Cal Football: In a Full Circle Moment, Cal and NFL Star Tyson Alualu Returns to Cal to Graduate

In a career full of success at all levels, former Cal and NFL defensive lineman Tyson Alualu returned to Berkeley for some unfinished business to receive his University of California degree over the weekend some 20 years after arriving at Cal as a young prep recruit.

“Definitely was a good feeling to finally come back and get that done,” Alualu said. “I think it was more so fulfilling to have my family here, my kids, my wife. Nothing that was sacrificed or the hard work that was put in on was just on my part, it’s everybody, so for for me to have my family here, my kids, my wife, that meant the world to me.”

Alualu came to Cal initially in 2005 as part of one of the Bears' best recruiting classes of all time, the 10th rated class in the nation with standout players like Desean Jackson, Lavell Hawkins, Zach Follett, Syd’Quan Thompson, Dez Bishop and more but the first-year Bear put his football future on hold with his marriage to his wife Desiré and the birth of their son, Tyreé before the 2005 season.

Temple ILB Tyreé Alualu

“That was really cool to come up, get recruited, and then see the guys that were part of that class, but for me in 2005, coming here to Cal, leaving Hawaii, leaving my family, everything that was comfortable and familiar to me...it was just a big culture shock for me, leaving home and then coming to Berkeley, which was so different than being back home around family and being in Hawaii.

“So just with how everything played out after seeing all the top recruits like Desean Jackson and Zach Follett, seeing them and then having to leave, I think it made my story even that much better. I got to handle some business, get married, and then kind of start my journey with my wife and my son spring of 2006. So going from seeing all these top recruits, seeing all these guys that I was going to get a chance to play here at Cal football with and play for, it was not so much a dream come true, but it was just special for me to take that fall off and come back and start my journey the following spring.”

That little boy would one day grow up to be a collegiate football player himself as Tyreé eventually signed with Temple out of high school and has had a couple productive seasons with the Owls.

“I tell people this all the time, it's such a joy when you're living out your own experience of coming, being part of a top program, coming and playing D1 football and then when you kind of go over it again and experience it with my son now, it's so much more for me, so much more rewarding to see him live out his dreams. Things that bring joy to him bring so much more joy to me. So it's pretty cool, even though college football is so different, recruiting is so different now, it's it's a blessing to kind of go through it with him.”

Alualu resumed his Cal career in the spring of 2006 and though it was good to be back, his return was not without it’s challenges, too.

“I wish I could tell you that everything was going good and smooth, but leaving in 2005 that fall probably made it even more difficult. I came back, so my wife was pregnant - at that time my girlfriend, so I went home, got married. Out of high school I was maybe 265 or 270 so I got here around, around that weight, and then when I came back in spring, I was 315. They told me, ‘Don't even worry about it, we're gonna run all that weight off of you in spring’ and I took it just as eventually the weight will fall off, but man, they put me to work and made me question if I wanted to even continue playing football.

“I was like, man, I don't know if this is what I signed up for, because spring ball.. I don't know if spring ball is the same nowadays, but back then, man, it was.. it was rough. It was tougher than training camp. Besides winter conditioning, the 6am workouts, and then when spring ball started, me and Mika Kane were taking all the reps. Brandon Mebane wasn't able to practice, so he wasn't doing some of the spring ball, so we were taking the ones, twos, and threes reps. I remember that being probably like the hardest part of college football, going through spring and being a younger guy, taking all those reps, playing in the scrimmages, so I remember like regretting like even leaving home or having spring ball as my first real college experience. that'll question a lot of things that that as a D1 player, living the big life here at the D1 level.”

Despite the struggles and the turmoil, Alualu’s career progressed well as he played in all 13 games as a freshman, including 5 tackles against Tennessee in his first collegiate game.

Alualu credits his teammates with helping him make his successful transition to a collegiate player.

“I think it was a combination of learning from the older guys, like when I first got here,” Alualu noted. “Brandon Mebane, and I tell people this all the time, he's probably the best defensive lineman that I've seen play, and he was like the first guy I got eyes on where it was like, ‘Oh, this is what a D1 football player is supposed to play like because as big as he was, he was just unblockable. Like the things I saw him do on the football field, in the practice, and then translate into games. He was the first one where we all saw him as the standard of what it's supposed to look like, so that kind of let me know like, ‘Okay, that's that's what I have to strive to be like, and then one day try and be better.’

“That was the mindset, something to strive for, so seeing him put in the work, and then seeing him play showed me that and then the confidence that the coaches and other players had in me, whether it was telling me that, ‘Hey, you can be the next Brandon Mebane,’ even though he was still here, and I was playing with him, just the thought of people seeing me kind of taking over and taking that role eventually gave me the utmost confidence to one day be in the same position as him.”

