BYU football: Hiring of Tujague leads to landing JUCO prospect

MOORPARK, Calif. — Quincy Awa-Dubose knew next to nothing about BYU a little more than three weeks ago but is now firmly committed to its football program. The mammoth 6-foot-2 offensive lineman was considering Wyoming and a bunch of FCS teams when BYU coach Nick Howell showed up on campus.

The Cougar assistant let Awa-Dubose know of BYU's interest in him and offered him an official trip to BYU's campus the following weekend.

"I was seriously shocked by all of it to be honest," Awa-Dubose said. "I really had no idea what to think about it, but the more I thought about it the more excited I got. I liked what I heard about BYU from coach Howell, and so did my parents, so we all immediately saw how great of an opportunity this was for me."

BYU didn't know much of anything about Awa-Dubose until it hired former College of the Canyons head coach Garrett Tujague. Tujague had coached against Awa-Dubose and remembered him as being a dominant and aggressive offensive lineman when his team matched up against Moorpark Junior College last season.

"I remember doing really well that game — I was throwing around guys good in that one," Awa-Dubose said. "I remember it was really hot, but I'm obviously glad coach Tujague remembered me and that I was able to make an impression on him."

Awa-Dubose and his parents made the trip to Provo and were impressed by the facilities, coaches and everything else. On Saturday night, Awa-Dubose received an offer from BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall.

"I didn't commit then, but I was pretty sure I'd end up committing," he said. "I went back home and talked it over with my parents some more, thought about it a lot and decided to commit on Monday night."

Awa-Dubose is not LDS but became keenly aware of BYU's honor code and what it entails.

"Everytime I'd talk to coach Mendenhall he'd mention the honor code, so yeah, I know all about the honor code," he said. "The only thing about the honor code that is going to be hard for me is to cut my hair. I can't remember the last time I had short hair, but that's seriously going to be the only thing that's hard about it."

Awa-Dubose played center at Moorpark and will be looked at to fill the center position while at BYU. He'll arrive at BYU this summer and immediately begin workouts in hopes of competing as best he can for the center spot or any other spot along the offensive front.

"I'm very excited and although I've only known about BYU for a short time I feel so comfortable with everything about the program and the coaches," he said. "I love coach Tujague — he's a great dude who always makes me laugh whenever I talk to him. Coach Mendenhall is all about your personal business, but in a good way. I love the players I met and I love the school, the facilities and I even like the weather. I'm big and built for the cold, so playing in the cold is something I look forward to."

Email: bgurney@desnews.com

Twitter: @BrandonCGurney