Welcome DL Tuli Tuipulotu, USC (Round 2 #54)

[Boltnut]

Pop Warner for me would have been … 1975 maybe? Same era. And yeah, it was so plush, unlike any “grass” i had ever played on or even stood on. It was sad to see it had degraded to rock hard pancake with green paint hiding brown spots a generation later (2007). Much worse than the average high school pitch.

I'm really surprised to hear that. Maybe it was a 1-game thing...?
Like I said, I was down on the pitch in 2016... and it was pristine.
Maybe shooting fireworks off the surface wasn't the best idea...? LOL!

I also had a co-worker that moonlighted as a cameraman. He was on the field for most home games for several years. I never heard him mention a hard surface...

[Velo]

I grew up in the No. SJ Valley. I started playing Pop Warner in 1970 when I was a 13 year old 8th grader. In 1971 I started high school, but opted to continue playing Pop Warner instead of playing on my high school freshman football team. The name of my Pop Warner team was the Chargers. Although I was only about 5 ft tall and weighed maybe 90 lbs, I played WR on offense and DE on defense.

One week in 1971 we were playing a team from Stockton. I played the right side DE, the QB's blind side. On one play I had a clear path to the QB. I picked the QB up off the ground and swung him around into my teammate who was playing LDE, who happened to be one of my closest friends. When the ref blew the whistle both the QB and my friend stayed on the ground. My friend had to go to the emergency room, turned out he had two broken ribs. The opposing QB had to leave the game, I don't remember the nature of his injury or if he had to go the hosp too. I just remember I injured them both and was horrified I had broken my friend's ribs.

In 1972 they opened a brand new HS (the same HS Jeremy Renner would go to many years later) and I started going there as a sophomore. I played on the JV team my first year and I played on the varsity team as a junior and senior. By the time I was a senior I had grown to my full height - 5-10.5. I played WR and CB. I was a better CB than WR. I only weighed about 140 lbs and I had unlimited stamina. I could go 100 percent on every play and not get winded. Fred Biletnikoff was my favorite NFL player and I modeled my game on him.

In 1974 as a senior they timed us in the 40 yd dash. I was the third fastest on my team, at 5.0. That is the time I remember. I know it doesn't seem fast now, and maybe I don't remember the time right, but back then it was relatively fast. I never considered myself a sprinter anyway and I didn't train for it. I was a long distance runner and ran cross country in HS in addition to playing football. Only two guys on my team ran a faster 40 - our halfback and Gerald Gorin.

Gerald was the only black kid on my team, in my entire school that I remember. He was 6-3 and played TE. He was a standout athlete who played basketball and baseball too. I had a one year younger sis, Mary, who was a cheerleader. Mary was pretty and smart and ambitious and Gerald had a huge crush on her. They dated for awhile, which infuriated my mother (who swore she wasn't racist).

Anyway, Gerald ended up playing college ball in Colorado - I can't remember which school. He was undrafted in 1979 but was signed as a UDFA by the Broncos. He was on the Broncos PS for one season.

In 1979 I was 22 and had been living in San Diego for about a year. That was the year I became a Chargers fan. Do you remember Fouts and the Chargers beating the Broncos on the last Monday Night game of the season to make the playoffs for the first time in the NFL in Dec 1979? My HS teammate Gerald was on the Broncos PS. Tragically, both my sis and Gerald would die young. It still makes me tear up just thinking about it.

[powderblueboy]

Sorry to hear that Velo.

Nice story.

[dmac_bolt]

Sorry to hear that Velo.

Nice story.

great story Velo, also sorry to hear the ending. I loved the part of the 90 lb kid laying out two studs in one shot. bad ass.

[Heatmiser]

Sorry Velo!

TG

[jamrock]

Great story Velo. Like you I’m sure, I wish it didn’t have that last two sentences.

[Blue Thunder]

Thanks for sharing, Velo. I added you to the TPB 53-man roster.

[Topcat]

I got to play a pop warner game in the Murph after a Charger game once. Once. It was playoff championship game, I remember the grass was so thick spongy plush soft, it was almost tiring to run in it.

I was on the stadium field 25? years later, helping a friend who ran the fireworks they’d fire off from the light ring when Chargers scored, also had a rolling contraption for halftime fireworks. Field was as hard as tile. man they let that place go in all ways in every aspect. BTW - that was the Indy Sunday Night game that Cro had 4 INTs, 6 INTs overall. In hindsight that was the apex of Cro’s entire career. He then set off on his second career of repopulating earth.

LOL...well, on the bright side, one out of two isn't bad...

[dmac_bolt]

LOL...well, on the bright side, one out of two isn't bad...

it was a noble and important objective. We risked running low on Cro's ...

[dmac_bolt]

Joey compliments Tuli

https://chargerswire.usatoday.com/2023/07/28/chargers-training-camp-joey-bosa-tuli-tuipulotu/

Chargers' Joey Bosa has high praise for Tuli Tuipulotu


Tuli Tuipulotu is the youngest player on the Chargers at 20. Despite his age, Joey Bosa believes Tuipulotu is well beyond his years.

“Tuli’s great,” Bosa said. He is everything you could possibly want in a rookie. Physically gifted. He does everything right. He calls me sir, which is a little weird.”


Drafted in the second round, Tuipulotu was brought in to aid an edge defender group that struggled to generate pressure on opposing quarterbacks last season after Bosa was out with his groin injury.

Tuipulotu, the 2022 Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, led the nation in sacks (13.5). Additionally, he logged 42 quarterback pressures and had 22 tackles for loss, which was second in the country.

“He’s a great guy,” Bosa added. “Probably the nicest guy. Probably knows the playbook better than me already. He’s just on top of his stuff. Just wants to learn, just wants to get better.”

Tuipulotu has a pro-level skillset with the upfield explosion, heavy and determined hands, lateral agility and rush instincts to avoid blockers and change gaps, all of which should boost the team’s pass rush.

With the pads set to come on at training camp, they will be on display during one-on-ones and team drills.

[madcaplaughs]

Anyone seen Tuli in practice get good rushes against Slater?

[Velo]

Joey compliments Tuli

https://chargerswire.usatoday.com/2023/07/28/chargers-training-camp-joey-bosa-tuli-tuipulotu/

I take everything that is said in training camp with the proverbial grain of salt. What else is Bosa going to say about a rookie? He sux? Every season there are training camp warriors. And every season there are training camp warriors who disappear when the season goes live. I want to see these guys actually make plays, or not, in real games before I get excited.