His coaches and teammates were right the money as Alualu went on to start every game of the rest of his Cal career, totaling 195 tackles 26 TFL, 16 sacks, 7 passes defended, 4 forced fumbles, 4 fumble recoveries, a blocked kick, an interception that he returned eight yards and 11 quarterback hurries. He even returned one of his four fumble recoveries for a touchdown vs. Arizona in 2007. He earned 2^nd team All-Conference honors as a junior and 1^st team All-Conference honors as a senior.

http://instagr.am/p/DKC3EzdpkkW

“I tell people all the time, it's just the grace of God that kind of allowed me to surpass everybody's expectations of where I'm supposed to go or who I'm supposed to be, but like I said, it's the people who kind of pushed me to be at my best and putting myself in a position to be noticed by certain scouts.

“A lot of credit goes to Tosh Lupoi, who I've always seen as a big brother. He was a GA when I first got here and then kind of took over, and you know, that's what I'm talking about, when the people around me were breeding the confidence in me to go out there and be at my best. A lot of credit goes to him for putting me in those positions as a player, and how I work, how I approach things, whether it's practice or games, or even just the mindset I had to have, a lot of it goes to him.

“And then the guys that were around me like Mika Kane, Cameron Jordan, Trevor Guyton, because of that mentality that Tosh was teaching, where we were out there competing to try and make each other better every single day, whether it was in practice or in our workouts, we were always competing. So those things are what set me up to have a good Senior Bowl.

After wrapping up his successful collegiate career, Alualu made his mark in the Senior Bowl, where he made his mark as a practice standout and adding a sack, a fumble forced and a fumble recovery in the postseason classic.

“I feel like that's where I really started to get noticed from a lot of scouts when I got to go to the Senior Bowl and all I was doing is the same things that I was doing at practice, whether it was finishing a rep, winning a rep, and then hustling back, and that was just the standard of how we did things. So I just kind of carried that over into how I practiced at the Senior Bowl and that gave me a leg up on a lot of the other top draft prospects that were coming out that same year. So I think that's really what got me on the map and what I'm really thankful for. And like I said, all I was doing was the same things I was doing here on the practice field, and taking that to the Senior Bowl, where there were a lot more eyes put on me because of that platform.”

His collegiate career at Cal and his strong Senior Bowl performance led to a pleasant surprise on draft day for the projected mid-2nd round draft pick, who rather than being on site for the draft was back home in Hawaii with friends and family.

“I was at home at my church,” Alualu said. I though, ‘I don't want to go to the draft and not be a first rounder,’ but more important than that, I just wanted to be around my family, everybody that's kind of been there from when I was starting playing football, all my grandparents and family members, church members that kind of molded me into the man I was at that point. I just wanted to kind of relax and be around family.

“Our church is right there in the middle of our neighborhood, where I grew up, so we just kind of gathered around with volleyball nets, jumpers for the kids, but we were just kind of sitting right around the TV trying to watch to see how the draft unfolded.

Back in Berkeley, the Cal staff and many of the players were gathered around the TV watching the draft and waiting for Alualu, running back Jahvid Best and cornerback Syd’Quan Thompson to be drafted.

The room exploded when the big DL went far above his projected slot as he was chosen tenth overall in the first round by the Jacksonville Jaguars.

“When they called me, I just remember the boys in the back, it just gave me like chicken skin, just thinking about like that exact moment. I can only imagine all the boys that were there, because I was doing the same thing.

“I was sitting down watching the draft, thinking, like, ‘When is Jahvid gonna go? I need to go see where Jahvid is gonna get picked up, because, man, that dude was special. Cool to see on the practice field what he did, and then what he did in the games. If he didn't get hurt, his talent could have made him the number one pick.”

Back at home, the situation that unfolded before family and friends was surreal for the future NFL star.

“We were just watching the draft, sitting down and during the first 10 picks they were announcing before I got picked, in my mind I wasn't even thinking of I'm gonna go next. I was like, ‘Okay, when it gets closer to later in the first round, I'll start thinking about what teams I could possibly go to,’ but when I got the call, I was telling my family, like, ‘This isn't the draft call.’ I thought people were still calling to get information and when Jacksonville called, we had a strength coach that had a relative that was there, he was talking to me like it was a pre-draft interview, like ‘I'm calling, this is who I am,’ so I was telling them, no, like this is not it. So when they started talking about me on the TV, everybody started gathering around, and they were like, ‘Oh, this is probably it. And then just a lot of screams, a lot of noise, and then my whole family just started singing worship songs as soon as it happened.

“So when I was really talking to a lot of people, I couldn't hear anything they were saying. And then when I got to Jacksonville, they said all we heard was a bunch of singing and praising, but I was like, ‘Yeah, I heard nothing that you guys were saying, so I had to get that follow-up call to see what I have to do in the next few days.

