By Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) – Spear Reporter // Photo via SJSU Athletics
From 2020-22, San Jose State football defensive end Junior Fehoko mentored nose guard Soane Toia. He offered pointers at practice and welcomed Toia to his church and his house where they feasted on traditional Tongan food. “He took me under his wing and we basically did everything together,” Toia said.
This past offseason, Fehoko was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys. While Fehoko’s left San Jose, he’s still setting a positive example for Toia, who’ll don the No. 42 worn by Fehoko wore during his illustrious SJSU career next season. “[It] makes me raise my standards and want to play harder … like how June [Junior] was,” Toia said.
As SJSU football is slated to face a slew of high-octane offenses, Toia needs to fill the void Fehoko left as both a leader and defensive line anchor.
When Toia arrived to the U.S. from Tonga his freshman year of high school, he was homesick, spoke little English and was unfamiliar with football. Over the next couple years, he adjusted to his new life, became fluent in terrorizing backfields and developed into a three-star nose guard at Grace Brethren High School.
The offers he began fielding were impressive – Arizona and Utah – but Toia and his father sensed they only came to boost the schools chances of landing Soane’s younger brother Jay, who was one of the top defensive lineman in California, according to 247Sports.
So Toia committed to SJSU in 2020, but fell homesick once again. Thankfully for Toia he had Fehoko. “Right when I got here we kind of just clicked, and then we went from there,” Toia said.
Over the next three years, Fehoko fine-tuned various pieces of Toia’s game; getting off the ball, hand usage, not getting washed out of plays and attacking more aggressively.
Toia absorbed all of it. Granted the teachings came from Fehoko who earned three straight All-Mountain West First Team nods and was the 2022 Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year.
And similar to Toia, Fehoko was Tongan and Christian. So he brought him along on Sundays to church and to his house to feast on traditional Tongan food.
Fehoko’s sister Barbara said that, “He [Junior] knew that Soane missed Tongan food. So he’ll call my mom ahead of time and let him know, they were on their way up this way. And so my mom was like, ‘Oh good bring Soane so he could come eat.'”
They feasted on traditional Tongan food like yams, roasted pig, ‘ota ‘ikha (raw fish salad) and lū Sipi (lamb or beef wrapped in taro leaves).
“They became brothers there on the field. And then my brother brought him home. And he became a brother to us here, too,” Barbara said.
During this time, Toia recalls he and Fehoko pondered about their future. “We’d talk about him [Fehoko] going to the NFL like me going to the NFL. We’ll talk about being successful,” Toia said.
Over the course of the 2022 season, Fehoko’s NFL dreams were becoming a tangible reality. He was pulverizing offensive lineman and amassing massive sack totals. But this shifted his conversations with Toia about their future.
“I could tell he was talking to me more about him leaving and like me having to step up for our group. So it will happen a lot. Like more than once a week,” Toia said.
Because it wasn’t just Fehoko leaving the defensive line group. Former Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year Cade Hall, Noah Wright and Lando Grey were each departing, too.
While SJSU defensive line coach Joe Seumalo was reflecting on last year’s defensive line group, he paused – “I keep naming these guys. And I’m like, ‘holy smokes, those guys are good.’”
And now Seumalo’s looks at Toia to fill in and become the next leader. He started Toia against Air Force when he was a true freshman during the Spartans 2020 Mountain West Championship run. Then used him regularly in 2021 and watched him stack up career highs in tackles (25), tackles for loss (5.5) and sacks (2) last year.
When Toia reflects upon 2022, he can still see, hear and feel the locker room following the loss to Eastern Michigan in the Famous Idaho Potato bowl.
“I still remember that feeling. Everybody being emotional, especially the seniors — Junior, Cade, Noah, Lando — everybody was crying,” said Toia. “I’ll never forget that.”
When fall camp rolled around Toia had an underlying sense something was off. “You’ve been around certain people for a long time. And then they disappear and then it feels weird for a little bit,” Toia said.
Fehoko and fellow defensive line man evaded double teams, but not the hands of time.
“The older guys take those younger guys along and then at some point, those younger guys become older guys. And now it’s their role to keep that going,” SJSU defensive coordinator Derrick Odum said.
And thus far Odum’s felt that Toia’s taken to that role.
“He’s done a nice job of being a vocal guy. His leadership as far as setting the example on the field, like his motor running, he plays hard. He’s a great communicator. He understands the defense inside and out. That lends itself to having a high leadership ability for a group.”
With the Spartans kicking off the season against a USC squad led by reigning Heisman Trophy award winner Caleb Williams, followed by a surging Oregon State and five of the highest ranking teams in the Mountain West’s preseason poll, Toia needs to be a force defensively and an anchor if things spiral out of control.
“I expect a big year out of him,” Odum said.
From 2018-22, Spartan fans gazed and applauded Fehoko; the bookend who rewrote history.
In 2023, they’ll still see a No. 42. Black hair flowing out from the helmet. Making sure he lives up to a text message the previous No. 42 sent him after he was drafted:
“You’re up next.”