Article on Miami rookies from Hawaii

[colmax]

This is an older article (about 2 mos.) from the Honolulu Advertiser about the three rookies from Hawaii signed by Miami. There is also a little explanation of the "I'm the Juggernaut, *****!" incident by Mauia:

DAVIE, Fla.  It's a good thing Tala Esera cut all of that pretty hair of his.

Even with his new buzz cut, the former University of Hawai'i offensive lineman complained of South Florida's oppressive mixture of heat and humidity yesterday, his first day of mini-camp with the Miami Dolphins and his introduction to professional football.

"It's warm in Hawai'i, too, but today was overwhelming," said Esera, who went undrafted last weekend only to be signed by Miami, which had already drafted two of his college teammates, fellow lineman Samson Satele and fullback Reagan Mauia.

_______________________________________________________________


While Esera and Satele patiently explained to reporters the differences between being Hawaiian, Polynesian and Samoan, Mauia spent most of his free time between two-a-days explaining why he decided to run through a wall while in Scottsdale, Ariz., training for the NFL combine. The incident can be found on YouTube.com.

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/May/05/sp/FP705050356.html


(Here is the vid for those who have yet to see it)

[youtube]HpiMUKfSKIQ[/youtube]

 

[Dolphan5876]

That Video is GREAT!!!!

 

[lbmclean_sj]

What we've seen in these guys is that spirit of enthusiasm and that pride," Cameron said. "When they step onto the football field they know they represent someone bigger than themselves. And that's important. We believe in that. We believe you play for something bigger than yourself, obviously the team. I think they play for family and have a lot of pride."

I don't know if it was intended but if all that Solail is lacking is drive and motivation, competing against/playing with Satele et al might make him into a huge steal

 

[djphinfan]

great point

 

[DaFish]

Here is the audio from the wall smashing from a radio interview that I posted a while back.

http://www.finheaven.com/boardvb2/showthread.php?t=195990&highlight=reagen+interview

 

[209FinFan]

Those guys should start to pay immediate dividends.

 

[gowda1234]

new breed of players we have no idea of around east coast

 

[acmeanvil49]

new breed of players we have no idea of around east coast

Jets have Leonard Peters in camp.
Imagine Troy Polamolu maybe not as fast but bigger and a bigger hitter, even wears the same #43.

"With a Polynesian background, it's always been a warrior-like thing to grow your hair," he said. "I don't know about comparing me to Troy because he's one of the greatest players."


Peters describes the Steelers safety as a good friend, dating to Polamalu's first Pro Bowl appearance at Aloha Stadium.


"Our high school football team [Kahuku High] actually does security for the Pro Bowl," he said. "So I was able to walk around with him and his wife for two days and pick his brain. He is a great guy and an inspiration."
Inspiration describes what Peters and a friend came up with to bring together their Hawaii teammates before games: a traditional Maori dance form called a haka.


"Because we are from Hawaii and are called the Warriors, we tried to think of something from a Polynesian background that we could do," he recalled. "So we asked some New Zealand Maori people if we could dance the haka and they said OK. And we asked some mainland players who were on the team and talked to them about it before we even danced or practiced it, and they said they were OK with it. I think it just draws us closer as a state and as a football team."