Freshman BYU running back's father has seen this all before

Jackson Unga sat in the stands, stoic as a statue, when his son Harvey ripped off big chunks of yardage and scored two touchdowns in BYU's 20-7 win over Arizona.

Jackson is proud of his son, but he didn't go overboard and wasn't floored by Harvey's performance, which earned the freshman MWC offensive player of the week honors Monday.

Why?

"People were standing up and shouting, getting all excited when he scored those touchdowns," said Jackson. "I just sat there. I was happy. I was excited, but it's something I've seen him do before."

Like at Timpview High, even as a sophomore. Later, he helped Timpview win the 4A state championship in 2004.

Unga is used to plowing over defenders and running away from tacklers. He has an innate ability to present a false or give-in target — hip, leg or shoulder — and deflect initial contact while answering with physics of his own that seemingly set him free.

BYU fans got their first real view of Harvey Unga last Saturday. It hit like one of those crank-up Pop-Goes-the-Weasel toys.

Harvey, at 6-feet, is taller than listed in the program. He's thicker than his 221 pounds appear in print, and faster than defenders give him credit for.

And this skill of absorbing a hit with an immediate reactive push on tacklers that makes him such a weapon in BYU's offense? He displayed it in August scrimmages. He put it on TV Saturday against Arizona, including a rollover move on a Wildcat tackler that led to a run-after-catch of almost 50 yards.

"He got it from Jackson," said Joel Tuialeva, who is the LDS president of the Utah Valley Tongan Branch and whose nephew is Reno Mahe. Jackson Unga is Tuialeva's branch counselor. "Jackson used to make moves like that playing rugby when we were growing up."

Jackson offers a disclaimer: "I taught him a lot of things growing up, coached him since the third grade until he was a sophomore, but he must have got some of his ideas somewhere else. I think when he visited my brother in Ogden, he must have learned something."

Jackson's younger brother is Fine Unga, a former Provo running back in the Sean Covey era who earned all-America honors at Dixie College and Weber State before ending up with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

In BYU's win over Arizona, Jackson sat in his seat when Harvey caught a pass from Max Hall, beating a Wildcat blitz, and ran standing up into the end zone.

"My brother, Sione, was jumping up and down, and he turned to me and said, 'What's wrong with you.' I told him, hey, it's just a touchdown," Jackson said.