Tagaloa-Nelson living out dream to play both sports at West Virginia
When Aden Tagaloa-Nelson was younger his mother, Teade Tagaloa, encouraged him to write affirmations.
And the biggest goal for him to try to check off the list was to be a two-sport athlete at the college level. So naturally, when the opportunity presented itself for him to do just that he didn’t hesitate.
Tagaloa-Nelson signed with the Mountaineers as a safety prospect on the football field but caught the attention of current interim head basketball coach Josh Eilert on the hardwood in high school. Eilert, who at the time was an assistant, came to recruit his cousin Jasper Johnson and saw him.
“He loved the way I competed,” he said.
Eilert encouraged Tagaloa-Nelson to remain in touch and he took him up on that offer when he arrived in Morgantown. He played in a hoop session in the summer and vibed well with the team, but understood that the game of basketball had to take a backseat to football.
It wasn’t always that way for Tagaloa-Nelson, who grew up an avid roundball fan and didn’t even start playing the game of football until his ninth-grade season.
But as he continued to progress, it became apparent that football was going to provide him a chance to compete at the power five level given his ability to move and his athleticism.
And that’s exactly what happened when West Virginia jumped into the process late and caused him to flip from his commitment to Western Kentucky to pursue his dream at the highest level.
“Football became the main priority,” he said.
Tagaloa-Nelson played only three snaps this past season for the football team and at the end of the year couldn’t shake a conversation he had with Eilert over the summer. The newly minted head coach informed him that if he was interested in playing for the basketball team when his football obligations were over, the door was open for him. So, Tagaloa-Nelson approached football coach Neal Brown.
He was cleared to join the basketball team in January and has been working with them ever since.
“He actually surprised me when we had our conversation. He was with it. He was 100-percent for it as long as I made my workouts,” he said. “I was nervous about having that conversation but it was very relieving for him to be on board.”
Making those workouts would prove to cause quite the shift in his schedule as Tagaloa-Nelson starts his day around 7 a.m. and finishes it around 6 p.m. split between the two sports.
Related: WVU head coach Josh Eilert press conference summary 2/16/24
Tagaloa-Nelson understands that football remains the priority and he’s working hard to prepare himself to compete behind starting safeties Aubrey Burks and Anthony Wilson, but the opportunity to spend time with his first love the game of basketball has been thrilling.
“With the schedule and my work ethic in my schedule this has become a lifestyle,” he said.
That effort paid off when Tagaloa-Nelson fulfilled his dream of being a two-sport athlete by getting on the court for five minutes against Texas in a lopsided defeat. The 6-foot-1 guard understood that he had a lot to learn, but seeing the floor was something he wouldn’t forget.
Admittedly it was a nerve-racking experience for Tagaloa-Nelson and he had to try to tell himself to relax but it’s all part of the process when it comes to playing at the highest level.
“It definitely prepared me for the future,” he said.
And while it remains to be seen how long Tagaloa-Nelson will remain a two-sport athlete, he credits the encouragement of his mother in his desire to reach for it in the first place.
“My mom was pretty big on me dreaming and accomplishing anything that I wanted to dream,” he said.
----------
• Talk about it with West Virginia fans on The Blue Lot.
• SUBSCRIBE today to stay up on the latest on Mountaineer sports and recruiting.
• Get all of our WVU videos on YouTube by subscribing to the WVSports.com Channel
• Follow us on Twitter: @WVSportsDotCom, @rivalskeenan
