Vikings defensive tackle Khyiris Tonga is on a mission
EAGAN — As a high school senior, Khyiris Tonga found himself at a crossroads. He was on house arrest. He wasn’t allowed to play football or travel to away games to support his teammates. He was on a road to nowhere.
At that point Tonga made a decision to go on a Mormon mission that would change his perspective on life and shape his path to the NFL, where he’s become a quietly important piece of the Minnesota Vikings’ drive to the playoffs.
Growing up in West Valley, Utah, Tonga was the child of a single mother who struggled with poverty. When she got evicted and they didn’t have anywhere to go, he found refuge at friends’ houses. That was his normal.
Amidst the uncertainty, he was making noise as a football player. Khyiris was All-Region First-Team as a freshman playing tight end and rushing the passer. He received a three-star grade by ESPN and had a number of D-1 offers, including from the University of Utah.
But the instability of his upbringing was taking its toll.
“At the time, I was always messing something up,” Khyiris said in a sit-down at TCO Performance Center. “Something would be good and then I’d get it taken away. That’s what happened my senior year.”
Along the way he found a permanent place to stay with his best friend’s family. He was invited to stay for a night and then a week and eventually George and Siu Tonga’s home became his own. The Tongas gave him stability and taught him about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Midway through his senior year they officially adopted him.
“That was the first time in my life where it felt like home,” Khyiris said. “I was part of a family. Growing up I never had a dad, I never met my dad. In and out of my mom’s house, getting into trouble, I never had a home home. When all that happened, it felt really good and I had peace in my life.”
“My [adopted] parents gave me hope,” he said.
In the Tongas’ religion, many members serve a mission, which is a two-year stint away from friends and family in a location chosen by the church to teach others about their gospel. Khyiris knew many people in Utah who had gone on missions but never considered doing it himself. The more he reflected on his life and how he had been blessed to find stability with the Tongas, the more Khyiris felt called upon to give something back.
“With football out of the picture I was just thinking about what I wanted to do,” he said. “I got to think about how grateful I was for things that happened in my life and that piqued my interest in serving a mission.”
His new family did not push him to go on the mission. It meant more that he came upon the decision himself. Khyiris remembers telling his dad when they were driving and George Tonga pulled over the car out of surprise.
“I kept getting chances and I thought that the least I could do is give two years to God,” Khyiris said.
The Vikings’ defensive tackle explained that in the process of going on a mission, he did not get to choose his location. Other family members went to different countries, so he was hoping for maybe New Zealand. After waiting two weeks for his assignment to arrive in the mail, he excitedly opened the envelope and…
Kansas?
“Oh man, I was so hot,” Khyiris said. “I almost cried. No way.”
Off to Kansas he went. And that’s where he discovered the person that he wanted to be.
On his mission, Khyiris was only allowed to FaceTime with his family on Mother’s Day and Christmas and could only communicate with them via email on Mondays. He spent his days, from early morning to evening, walking around Kansas with a partner finding anyone they could to talk with about God.
“Spiritually and mentally it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done because I was away from family,” Khyiris said.
During those two years, he learned to connect with people, even when they might not have much in common.
“I’m with people that I don’t even know and I have to learn to love them and try to love them and be patient,” Khyiris said. “You work on all these things. That’s one of the biggest things I learned for myself was how Christ-like can I be with people I don’t even know and learning to love them.”
“It’s easy to be Christ-like toward my sisters and my brothers but I don’t know how to be that way with someone who pushed me or didn’t want to hear anything from me. It taught me patience and things I wanted to learn for myself,” he continued. “Those things that I learned are now the things I want to teach my kids. There’s so many things that I can’t even put into words that I took away from it.”
Every few months, he would transfer to a different part of Kansas and began the process of meeting new people and spreading the word all over again. Tonga laughs when he thinks about folks in Kansas letting him into their homes and realizing that he’s NFL defensive tackle-sized (and became even bigger due to the wonders of Kansas barbeque).
“Kansas grew on me,” he said laughing. “I ended up loving it. I loved every second there.”
When Khyiris was a high school recruit, current BYU head coach Kalani Sitake was the defensive coordinator at Utah. Sitake was impressed by his athletic skill and got to know Khyiris on a personal level.
“He caught my eye. I was like, man I think this guy can be something special,” Sitake said over the phone. “He could really move for how big he was.”
