‘The little particles’: Eyes greater, stakes loftier for Fremont football in Year 2 of Tuatagaloa era
Fremont turned the page in 2024, but could the next chapter include a state title?
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- Fremont’s Spencer Ulm catches a pass during a summer practice on Thursday, July 17, 2025, in Plain City.
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- Fremont’s Salesi Moa smiles during a summer practice on Thursday, July 17, 2025, in Plain City.
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- Fremont coach Nate Tuatagaloa instructs during a summer practice on Thursday, July 17, 2025, in Plain City.
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- Fremont’s Calvin Cooper (left) hands the ball off to Taylor Graham (right) during a summer practice on Thursday, July 17, 2025, in Plain City.
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- Fremont’s Manase Tuatagaloa lets it fly during a summer practice on Thursday, July 17, 2025, in Plain City.
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- Players line up to the line of scrimmage during a summer practice on Thursday, July 17, 2025, in Plain City. practice
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- Fremont’s Slade Parker is jubilant during a summer practice on Thursday, July 17, 2025, in Plain City.
PLAIN CITY — Surrounded by five of his peers, Fremont senior quarterback Manase Tuatagaloa had no trouble answering for the table when asked about the team’s expectations for 2025.
Tuatagaloa paused, looked up and pointed at the rafters in the school’s gymnasium.
“I want to leave a banner hanging right there,” Tuatagaloa said. “It’d say, ‘state champs,’ that’s what I want.”
It’s the pinnacle for any senior class — a banner, a ring, a page or two in the yearbook. But at Fremont, a state championship is foreign to the Silverwolves football program.
Hired away from Ben Lomond in 2023, Manase’s father, Nate Tuatagaloa, led Fremont to its first post-pandemic winning finish at 8-4 overall, converting an 0-2 start for a share of the Region 1 season title with Farmington; The Silverwolves hadn’t scratched such a summit since 2016.
But Year 2 presents another wrinkle as Fremont and West Field, which opened a mere nine minutes south of Plain City last fall, join a new-look Region 5 as part of the latest round of realignment. Nate Tuatagaloa praised the move and the bar it sets for his group.
“As far as us fitting in, it’s a different role for us this year. Last year, nobody expected us to do anything,” Tuatagaloa said. “We (were) hungry, wanted to prove a point, and they weren’t expecting to get punched in the mouth like that. This year, we have the target on our back now.”
It’ll be nine returning starters (six offensive, three defensive) hoping to turn the page forward again, including the state’s top recruit in five-star athlete Salesi Moa. Like Manase, Moa transferred to Fremont for his junior season (Manase Tuatagaloa came from Ben Lomond, Moa from Weber High).
Moa spent part of his summer touring the likes of Tennessee, Michigan, Utah, Washington and Michigan State. The senior ultimately had an eye for the SEC, recently committing to Tennessee, but not before putting one final high school run on his resume.
“This season means everything to me because it’s my last season of high school ball,” Moa said. “We’ll make this last season worth it. Everyone’s going to notice we’re the real deal.”
Asked about Moa’s progression, Nate Tuatagaloa said 2024 tested the Utah prospect mentally and that he saw visible growth during summer workouts.
“Statistically, he wanted to lead every category, but that wasn’t the thing,” Nate Tuatagaloa said. “The biggest thing we wanted for him to grow in the offseason are his leadership qualities. Thing is, from a talent perspective, he felt he was really a leader because of that. I think last year, when he wasn’t one of the captains, or this and that, it kind of hit him differently.”
Moa was an instrumental piece in Fremont’s 30.1 points scored and 22.4 points allowed averages last season, and he’ll have the support of his father, Ben Moa (a former tight end at Utah under Urban Meyer) for a second season as the Silverwolves’ defense coordinator.
Leading rusher Cade Hadley, as well as returning receiver-safety combo Slade Parker and Taggart Burton, surround Moa on both ends of the field. Nate Tuatagaloa’s spread power and 11 personnel appear safe in the skill department, but it won’t be without questions.
Up front, senior Cooper Allen and junior Cooper Tumanuvao are tasked with bringing both sides of the line, which feature six new linemen, up to the level of play Fremont wants.
“It’s a lot of patience to start with,” Allen said. “New guys haven’t been coached because they’re so young, but we don’t have anybody here under us.
Allen continued:
“They’re very smart, but it takes a lot of patience to get them to understand, especially with our offense, not just what it does — you score points, they understand, but the little particles kind of make everything work and I think that’s where we’re having a lot of growth, figuring that out and it’s coming together pretty well.”
Eight newcomers are expected to fill gaps on both ends of the field, and both schemes are designed with feedback loops in mind.
Discussing the offense, Manase Tuatagaloa broke down the communication system that allows for quick, adaptable changes between snaps and encourages game-to-game discussion and debate.
“We leave a lot of room for creativity,” Manase Tuatagaloa said. “Say, like one of our receivers, like one of us here, sees a certain part of the defense that we didn’t see, we can check out of it right away. We really try to have that freedom amongst ourselves, throughout the whole season, just to check everything so we have the freedom to do whatever.”
“(Ben Moa) gives us a lot of leeway to check out of certain defenses,” Parker added. “He trusts what we see, and he urges us to take charge of that role on the field.”
With those principles in mind, Fremont has put them to use, replicating the business of the regular season with a relatively full offseason slate. And, one could argue, Fremont’s checked off about as many boxes as possible in battle-testing themselves for the real thing.
Fremont’s non-region slate, consisting of road trips to Weber (Aug. 15), Davis (Aug. 22), and a home-opener vs. Corner Canyon (Aug. 29), is hardly write-offs to begin the year. Emerging from August unscathed at 3-0 would certainly position the Silverwolves as region favorites.
But there’s only a limited window for speculation and it’s nearly time for Fremont to deliver.
Connect with reporter Conner Becker via email at cbecker@standard.net and X @ctbecker.
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‘The little particles’: Eyes greater, stakes loftier for Fremont football in Year 2 of Tuatagaloa era
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