Although Viliami Moala is only a junior at Bingham, he often leads his Miners out onto the football field. Larger than life itself, the 16-year-old’s No. 56 jersey casts an imposing shadow upon the game as a defensive tackle. And now, Moala will be taking all 6 feet, 2 inches and 300 pounds to the University of Southern California. 

“First and foremost, I wanna thank all the coaches that have recruited me since my journey began,” announced Moala Sept. 10. “With that being said, I’m proud to say I’m a TROJAN!!! My recruitment is shut down!” 

Moala visited USC’s campus the weekend of Sept. 7 and you’d have to imagine he watched the Trojans blast Utah State, 48-0 inside Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. 

Truth be told, it was a tough night for any fan or alum of Utah State University to witness, but it was that visit to Los Angeles and USC that clinched it for Moala, who had already taken one visit to the University of Oregon in late July. 

Rated a 4-star DT by various recruiting services, the “Utah Preps Podcast” recently called Moala “the best defensive tackle at Bingham since [former Utah Utes/NFL player] Lowell Lotuleilei.”

Having talked to former Bingham head coach Eric Jones, he seconded that notion and possibly one-upped it, even. 

“A physically gifted and talented kid with a great personality,” recalled Jones of the bubbly No. 56 he’s known since Moala was young. “Big-time recruit nationally. Maybe the best DL talent in the state
right now.”

This season, Moala has already recorded 23 tackles, had six quarterback hurries and has had 2.5 sacks and one tackle for loss in just five games for Bingham. He’s averaging 5.8 tackles per game, third-best on
the Miners. 

In both of Bingham’s games away from home, Moala was in the opponent’s backfield.  He recorded one of his sacks Aug. 23 at Crimson Cliffs, a school that was the defending 4A state champions. 

On that play, Moala absolutely mauled Crimson Cliffs’ offensive lineman and ripped the quarterback down. He then bear-crawled across the poor kid’s body, got back to his feet and pointed his index finger skyward. 

That play by Moala helped to key a second-half comeback in Bingham’s 17-7 win over Crimson Cliffs, the Miners’ lone victory on the season. He added two tackles and 1.5 sacks Aug. 30 in a 34-23 loss at Lehi. 

To be fair, the Bingham junior’s rise up the ranks has been steady but not al-
together sudden.  

For Moala, this is his third season playing at a different school—his first
at Bingham. 

With the totals Moala has amassed in just five games for the Miners, the junior defensive tackle is well on his way to eclipsing the totals he had as a freshman at Brighton when he racked up 72 tackles, two tackles for a loss. 

As a sophomore, Moala attended Cactus High School in Arizona where he helped his team capture the Section [region] title with a 4-1 record. Moala had 22 tackles, two sacks and five TFLs in just four games. 

Moala later transferred back to the state of Utah after the holiday break and attended Davis High School for the latter part of the 2023-24 school year. 

Prior to his commitment to USC, Moala reportedly had offers from 15 different FBS Division I colleges and universities including UCLA, Miami, Tennessee, Arizona and Arizona State and in-state schools such as BYU, Utah and Utah State.  λ