Sitake was aware that he had faced some adversity in his personal life but didn’t know the impact it was having on Khyiris.
“You don’t know all the troubles that he’s going through because he’s not going to share that with a coach that’s recruiting him,” Sitake said. “When he ran into trouble it was so uncharacteristic of him. Man, I feel like I know this kid better than that. We just need to keep working with him.”
When Khyiris’s mission was nearly completed, he contacted Sitake, who had taken the head coaching position at BYU, about getting back on the football field. Naturally, Sitake was interested — so were the members of his coaching staff.
“The O-line coach wanted him, the D-line coach wanted him,” Sitake said. “He’s so athletic he can do it all. If you give him a task to do, he will make it a strength for him and it won’t take very long.”
Sitake, who went on a mission himself in the mid-90s, said that he could see how Khyiris’s time in Kansas would have such a profound impact on him.
“You’ve had Mormon missionaries knock on your door, right? They’re not always treated the nicest,” Sitake said. “Can you imagine going and getting rejected over and over again but you have to have a good attitude about it? And you do it every day? There’s people who will listen and some who won’t but you have to love them and you have to care about them. At the same time in the community you’re going out to help people and serve people regardless of their religious affiliation. Do that for two years, what do you think that’s going to do for you as a person? You could see how this put him on a trajectory for success.”
Tonga became an instant contributor as a freshman and starred for BYU in the middle of their defensive line for four years. Sitake created offensive packages for Khyiris to play fullback and he even scored a three-yard touchdown in 2019.
“All it takes is belief in the young man and he’ll flourish,” Sitake said. “We have a great connection and I’m so proud of him. Not just the football part. I’m so proud of the person he is and the ability to overcome obstacles and adversity.”
In 2021, Khyiris was drafted by the Chicago Bears and played 217 snaps for them as a rookie.
When the Bears changed defensive schemes under new coach Matt Eberflus, they moved on from Tonga. Former Bears star DT Akiem Hicks tweeted that Chicago was making a mistake. Tonga signed on with the Atlanta Falcons’ practice squad and then in early October, the Vikings signed him away from the Falcons and he first appeared in Week 8 against Arizona.
The Vikings’ staff quickly took notice of his strength and ability to stuff the middle and add a little pass rushing juice as well. The next week he was on the field for 21 snaps against the Commanders.
“The Vikings believed in him and watch out,” Sitake said. “All that guy needs is belief. When you trust him and show faith in him, he’ll take off. It’s already working.”
He put together a seven-week stretch of grading positively by PFF and a four-week run of creating at least one QB pressure. Tonga has now been on the field for at least 25 snaps each of the last five games.
“I just think he plays with a level of physicality in the run game—that knockback that you look for,” Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said. “It shows up on tape. You consistently see him splitting double teams, you consistently see him getting push into people’s run games that allows E.K. (Eric Kendricks) and Jordan [Hicks] and Brian [Asamoah II] to go run and try to make tackles.”
O’Connell added that Tonga has shown an ability to transition from his run-stuffing role to rushing the passer effectively, which can be a challenge for nose tackles.
Tonga credits veteran Dalvin Tomlinson as a role model for his style of play.
“Tonga is a great young guy,” Tomlinson said. “He came in ready to work as soon as he got here and picked up the playbook well. He was super quiet at first. He’s good people. Love to see his growth. As an older guy, you love to see younger guys come in and contribute to the team and grow the way he does. You’re always proud.”
One of the mistakes young players make in the NFL is growing impatient and getting frustrated if things aren’t working out right away. Tonga looks back at his upbringing and mission as experiences that helped him handle the uncertainty of the pros.
“I think it’s really tough and you need to just keep the faith in what you’re doing,” he said. “It’s something I’ve learned in Year 2 is, don’t expect the outcome to be the outcome you want right away.”
“The hardest thing is to develop in the NFL because you have to produce now,” Tomlinson said. “Just to see over the course of the last few games to see him getting more and more comfortable with the scheme and with everyone out there with him out there, it’s crazy man.”
Now Tonga will be a difference maker on the Vikings’ defensive line as they head into the postseason. Sitake and the family that helped send his life on a positive path during his most difficult times will be watching.
“My family… it’s so hard to explain how to put into words how I feel about that,” Khyiris said. “I’m so grateful for this life and everything that’s happened until this moment. That’s all I can be is just grateful.”
