football karma
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More good stuff from Darren Urban:
Draft day dream came true for Lutui
Darren Urban, Tribune
The night before the 2006 NFL draft, Deuce Lutui gathered with a bunch of his male family and friends in a local hotel suite for a Tongan tradition called a kava ceremony.
The overflow crowd — not all of them could physically fit inside the suite — sat from dusk until dawn around a huge bowl filled with the kava drink, which is made from ground kava root and “tastes like dirt water,” Lutui said.
Partaking in the kava and the necessary chasers to counteract the bitterness — preferably something sweet, like soda — the men talked about different subjects. Mostly, they talked about which team would draft Lutui.
The guesses bounced around the NFL before it was time for Lutui’s brother, Brooks, to speak.
“We’re going to the Cardinals, I don’t care what anybody says,” said Brooks, who was sporting a Cardinals T-shirt.
The reaction from everyone, as Deuce recalls, was blunt: “Are you serious?”
Serious or not, Brooks turned out to be right. The next day, the Cardinals surprised Lutui by making him their second-round pick and the 41st player chosen.
“From where I came from, this tiny (Tongan) island, to migrate to the U.S. and make a name for Taitusi Lutui — a name people can hardly pronounce — it was an accomplishment for me and my family to be called anywhere,” Lutui said.
It wasn’t exactly fate that Lutui, who grew up in Mesa and prepped at Mesa High School, was drafted by his hometown team. But as Lutui prepared for the draft and the Cardinals scouted their possible choices, it probably shouldn’t have been shocking he ended up in Arizona.
ON THE NFL RADAR
From an NFL perspective, little was known about Lutui heading into his senior season at USC. He had been a junior-college transfer, and he spent his junior year at tackle, not guard, his projected NFL position.
The Cardinals began to notice Lutui as a senior and he earned favorable reports from area scout Lonnie Young and college scouting director Steve Keim.
Lutui, meanwhile, simply wanted to get to the NFL. As he walked off the Rose Bowl field in his last college game — an emotional loss to Texas in the national championship — Lutui was already thinking about preparing for his NFL career.
His weight, he knew, would be a question. He was almost 400 pounds when he arrived at USC, and he was still 365 when his senior year began. That, Lutui knew, wasn’t going to work.
He moved back to Arizona with his family, intent on working out for the February scouting combine away from the college distractions in Los Angeles. And when he arrived in Indianapolis, “I wanted to just be me, with a business attitude.”
His weight was down to 340 pounds (which he trimmed by another 10 pounds by USC’s pro day in early April). And while he wasn’t spectacular during the combine drills, he pulled down the same numbers put up by the other top guards such as Oklahoma’s Davin Joseph and Georgia’s Max Jean-Gilles.
That was fine with the Cardinals, who ranked Lutui as one of the top five linemen available.
“It wasn’t like he blew up the numbers and excited you that way,” Keim said. “But you continually get back to guys like (second-round picks Anquan) Boldin and Karlos Dansby, guys that are good football players but are missing that one flash to be a first-rounder. That was Deuce.”
IN THE CARDS
At USC’s pro day in early April, amid the crazy atmosphere during the lone workouts of players such as Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush, Keim spied Lutui standing off on his own in the middle of the field.
Keim walked up to Lutui, introduced himself, and reiterated to Lutui the Cards’ interest in him.
Lutui broke out in a smile.
“I just want you to know it’s always been my dream to play for the Cardinals,” Lutui told Keim.
Said Keim now, “How many guys do you know whose dream it was to play for the Cardinals? Connecting the dots, everything about Deuce Lutui to me fit perfect.”
Lutui, who had been surprised the Cardinals even interviewed him at the combine, did his homework to see what teams might take an offensive lineman in the first two rounds.
The Cardinals, who had Leonard Davis and Oliver Ross at tackles and who had just re-signed Reggie Wells and signed Milford Brown at guards, were not one of them.
When draft day arrived, Lutui was thrilled to see his hometown Cardinals draft Leinart. The Cardinals, meanwhile, waited to see what happened before their second pick.
Keim heard later that Tampa Bay, which selected Joseph at No. 23, seriously considered Lutui. The Bears thought about Lutui at No. 26 before trading the pick to Buffalo. The Jets also had Lutui on their minds, but instead took center Nick Mangold.
The Cards were looking at other players in addition to Lutui as their pick approached — the team would have given serious thought to cornerback Jimmy Williams, who went five picks earlier to Atlanta — but Keim said Lutui “was the sentimental favorite.”
Lutui just remembers seeing the 602 area code pop up on caller ID. He thought it was someone asking for directions to the draft day barbecue he was hosting. Instead, it was the Cardinals.
The hometown boy was staying home.
“To say we made the decision with that in mind, no we didn’t,” vice president of football operations Rod Graves said. “But after the pick was made, that was really what made it special.”
Lutui has embraced being a Cardinal. He is in the starting lineup. He wants to give back to the community. He wants to make the Cardinals a winner.
And the Cardinals feel they made the right decision in taking Lutui.
“My mother, we sat and talked about the draft, and she couldn’t believe a name that came from a tiny island has blown up big here in the States,” Lutui said. “I still feel like a lucky guy being here.”
