Boise State RB Cyrus Habibi-Likio giving back and giving everything he’s got

The longer term is unsure for Boise State RB Cyrus Habibi-Likio because the NFL Draft nears. However he is aware of, maybe greater than anybody, that uncertainty yields nice alternative. Habibi-Likio isn’t any stranger to uncertainty. Via highschool and faculty, it dominated his profession. However like a real working again, Habibi-Likio simply places his head down. And when he sees a lane, he takes it.

As quickly as he enters the decision, there’s a disarming power that Habibi-Likio brings. He’s completely satisfied, exuberant, but in addition at peace. Not essentially at peace with the place he’s now, however at peace with the chance he has in entrance of him. He is aware of what he can do and what soccer can enable him to do. It’s confirmed that to him already.

Habibi-Likio got here from a soccer household. However enjoying soccer wasn’t nearly legacy for the Palo Alto product. Soccer was an outlet — a solution to channel a aggressive mindset from an early age.

“Rising up at school, I used to be at all times a much bigger child. I might at all times simply play how I might play. However I’d at all times get in bother for rough-housing, and it was simply how I might play. It was by no means like, ‘Oh, I’m gonna go damage this child, that child.’

“After I began enjoying soccer, I used to be hitting children, and I wasn’t getting in bother for it. I used to be identical to, ‘Oh,’ like, you realize, I can slam this man on the bottom, and I get applauded for it? Like, whoa. That was what made me actually fall in love with it.”

Roots in Iranian and Tongan ancestry

In fact, soccer is about greater than expressing physicality for Habibi-Likio. Over time, he’s harbored an appreciation for the platform that soccer affords off the sector locally. Being a person of religion, Habibi-Likio emphasizes the need to glorify God together with his skills. However for Habibi-Likio, soccer can be about staying true to his core values — values imbued in him by his household in his early years.

Habibi-Likio’s maternal grandfather got here to America from Iran. His paternal grandfather got here from Tonga, within the South Pacific. That blend of cultures gave Habibi-Likio a singular upbringing. However as distinctive and impartial as these cultures are, they instilled an identical worth in kinship for Habibi-Likio.

“I really feel like each cultures are very family-oriented,” Habibi-Likio stated. “Respect is a big side in that tradition. For me, rising up, my mother and father — and my grandparents as properly — had been born again of their homeland. So in a approach, in our family, I used to be rising up in a mini Iran or a mini Tonga.

“All of the traditions — there’s loads of guidelines, so far as respect. They’re each very large on representing their very own individuals and attaining issues together with your nation in your again.”

Going by the recruiting course of

As Habibi-Likio pressed on together with his soccer profession, his expertise started to shine. Quickly sufficient, he was on the radar for faculty applications. He fielded curiosity from many groups within the western area and initially dedicated to Washington State in 2016. However as curiosity saved constructing, he quickly re-opened his recruitment. It was overwhelming at occasions, however Habibi-Likio knew it meant he was getting seen.

“It was rather a lot, being a 16-year-old child, and simply getting calls from completely different reporters and having these coaches you see on TV, and these big-time applications that you simply dreamed about like, ‘Man, I actually need to play for them someday.’ And now, their head coach hitting you up like, ‘Hey, come right here.’”

Selecting the Oregon Geese

Particularly, Oregon was the dream program for Habibi-Likio. Rising up in Palo Alto, he went to Stanford video games typically. There, he noticed the Geese greater than as soon as. He remembered seeing their gear truck drive into city with the wings on the aspect. He remembered watching fellow Polynesian quarterback Jeremiah Masoli hurling landing passes in hunter-green jerseys.

For Habibi-Likio, nevertheless, Oregon additionally introduced a hazard of the recruiting course of. Particularly for a younger excessive schooler, parsing by all of the noise might be tough. In Habibi-Likio’s personal phrases, you need to be taught what’s actual and what’s not.

“You need to see by all of the bells and whistles. That’s what Oregon has loads of — it’s loads of flash. For me, it’s like, ‘If these guys didn’t have 20 uniforms, would I nonetheless need to go there? If these coaches left, would I nonetheless need to go there?’”

These had been vital questions for Habibi-Likio. And the reply was sure for each.

“I took a go to there, and Eugene felt like residence. It nonetheless does.”

