Even in the least eventful part of the NFL offseason, there’s still news to report!
The Seattle Seahawks had an open roster spot following the release of rookie tight end Mitch Van Vooren last week. They’ve since filled that void with one of their rookie minicamp invites.
Offensive lineman Luke Felix-Fualalo has been added to the Seahawks roster. He’s a big fella who stands 6’7 and weighs just under 320 pounds. Felix-Fualalo began his college playing days at Utah before transferring to Hawaii, where he was their starting right tackle. In his 2023 season he allowed only one sack out of 491 pass-blocking snaps, but injuries limited him to just four games started as a sixth-year senior.
Felix-Fualalo has a fascinating story. He’s born in Australia and didn’t play any football until he was a high-schooler in California. His dad was a former international rugby player for Tonga, while his mom played netball for New Zealand. Oh yes, and he’s named after Luke Skywalker from Star Wars.
Check out this snippet from his Q&A with the Hawaii Athletics website:
Q: Growing up in an athletic family from Australia how did you find out about football and how did you start playing football?
Luke Felix-Fualalo: I found out about football by watching movies, specifically, “The Blind Side.” That’s how I first thought about football, but I had never actually seen it on TV. How I first started playing was I went to try out for basketball. There was an American coach there. After the tryouts happened, he said, ‘I’m sorry you won’t be a good basketball player, but you could be a good football player.’ He took me to a local club and the rest is history.
Q: What sports did you play other than football?
LFF: Just rugby and swimming, those were my two main sports. Since I was two, I started swimming by getting chucked into the pool. Just growing up … swimming was in the family. And Australia too, like Hawaii, comes from beaches and so on.”
Q: Growing up and doing competitive swimming do you think there is another universe where you are a professional swimmer?
LFF: Maybe, I think that I would have gotten bored of swimming. The reason why I stopped swimming was growing up through rugby I got heavy and started to sink.
Check out his interview with local television after his initial invite from the Seahawks:
Selfishly, I’m hoping Luke makes it into at least some preseason playing time. It’s an uphill battle for a tryout to make a regular season roster, but he’s got an irresistible story to follow and he’s doubled the number of Australians on the Seahawks.
