikings program now gone, Aumavae hoped to go Division I. There was interest from Portland State and the University of Washington, but the NCAA denied his bid for his sixth year of eligibility to be used in a Division I program.

That sent him looking for a top Division II program. There were a number of schools interested, but Aumavae said he quickly saw Mankato as the right place to be.

“I met the coaching staff and it felt like home,” Aumavae said.

Aumavae also dominated during his three years with the Palmer football program. He was named first-team All-Railbelt Conference and first-team All-State on both offense and defense, as a junior and a senior. He earned state lineman of the year honors as a senior.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.