Tavo Tupola: our other rookie Hawaiian Olineman

nunusguy said:

"UTAH: Could be the best offensive tackle in the Mountain West Conference ... has started at left tackle since his freshman year ... athletic, mobile player was a safety in high school who grew into offensive line stature while on an LDS church mission to Tucson, Ariz. (2000-02) ... quickness creates match-up problems for opposing defenses ... Athlon Sports picked him for its preseason all-MWC first team. "
http://utahutes.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/tupola_tavo00.html
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Texans page -
http://www.houstontexans.com/team/player.asp?player_id=302
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Like Brandon Frye, Tupola has the look and feel of an OLineman that would project as a ZB candidate in the Texans system. Adjectives like athletic, mobile, quickness, etc. are found all over descriptions about this URFA.
Even though he may play on the inside at guard for the Texans, he was a LT his whole collegete carrer, another indication of his athletic profile. Dang, this guy was even a DB in high school before he got big.

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Vinny said:

Every team needs a thick, neckless pacific islander guy who likes to run around in flip flops on one of the lines...it's just one of those things.

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Vinny said:

Every team needs a thick, neckless pacific islander guy who likes to run around in flip flops on one of the lines...it's just one of those things.

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badboy said:

especially if he can sing "tiny bubbles in the wine" while he hulas and then clotheslines the opposition.

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Vinny said:

Every team needs a thick, neckless pacific islander guy who likes to run around in flip flops on one of the lines...it's just one of those things.

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Kaiser Toro said:

We all need someone to protect us from the Casserly Curse and/or the David Carr idol that eats up NFL cap space. Who would be better than our mystical, athletic friends in the South Pacific?

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(2003 article from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin)
Tavo Tupola was a 6-foot-3, 192-pound all-state free safety -- playing in the same Kahuku High School secondary with Hyrum Peters -- when he signed for a football scholarship from the University of Utah in 1999.

Yesterday, Tupola -- now 6-4 and 296 pounds -- was one of three players from Hawaii in Utah's offensive line as the Utes won their first outright conference title in 46 years by beating BYU 3-0. As the Mountain West Conference champions, they were immediately invited to the Liberty Bowl.

Tupola, a redshirt freshman, grew from a free safety into a tackle while on a two-year church mission to Arizona after high school.

"When I started my mission in Tucson in March 2000, I weighed 190," Tupola said.

"I returned two years later at 290."

Tupola explains: "I worked with Hispanic people in Tucson. They didn't want me to leave (the table) until all their food was finished. I love enchiladas and Spanish rice."

When Tupola reported to Salt Lake City in 2002, then-Utah coach Ron McBride "looked at me and lifted up his pinkie finger and said I looked like that when they signed me."

Learning to play offensive line "took a lot of hard work and effort and coaching" mainly by John Hevesy, Tupola said. Rush blocking was harder to learn than pass blocking, he said.

"We didn't think he was going to be ready to play this season," Hevesy said.

"He had to go in for 10 plays at Cal (Sept. 11) because someone was hurt. He hasn't left the field since; he's been there for eight games.

"He has the athletic ability of a free safety but weighs 296 pounds," Hevesy said.

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There are two kinds of fat people: there's fat people that were born to be fat, and there's fat people that were once thin but became fat... so when you look at 'em you can sorta see that thin person inside.

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Learning to play offensive line "took a lot of hard work and effort and coaching" mainly by John Hevesy, Tupola said. Rush blocking was harder to learn than pass blocking, he said.

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