At Oklahoma, Jonah Laulu Embodies Family, Culture, Sacrifice and Hard Work

The former Hawaii transfer has switched positions this year, and credits his rise as a team rep to his willingness to do anything to help the Sooners win.

Whatever it takes.

That’s the lesson that Jonah Laulu learned from his mother. It’s what his Samoan heritage instilled in him. And it’s what he’s applied to his own situation in hopes of returning Oklahoma football to championship form.

Laulu is a sixth-year senior at OU, and he’s made a big position switch — from a 260-pound defensive end to a 293-pound defensive tackle. Laulu transferred to Oklahoma from Hawaii after the 2021 season, and while playing for the Rainbow Warriors, he made the gain from 230 pounds to 260 just so he could compete in the trenches.

“I just wanted to do what I needed to do to help this team be the best it can be,” Laulu said at Big 12 Media Days. “So whatever I have to do, I’ll do it.”

That sacrifice and unspoken work ethic comes from his mother, Palolo. While Laulu was blossoming into a heralded player at Centennial High School in Las Vegas, his mother worked hard to provide for her son.

“Seeing your mom work two jobs, she gets to come home for like two hours in a day, and then she has to go back to work,” he told Hawaii TV station KHON in 2019. “That just, it like, it does something to you. It makes you feel like, ‘Dang, she’s really out here doing this for me?’ ” he said.

Laulu said he and the OU coaching staff decided midway through 2022 training camp that he would eventually switch from end to tackle. He went to work adding smart weight immediately after returning home from the Cheez-It Bowl, which was his third start of the 2022 season.

Jonah Laulu vs. Oklahoma State :: BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN-USA TODAY NETWORK

Laulu has now played in 53 college football games with 21 starts. His willingness to do whatever it takes has left an impression on his coaches as well as his teammates. That’s how you go from Hawaii transfer one year to Big 12 Media Day representative the next.

“Jonah’s a great player,” said OU linebacker and defensive leader Danny Stutsman. “You know, he was playing defensive end, obviously, but now he's able to sacrifice put on a little bit of weight, put his hand in that dirt he used to be a great three tech for us, you know, he's gonna be a great player, man. He's a great leader, for sure.”

“There has been a transformation,” said head coach Brent Venables. “Him moving to that group has made that group better through competition and leadership, value system and toughness. He’s a great teammate. There are a lot of ways he’s made that inside position better, more accountable.”

At Big 12 Media Days, Laulu represented the Sooners alongside team leaders like Stutsman, wide receiver Drake Stoops and quarterback Dillon Gabriel. That’s a rapid ascension.

“For sure,” he said. “I think it’s because of how well I took on the position change. Because some people would kind of refuse it at first. They wouldn’t want to change to that position because they wouldn’t want to let go of that being on the edge and being a linebacker.”

Laulu said being in quarantine in Hawaii contributed to keeping his weight down because he couldn’t work out as much as he needed to. He said COVID didn’t hit the Islands fully until 2021, shortly before he was headed to the transfer portal.

But getting two full offseasons with OU’s strength and nutrition staffs allowed him to focus on adding the weight he needed.

“That transition to the interior, I needed to gain that weight because you can’t be playing two-eye nose weighing 260, because you can get thrown around and get thrown out the club,” he said. “So I had to put on that weight, and I feel great. I feel more explosive. I feel the strongest I’ve been. I feel even faster than I was when I was lighter. And it’s kind of funny, I was talking with Coach (Todd) Bates yesterday and we were joking around and he was saying how I look even better at 293 than I did at 260. I think I was supposed to be this big the whole time. I had to let go of that dream of dropping back, getting a pick — which I did — but yeah, it’s been a great transition for sure.”

Jonah Laulu :: Kevin Jairaj / USA TODAY Sports

That work ethic, sacrifice and willingness to be a small part of something bigger is in Laulu’s DNA.

Family is everything in Polynesian culture, and for Laulu, the extended family of football is a perfect fit.

“If you look in the football world and you see someone with a lot of vowels and a long last name, you’re probably gonna assume they’re Polynesian of some type — Samoan or Hawaiian or Tongan,” Laulu said. “I mean, growing up, I was raised by my mom, and she was born and raised in New Zealand. Her parents are from Western Samoa.

“Growing up, watching Troy Polamalu, looking at guys like that, Marcus Mariota, players like that in the NFL and in college, it was crazy to watch knowing they have come from the same background as me, a small island where they don’t really have a lot. Football has been such a great opportunity for them to better their lives. I mean, it was almost like I was made for football in a way, just how I was born half Black and half Samoan. I love this sport.”

At OU, the Polynesian culture has certainly grown. Gabriel is from the small Hawaiian town of Mililani and his family has deep, traditional Hawaiian roots. Utah State transfer Phillip Paea is from Berrian Springs, MI, (he played three seasons at and graduated from Michigan) but proudly played in the inaugural Polynesian Bowl in 2017. Junior college defensive tackle Danny Saili, who's scheduled to join the team in 2024, went to high school in Topeka, KS, but his family moved from Las Vegas and is of Samoan descent. And Jayden Jackson, a defensive tackle verbal commit in the 2024 class, plays at IMG Academy in Florida but is Samoan.

And — different sport, but — who could forget the legend of home run queen Jocelyn Alo and members of her big family at just about every softball game?

Jonah Laulu / Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

“It’s based on family,” BYU head coach Kalani Sitake told AllSooners at Big 12 Media Days. “When you’re talking about being a teammate and being a family member, that’s our culture. It’s an easy thing to sell. And I think it matches football and I think it matches being part of a new group.”

“Yeah, the Polynesian culture,” said Gabriel, “me growing up in Hawaii, being around it all my life, it’s just — it's big on family and our faith, letting that be our guide.

“I’m glad to have Jonah and Phil on the team. For the most part, what they bring and who they are is, you know, that faith and that family aspect. And you know, they work extremely hard, but they're also guys that have a bunch of fun. So, just having that energy in the locker room is huge.”

After his first year of college football, Laulu was named Hawaii’s Scout Team Defensive Player of the Year. Before his final year of college football, he was named team spokesman at Big 12 Media Days. That climb says a lot about his background, the strong mom that’s always in his corner, and where she comes from.

“For sure. The Polynesian culture is big on family,” Laulu said. “Because, you know, they usually have really big families. You grow up hanging out with your cousins and your siblings. I have so many cousins. And it’s sad that I don’t get to see them as much because, you know, they all live in Australia and New Zealand. But a big emphasis in the Polynesian culture is family, for sure.”

Venables said he had several Polynesian teammates as a player at Kansas State, and acknowledges the influence that a former Sooner, C.J. Ah You, and his massive family, had on him as a coach and as a person. Ah You, also a defensive end (and, like Sitake, a former BYU player and now a defensive assistant at Texas Tech) embodied many of the qualities that Venables seeks in his players — the same qualities that Laulu has shown.

“Hard work, earning your opportunity, perseverance, toughness, physicality, details,” Venables said. “The name of the back on the jersey as well as the name on the front. I think it’s very important that value systems align, regardless of where they come from. We’re all familiar with their culture. There’s a lot of attractiveness to what they value and what we believe in, no question.

“Not everybody is the same, but there is potential for guys who know what culture is and what family is and what connection is and relationships are.” 

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