Polo Manukainiu playing for Trinity High School in Texas. (AP)
Texas A&M said Tuesday that redshirt freshman Polo Manukainiu and a teenager joining the Utah football team this fall were among three people killed in a single-car rollover crash in the high desert of northern New Mexico, just days before fall practices begin.
Manukainiu, a defensive lineman for the Aggies, and Gaius “Keio” Vaenuku were among three teens killed in the wreck, officials from both schools said. One of the survivors, Salesi Uhatafe, is an incoming freshman football player for Utah.
The wreck happened Monday evening on U.S. 550 near Cuba, about 85 miles north of Albuquerque. State police said Manukainiu, 19, and Vaenuku, 18, were passengers in a southbound 2002 Toyota Sequoia, according to the school’s statement.
The vehicle drifted off of the road, the driver overcorrected, and the vehicle rolled several times. Manukainiu’s last tweet foretold the potential danger ahead.
22 hour drive back to Texas on no sleep. Oh my