Chargers News: It Took A Village To Raise Star LA Rookie

He was one of the few bright spots in a murky LA season.

Rookie Los Angeles Chargers edge rusher Tuli Tuipulotu's roots with the island nation of Tonga run deep, writes Jeff Miller of The Los Angeles Times.

"Me, I’m an underdog,” Tuipulotu said. “Being Tongan and trying to make it is another part of being an underdog. As the underdog, we’re trying to put the world on notice that we can play this game too.”

A lot of his family departed Tonga during the '90s for New Zealand, including Tuipulotu's parents. They moved to Southern California prior to his birth, and lived between Los Angeles and Newport Beach during his childhood.

The Lawndale High native is close with his biological parents, dad Niuila and mom Tania (who mostly speak Tongan). But Tania commissioned sister Lupe Fosnight and brother-in-law Ken Fosnight to help her raise Tuli, which is a frequent practice in Tongan culture. Tuli refers to Lupe Fosnight as "mom," and addresses his biological folks by their first names.

“I couldn’t picture myself being disrespectful to someone who was trying to help me,” Tuipulotu said. “I try to do everything the right way and hope I get repaid for it.”

The family keeps the concept of Tonga alive in Tuli Tuipulotu's heart, to the point where the USC product, his brother Marlon (now a Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle), and cousin Talanoa Hufanga (a San Francisco 49ers safety), send each other missives like “Put on for the Tzzzzzzz” and “Big Tzzzzzzz” in a pregame group text thread.

“Tuli has seen that the island is real,” Lupe Fosnight said. “He has seen it because we wanted to keep that alive in him.”

Miller notes that Tuipulotu has yet to visit Tonga, but he hopes to soon.

“I want to go there to experience everything, experience what my parents went through, see the villages where they grew up,” Tuipulotu said. “I’m not really a traveling guy. But that’s one place I’ll go. You know, back to the motherland.”