In the 2024 class, ASU did better than usual, landing players from the Northwest, and Medford Oregon’s First Team All-State selection offensive lineman Terrell Kim, a one-time Oregon State pledge, is one of many examples. Now that he has been on campus for several weeks, Kim shares with us his impressions of his college home, the prominent Polynesian connection in Tempe, and his expectations from his first year with the Sun Devils.
“I’ve played football since I was 10 years old. My parents have been trying to push me to do sports because I was always that homebody type of kid, and I never really loved sports like that. But when we moved from Lacey, Washington, to Medford, Oregon, I started falling in love with the game. In my freshman year, that’s when I was able to secure a starting spot on varsity; I never played on the freshman or JV team. When I was on varsity, I fell in love with the grind of the game, and that’s just how it all started from there.
“I was surprised I started on varsity my freshman year because I didn’t even know what a kick step was. I didn’t know there was so much more to the game. I’m very blessed to be here where I am right now. I played some defensive tackle in my sophomore, junior, and senior years. In my junior year, I was second-team all-state on defense. I’ve always fallen in love with the offensive line. But the coaches also saw me as being a defensive lineman, a good run-stopper type of guy who filled the gaps. I’ve always been successful at D-tackle, and if a coach ever needed me to play there, then I’ll be there. But I liked the offensive line more because of the technique; I enjoyed the atmosphere of the offensive linemen. My uncle, Johnny Vaigafa, used to be an offensive lineman, and he’s been one of my biggest inspirations. He was also my offensive line coach at my high school.
“I’m not really someone who boasts about how I play or my talents. I’ve always been someone who put my head down and worked. And my uncle always puts me in check when it comes to talking about my play. He tells me that there’s always something to get better at, and there’s always room for improvement because there’s someone better than you out there. The scholarship offers just came with me playing football, but I never realized that I could take my skills and talents to the next level until my sophomore year. My uncle told me that I had something really good going on, but I had to keep on working, and it’s just been a grind from there. So, since sophomore year that’s when things started getting crazy.
“Back in the summer, Oregon State was the biggest offer I had. Arizona State was always in touch with me, and they’ve been pretty involved. But we had our eyes on staying at home, and that’s why I committed to Oregon State. It (Oregon State) was one of those offers that couldn’t be replaced. It was a blessing to be able to play at home. So why not take that chance? But a lot of things changed after I committed, the whole coaching staff leaving and stuff like that. I wasn’t really fazed after a lot of teams said that they would leave the Pac-12, and Oregon State wasn’t one of them. I just wanted to go to a school where I knew I could be best developed. So, when coach Saga (ASU’s offensive line coach Saga Tuitele) first reached out to me that stuck out to me right away. He hit me up and came in for an in-home visit. Just the way he talks about football totally resonated with me, and I felt I could understand every word that he said. It was an awesome experience. I like the way he talked about the football program, how confident he was, and how he could get me to the next level.
"He reminded me a lot of my uncle, and it’s a tough love type of thing. I need somebody who’s gonna hold me accountable like that. Some people hold their heads really, really high when they start playing well. And then all of a sudden, they take advantage of that and never get disciplined for those bad things. I know Coach Saga will get on my ass when I do bad things, even when I don’t realize that I’m doing so.
“And when I talked to him, and I heard about the players he was bringing in, I was like, ‘Okay, this is more of what I was looking for with the family environment with a lot of Polynesian players.’ Oregon State for sure also had a lot of Polynesian players. Being around other Poly players helps because we connect on a whole different level. We know each other because we’ve grown up the same way, and we were cut from the same cloth. You see islanders in the same room, and you know things are about to get loud. It’s a family culture, and those are your brothers. And I’m not saying that we can’t connect well with other people on our team who come from different races and ethnicities. We connect with them just as well. But in that O-line room, if you want to work in sync, you gotta have that family bond. We have a mix of guys in our room and it’s awesome to see because we all have a really good connection going on.
“When I visited Arizona State, it was an opportunity that I didn’t want to overlook. With my recruitment, I wanted to be able to flip every stone and not leave anything on the table. You never know what could be a blessing in disguise. So, we visited Arizona State, and it was me, my uncle, my auntie, my mom, and my dad. We had a lot of thought processes going into this, and I wanted to be very, very smart with our decision and go somewhere that would best fit me. So, we took a chance on Arizona State, and when I came here, it was just a whole different environment and way different than what I expected. Before I visited, it was like 50-50 (on whether to decommit from Oregon State), and then you visit the school, and it’s going 70-30, and then it goes even higher and higher.
“It’s very active here; everybody’s out and about, and everybody knows each other. On my visit, Coach Dillingham was at everything we did, and he is a very proactive head coach. He’s always there. And you don’t really get head coaches like that. Usually, on a visit, the head coach is hiding in their office until they ask for a meeting with you. But he’s so easy to get to. And he doesn’t act like he’s the biggest man in the room, even though he is.
“Coach Saga told me that he needs young guys that have a chance to start. He told me that I have the potential of doing that, and I have to live up to the standard. So, I know there’s a lot of expectations on my shoulders that I have to uphold. He told me that there are spots open, so who’s willing to fight and who’s willing to take them? It’s really up to me, on how bad do I want that spot? So, it’s either you start slow, trying to make the travel team, trying to get playing time, and then eventually being a starter, and hopefully, it’s very soon. That’s the main goal, and it’s always been the goal. He projects me at left guard for this year, and then later on, I’d probably start playing center. I’m 6-4 370 lbs., and my goal is to get down to 335 lbs.
“Being here on campus, I get a head start on the summer enrollees. I get to have six months to really develop and learn the playbook at a slower pace, so everything is not thrown at me. And it’s not like I can’t do that at a faster pace, but it gives me a head start on players that are coming later on. Whether or not we’re all family, it’s still a competitive game. You got to get the jump on everybody. I have the benefit of learning the workouts, getting my first winter training in, and getting my spring ball in. I get all of those benefits.
“I’m really enjoying Arizona State. I love the people here, and it’s been an awesome experience. I’ve had Leif (senior and starting center Leif Fautanu) take me under his wing. He’s been teaching me stuff and showing me throughout the program. It’s a fun environment with all the Players and getting to know each other. It’s an overall awesome experience. It’s cool to hear Coach Saga’s wife when we went there for dinner saying, ‘Dang, this is a lot more linemen than the year before.’ This really is a new team. A new start.
“In spring practice, I want to take it step by step. I want to reach my goals. The long-term goal is to be a starter for all four years. But my smaller goal is to make it to the travel team, make good weight, be able to beat my opponents and be really comfortable in my play. I have high expectations for myself because I really want to fight for that starting spot, and I’m hoping to be able to get playing time. That’s like any freshman’s goal, of course, and in spring practice, I got to really ball out. That’s the end all be all type of thing. I have to get into the grind, and we’ll see how things go.”
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