Draft day dream came true for Lutui
Darren Urban, Tribune
The night before the 2006 NFL draft, Deuce Lutui gathered with a bunch of his male family and friends in a local hotel suite for a Tongan tradition called a kava ceremony.
The overflow crowd — not all of them could physically fit inside the suite — sat from dusk until dawn around a huge bowl filled with the kava drink, which is made from ground kava root and “tastes like dirt water,” Lutui said.
Partaking in the kava and the necessary chasers to counteract the bitterness — preferably something sweet, like soda — the men talked about different subjects. Mostly, they talked about which team would draft Lutui.
The guesses bounced around the NFL before it was time for Lutui’s brother, Brooks, to speak.
“We’re going to the Cardinals, I don’t care what anybody says,” said Brooks, who was sporting a Cardinals T-shirt.
The reaction from everyone, as Deuce recalls, was blunt: “Are you serious?”
Serious or not, Brooks turned out to be right. The next day, the Cardinals surprised Lutui by making him their second-round pick and the 41st player chosen.
“From where I came from, this tiny (Tongan) island, to migrate to the U.S. and make a name for Taitusi Lutui — a name people can hardly pronounce — it was an accomplishment for me and my family to be called anywhere,” Lutui said.
It wasn’t exactly fate that Lutui, who grew up in Mesa and prepped at Mesa High School, was drafted by his hometown team. But as Lutui prepared for the draft and the Cardinals scouted their possible choices, it probably shouldn’t have been shocking he ended up in Arizona.
ON THE NFL RADAR
From an NFL perspective, little was known about Lutui heading into his senior season at USC. He had been a junior-college transfer, and he spent his junior year at tackle, not guard, his projected NFL position.
The Cardinals began to notice Lutui as a senior and he earned favorable reports from area scout Lonnie Young and college scouting director Steve Keim.
Lutui, meanwhile, simply wanted to get to the NFL. As he walked off the Rose Bowl field in his last college game — an emotional loss to Texas in the national championship — Lutui was already thinking about preparing for his NFL career.
His weight, he knew, would be a question. He was almost 400 pounds when he arrived at USC, and he was still 365 when his senior year began. That, Lutui knew, wasn’t going to work.
He moved back to Arizona with his family, intent on working out for the February scouting combine away from the college distractions in Los Angeles. And when he arrived in Indianapolis, “I wanted to just be me, with a business attitude.”
His weight was down to 340 pounds (which he trimmed by another 10 pounds by USC’s pro day in early April). And while he wasn’t spectacular during the combine drills, he pulled down the same numbers put up by the other top guards such as Oklahoma’s Davin Joseph and Georgia’s Max Jean-Gilles.
That was fine with the Cardinals, who ranked Lutui as one of the top five linemen available.
“It wasn’t like he blew up the numbers and excited you that way,” Keim said. “But you continually get back to guys like (second-round picks Anquan) Boldin and Karlos Dansby, guys that are good football players but are missing that one flash to be a first-rounder. That was Deuce.”
IN THE CARDS
At USC’s pro day in early April, amid the crazy atmosphere during the lone workouts of players such as Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush, Keim spied Lutui standing off on his own in the middle of the field.
Keim walked up to Lutui, introduced himself, and reiterated to Lutui the Cards’ interest in him.
Lutui broke out in a smile.
“I just want you to know it’s always been my dream to play for the Cardinals,” Lutui told Keim.
Said Keim now, “How many guys do you know whose dream it was to play for the Cardinals? Connecting the dots, everything about Deuce Lutui to me fit perfect.”
Lutui, who had been surprised the Cardinals even interviewed him at the combine, did his homework to see what teams might take an offensive lineman in the first two rounds.
The Cardinals, who had Leonard Davis and Oliver Ross at tackles and who had just re-signed Reggie Wells and signed Milford Brown at guards, were not one of them.
When draft day arrived, Lutui was thrilled to see his hometown Cardinals draft Leinart. The Cardinals, meanwhile, waited to see what happened before their second pick.
Keim heard later that Tampa Bay, which selected Joseph at No. 23, seriously considered Lutui. The Bears thought about Lutui at No. 26 before trading the pick to Buffalo. The Jets also had Lutui on their minds, but instead took center Nick Mangold.
The Cards were looking at other players in addition to Lutui as their pick approached — the team would have given serious thought to cornerback Jimmy Williams, who went five picks earlier to Atlanta — but Keim said Lutui “was the sentimental favorite.”
Lutui just remembers seeing the 602 area code pop up on caller ID. He thought it was someone asking for directions to the draft day barbecue he was hosting. Instead, it was the Cardinals.
The hometown boy was staying home.
“To say we made the decision with that in mind, no we didn’t,” vice president of football operations Rod Graves said. “But after the pick was made, that was really what made it special.”
Lutui has embraced being a Cardinal. He is in the starting lineup. He wants to give back to the community. He wants to make the Cardinals a winner.
And the Cardinals feel they made the right decision in taking Lutui.
“My mother, we sat and talked about the draft, and she couldn’t believe a name that came from a tiny island has blown up big here in the States,” Lutui said. “I still feel like a lucky guy being here.”