Habibi-Likio’s profession at Oregon

Coach Mark Helfrich was fired only a couple hours after Habibi-Likio’s residence go to, and Willie Taggart left earlier than his first bowl recreation. However Habibi-Likio didn’t select Oregon for the coaches or the uniforms. He selected Oregon as a result of it felt like residence. And so it was, for a time.

Coming to Oregon was a humbling expertise for Habibi-Likio. Lengthy gone had been the times of Pop Warner soccer, the place touching the ball virtually assured a rating. Now, Habibi-Likio was being pushed round in follow. He was lifting heavy weight for the primary time and combating to maintain up. However early on, he had a mentor presence who helped him alongside the best way: Geese legend and present NFL working again Royce Freeman.

“He simply took me beneath his wing,” Habibi-Likio stated of Freeman. “I used to be slightly starstruck once I met him. I keep in mind he invited me to the flicks someday. And I used to be like, ‘Man, this man desires to hang around with me,’ you realize? So after that day, in the summertime and all through the season, I sat proper subsequent to him in conferences. He doesn’t know this, however after he’d go away [meetings], I’d open up his pocket book and simply copy every thing. Simply do what I may, you realize?”

Incomes a task with the Geese

Even with arduous work, it nonetheless took time for Habibi-Likio to earn his place. He redshirted in 2017 and solely logged 18 carries in 2018 whereas additionally enjoying on particular groups. However on these 18 carries, he earned 7 touchdowns in a goal-line position. That was sufficient for him to tackle higher duty in 2019.

In 2019, Habibi-Likio emerged as a reliable weapon for the Geese. Primarily used within the crimson zone, he amassed 85 carries for 337 yards and 10 touchdowns. Reaching that particular person milestone meant the world to him, however much more memorable was the Pac-12 Championship and the Rose Bowl, each of which Oregon gained that 12 months.

“I’m a West Coast man,” Habibi-Likio stated. “I grew up in Cali. The Rose Bowl is my Tremendous Bowl.”

For Habibi-Likio, nevertheless, it wasn’t merely being there that made such an impression. With the ability to contribute and assist his crew was most vital. It by no means stopped being surreal for the California child. This was the crew he’d dreamed of enjoying for. And now, he was making performs for them.

“My boys had been recording a few of my runs on the TV and sending it to me, or tagging me of their tales. It was actually cool to see. That 2019 season, up to now, was my favourite season of all time. Such an unreal feeling.”

Not solely did that 2019 season start to unlock Habibi-Likio’s skills as a runner, however it additionally unearthed a newfound ardour for go safety — a ardour that stemmed from duty, with future first-round decide Justin Herbert within the backfield alongside him.

“Any time it was a go, I’m defending $40 million. He’s the actual deal. So it’s like, ‘Man, I can’t let this man get touched.’”

Transferring to Boise State

Sadly for Habibi-Likio, his breakout in 2019 wasn’t a springboard to sustained success at Oregon. A COVID-impacted 2020 marketing campaign — mixed with the ascensions of gamers like CJ Verdell and Travis Dye — as soon as once more relegated Habibi-Likio to a reserve position.

As a lot as Habibi-Likio felt at residence in Eugene, it was time for him to wager on himself. He needed to increase his position from Oregon, to point out his expertise within the open subject, catch the ball out of the backfield, and turn into greater than a goal-line again. And he adopted Andy Avalos and several other different Oregon coaches to Boise State to take action.

The numbers don’t pop off the web page, however Habibi-Likio did get the possibility he was on the lookout for. In his lone 12 months at Boise State, he logged 107 carries for 374 yards and a pair of scores. Extra importantly, he caught 23 passes — greater than all three seasons at Oregon mixed — and racked up over 200 receiving yards.

Habibi-Likio was grateful for the possibility to be taught a brand new offense and experiment with completely different identities within the working recreation. However greater than something, Habibi-Likio thinks his expertise adjusting to a change of surroundings at Boise State can assist him within the NFL.

“To have the ability to construct relationships with individuals in that quick span of time was fairly satisfying to me. I understand how the NFL is. You bounce round rather a lot. It’s simply type of how it’s, particularly on the working again place. So it was a style of what I would expertise. And to have the ability to thrive by that was superior.”