[4] Faalele played basketball and rugby union as a youth[5] until a member of the coaching staff of the University of Hawaiʻi football team discovered him while scouting players in Australia.
[6] After participating in a local satellite camp run by Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh and garnering interest from multiple Division I programs, Faalele was recruited to play football at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.
[7] After only practising and learning the sport in 2016, he was a starter on IMG's offensive line in 2017 as the team went undefeated and he was selected to play in the 2018 Under Armour All-America Game.
[8] Faalele was rated a four star prospect and committed to play college football at Minnesota over offers from Alabama, Florida State, Georgia, LSU and Michigan.
[13] On 28 December 2021, in his final college game, he scored his first career touchdown in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl against West Virginia, with a two-yard run up the middle.