John Lotulelei’s football career finally comes full circle.
The 2009 Baldwin grad will play his final collegiate game back home in Hawaii when UNLV visits Aloha Stadium on Saturday to take on the Warriors at 6 p.m.
Just the fact that Lotulelei is playing Division I football is a victory.
Shunned by most college coaches while he played at Merced College in California, the 2008 MIL defensive player of the year seemed to be out of luck in continuing his football career.
Fortunately, a coach at UNLV got one look at his tape and gave the undersized 6-foot linebacker a chance to play at the D-I level.
Every time Lotulelei makes a hit now, those same coaches who passed on him can do nothing but cringe.
“I was pretty lucky to get offered by UNLV. … All the other schools looked at our record and looked at our side and didn’t see it,” Lotulelei said.
With his only Division I scholarship in hand, Lotulelei wasn’t content to just be on the sidelines and enjoy his final two years of college.
He had a message he wanted to send.
“I had that motivated mind-set to come out here and play and I don’t want to say, but I had another mind-set about the other coaches who didn’t give me a scholarship,” he said. “It was like, ‘Watch me do this.’ ”
After earning a starting spot late in the season as a junior, Lotulelei has blossomed into one of the top linebackers in the Mountain West Conference.
Heading into Saturday’s game, Lotulelei is tied for 14th in the country with 113 total tackles — 39 more than the next guy on the team.
His lofty numbers haven’t translated to much team success, though. UNLV is just 2-10.
In his two years at UNLV, the game against UH is Lotulelei’s last to try to win one on the road.
“If my stats could match up with the wins and our record, then that would have been much more satisfying,” Lotulelei said. “I feel like we need to get this win, not just for me but for the players, because it’s important.
“We haven’t had any road wins since I’ve been here.”
Lotulelei will play at Aloha Stadium for the first time since his junior year of high school, when the Bears lost a 41-34 heartbreaker in the state semifinals to eventual champion Leilehua. Lotulelei had four tackles and a sack of Mules quarterback Andrew Manley, who had just recently been called up from the JV team.
“It was kind of like the Kahuku game (my sophomore year), where we went up early and then they came back and won,” Lotulelei said. “It was pretty bad.”
Lotulelei might not be the only one in his family making the trip home for Saturday’s game.
His brother, Tau, made the team as a walk-on freshman this year and has been playing the same position — learning from his big brother at practice.
“He might be traveling on this road trip, I’m not sure yet,” John Lotulelei said. “He’s working his heart out and I love it. For me I think it’s great for him also because when I went to Merced I didn’t have anyone there close to me.
“If my brother took that path, it would be hard for him, but he’s here, and during practice I can show him the ropes and teach him things he can’t pick up on his own.”
