'Unicorn' Daniel Faalele returns to Gophers looking to dominate before NFL jump

Aug. 4—Daniel Faalele's size has always seemed mythological, but now it's a little less so, and that's a good thing for the Gophers football team.

Since the Australian offensive lineman came to Minnesota in 2018, he has been associated with an otherworldly 400 pounds and a height that stretches toward 6 feet, 9 inches. During coronavirus, he said he was up to 405. Just some you-got-to-be-kidding-me numbers.

Now going into his fourth year, the right tackle from Australia has shed 25 to 30 pounds to get down to the 375-380 range — which is still pretty insane and undoubtedly enormous. His somewhat slimmed-down size is expected to make the mountain of a man more mobile in pass protection or out in space zone blocking.

Faalele opted out of the U's 2020 season out of concerns on contracting COVID-19. But he's back on the field and motivated as the Gophers opened fall camp Wednesday.

"I just want to be as dominant as much as possible," Faalele told the Pioneer Press on Tuesday. "... I want to win games, and I missed that feeling of competition."

The NFL will be closely watching him play this fall.

Pro Football Focus didn't put Faalele in the top five offensive linemen prospects for the 2022 draft class but gave him a "wild card" label, with his size as the obvious leading reason why. PFF also cited his lack of experience in the game. He only played one season of football in high school, at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., in 2017. The site also mentioned his improvement at the U.

Faalele had a overall grade of 60.4 in 10 games as a true freshman in 2018 and that assessment jumped to 72.3 in 11 games in 2019, a season cut short due to a lower-leg injury. He left during the win over Wisconsin in Madison and was in a protective boot for the Outback Bowl victory over Auburn.

Faalele was hitting his stride before the injury. Over the last six games in 2019, his grade was behind only Iowa's Tristan Wirfs and Northwestern's Rashawn Slater among Big Ten tackles. That's some top-tier company: Wirfs was the 13th overall pick by Tampa Bay in the 2020 draft, and Slater also went 13th overall to the Los Angeles Chargers in the 2021 draft.

Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis will host the NFL Combine next spring, and Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck was there taking about Faalele during Big Ten Media Days in July.

"He's going to get a lot of attention, and he should," Fleck said. "He's a unicorn. My daughters love unicorns. He's a unicorn. They don't come around very often, some would think they don't even exist. My daughters think they exist, so they exist, but they are very rare. He's got a rare size, rare strength, rare ability. Hard to find. He's only played (three) years of football. He's got a long way to go and he's got a lot of untapped potential. The faster he taps into that himself and continues to change his best on a daily basis, the more success he is going to have down the road."

Faalele said he "definitely" wants to pursue the NFL and shared what aspects he wants to improve on. "I would love to develop a lot of areas of my game, personally," he said. "Off the top of my head, probably pass (protection), I just need to get better at that. In the run game, (my) technique on outside zone."

Faalele said the two offensive tackles he most likes watching are Trent Williams of the San Francisco 49ers and Tyrone Smith of the Dallas Cowboys. "I love watching their technique and the way they play and what they bring to their teams," he said.

Williams, regarded as one of the best in the game, and Smith are each listed at 320 pounds. Faalele said he was able to cut 20 pounds by being consistent in eating healthier foods and making better decisions. And he's looking to slim down even more.

"I just feel way healthier and way lighter, and I feel like I will be able to move a lot better," he said. "There isn't a downside to losing this much weight. I'm excited to put it to the test this season."

Faalele is challenged in one-on-one drills in practice by 6-foot-4, 265-pound rush end Boye Mafe, who has his own freakish elements that also entice the NFL.

"I love going against Boye; he's our best pass rusher," Faalele said. "Iron sharpens iron. I feel like he has made me so much better during my time here. He is very much like Carter (Coughlin) in his pass rush. It's great seeing a good look every practice."

Faalele said there are a lot of pass rush elements that Mafe can spring on him. "One think in particular," Faalele said. "He will line up real wide and then speed rush and then do a (hesitation). It's an annoying thing. I hate getting beat inside."

Come next spring, Faalele could be the first Gophers offensive lineman drafted since 2006. This has been a bugaboo for a while now, with the latest evidence being top in-state recruit Lucas Heyer of Totino-Grace citing Stanford's O-line development as a reason why he is headed to Palo Alto, Calif.

"Respectively, we haven't had an offensive lineman drafted in 15 years at the University of Minnesota," Fleck said. "We are going to have a lot this year and then after that. It's just one avenue of how we are changing the landscape of the University of Minnesota football."