![]() Tuipulotu didn’t even play football until he arrived at the school as a freshman. He was only a three-star recruit and didn’t have any college offers until his junior year at Lawndale High. And all of those Z’s? “Just a little spice,” Tuipulotu explained. Throughout this season - Tuipulotu’s first in the NFL - the trio has maintained a texting thread dotted with messages such as “Put on for the Tzzzzzzz” and “Big Tzzzzzzz.” USC's Tuli Tuipulotu (49) and Stanley Ta'ufo'ou (47) kneel in the end zone in a moment of prayer. One of Tuipulotu’s favorite pictures shows the three of them kneeling near the goal line in the Coliseum, their heads bowed. All three are now in the NFL, Marlon a defensive tackle for Philadelphia and Hufanga a safety for San Francisco.īefore each game in college, they would meet in the end zone to share a moment and a prayer, family and faith - as always - beautifully intertwined. With the Trojans, Tuipulotu played with his brother, Marlon, and cousin, Talanoa Hufanga. “He has seen it because we wanted to keep that alive in him.” “Tuli has seen that the island is real,” Fosnight said. He and his parents, still today, mostly are limited to what he called “little conversations.” Recognizing the words, however, wasn’t required for receiving the message - the message that, for this kid born in L.A., Tonga matters. Tuipulotu understands more Tongan than he speaks, though he knows enough that, while attending USC, he was able to test his way out of a foreign language requirement. Soon thereafter, this latest football guy’s life began with something of a handoff, Tuipulotu’s mother asking her sister, Lupe Fosnight, for help in raising her fourth son, a practice not uncommon among the islanders. Read more: Keenan Allen, Khalil Mack make Pro Bowl despite disappointing Chargers season Then the doctor walked into the waiting room and announced, “We have another football guy.” Until Tuipulotu was born, his family didn’t know if he would arrive as a boy or a girl because they valued the surprise of it all. “My pop’s,” Tuipulotu said, “a pretty humble dude.” His father, Niuila - just like his mother, Tania - speaks almost exclusively Tongan, at least, that is, when he speaks at all. ![]() That’s how deeply Tuli Tuipulotu’s roots push into the island nation’s sandy soil, the heart of the Chargers' young edge rusher belonging to a place that never has known his footprints.
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