On this edition of 鈥楳OJ on Sports鈥�, host Bob Marjanovich talks with Lofa Tatupu who played as a middle linebacker in the NFL for the Seattle Seahawks.
He was born in Samoa and went on to play college football at the University of Southern California (USC) from 2001 to 2004, where he was a part of two Collegiate Championship teams.
鈥榃e didn鈥檛 care about anything other than winning each other and winning. And it was, the most fun you could ever picture football to be in 26 games. We went 25 and one. With two national titles, the one loss triple overtime, we turned the ball over five or six times to a guy by the name of Aaron Rodgers. You don鈥檛 want to give him that many opportunities, I鈥檒l tell you that,鈥� says Tatupu.
The son of Mosi Tatupu who played 14 seasons in the NFL, Tatupu was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the second round of the 2005 NFL Draft. He quickly established himself as a key player on the Seahawks鈥� defense and was named to the Pro Bowl in each of his first three seasons.
鈥業t was a lot of hard work, and I think that鈥檚 what people don鈥檛 see is they just get to see game day hoisting the national title. They don鈥檛 see everything that went into it. The hours of film study, the workouts everything, all the practice. I definitely believe everything happens for a reason. I鈥檇 like to think I helped those teams, but I definitely fell into some great situations.鈥�
During his six seasons with the Seahawks, Tatupu helped lead the team to two NFC Championships and a Super Bowl appearance in 2006, where they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was also named to the All-Pro team in 2007.
Injuries began to take a toll on Tatupu鈥檚 career, and he was released by the Seahawks in 2011. He signed with the Atlanta Falcons in 2012 but was released before the start of the season.
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