“It was a lot of shock and excitement, but at the same time, like I said, just by the grace of God, so it was a lot of tears of joy, because somebody, just a kid from Hawaii, being able to live out this dream, and not even expect it because all the people that I was talking to before draft, it kind of scared me away of thinking like, ‘Hey, I hope I go in the first round, you know? I mean, a lot of people that I talked to were like I was second round projection and then on draft day, I was like, ‘Oh, that's just crazy.’

“So all the talk and hype that they're giving me or other players, really means nothing unless the team really wants you. So just with how everything played out, it was shocking to me, but just super grateful that I got to experience that and have my whole family and community people around me have that same feeling I had. I mean, just to be somebody from that neighborhood, from the projects, and then to be drafted and be around that same neighborhood, the project that I lived in. I was just happy that I got to experience it with the people that.”

Alualu was called a risky pick for the Jags, going 30+ picks ahead of where he was projected to be drafted but the pick proved to be presient for Jacksonville as the former Bear became an immediate starter game one as a rookie.

“It was really cool and it's crazy,” Alualu said. “Now you can look back, because the longer you play in the league, you meet so many more people, but you get to understand how the draft rooms work, how trades or people end up drafting people.

“As far as going and being an immediate starter, this is tough in in the NFL, because I feel like everything depends on like the right fit, the right timing of the defensive scheme that you play, the people that you play around, so I'm super grateful that Jacksonville gave me my first shot, gave me an opportunity to be a 10th overall pick, but it it taught me that it's a lot harder than then I thought. There's, there's so many factors and what gives you not instant success, but just success in general, of how well you play within a scheme because it was tough. In my first four years in Jacksonville, I had four different head coaches. That’s the biggest difference from college to NFL football, and seeing the business side of how things are.

“But nonetheless, I'm just thankful and grateful for my journey, and mainly because of the people that I met along the way. Those are the things that you never want to take back, the relationships that you build, even through a lot of those tough times so I'm just kind of grateful for how everything played out.”

Spending seven years with the Jags and another six with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Alualu had a very productive NFL career compiling 416 tackles, 25 sacks, 4 forced fumbles, 3 fumble recoveries and 15 passes defended.

Could he have ever imagined that the kid who grew up largely with one parent through tough times in his project in Honolulu could have such an amazing future ahead of him?

Ohana - family - helped guide him through every step of the way.

“It goes beyond my own expectations, or the expectations that put the others put on me, but I feel like in everything that I do, is there's always people that I represent more than myself, and for me it comes down to my faith, and then my family, and then the people that I consider friends that become family, that means so much to me,” Alualu said. “So whether I'm on the field representing a certain team, the Jags, the Steelers, the Lions, I feel like I carry the weight of all the people. Not so much weight as in like a burden, but when other people see me still playing and still being productive, no matter what year I'm in, I always want to represent the people that I stand for, whether it's the people that I grew up with, my family back home, the University of California, all the people that I've played with, that motivates me and inspires me to try and go out there and give my best, and I feel like that's just a part of how I approach life, how I kind of live my life.

X / Tyson Alualu

“I want to bring as many people as I can with me as I'm on my way to the top and I hope I've done people justice with not just who I am as a player, but who I am as a teammate, who I am as a leader, who I am as a husband, as a father, just trying to continue to challenge myself that I inspire and motivate the people around me.

“That's ingrained in me. Where I come from, the people, my family, my parents, and then the people that I keep around me, my wife, my kids, they inspired me to be my best. I can only hope and pray that I'm doing my part.”

With his professional career reaching an end with his retirement after being signed in late 2023 by the Detroit Lions, Alualu’s thoughts returned to finishing the degree he’d planned to finish before departing for the NFL.

“When I left, my plan was to finish and train here to finish my degree before I left because I knew it would be difficult for me to try and come back and fit in the time because I knew I needed to be here physically to take classes so my plan when I left, was to train here at the facility with Coach K and finish my degree, which I would have been done, but my agent and my parents encouraged me to go train with the top athletes in Arizona. Looking back now, I'm grateful because I got to go and see and compete with and build relationships with guys that were coming out in that draft, Gerald McCoy being one of them, Arthur Smith, rest in peace, but it was being around a lot of top athletes and then having the different training that I wouldn't get here, as far as like learning the techniques of running the forty, all those things are so different than just playing football.

“So I'm grateful because it allowed me to perform at my best when I got to the combine, but that's that's kind of where me and my wife kept having talks of, you got to go and find a time to finish the degree. And sitting back now, it's I feel like it was the talk of finishing our degree, because I feel like my wife was such a big help. I feel like she was taking classes with me here at Cal, so the comeback is more than just finishing the hard work that I put in. This, it was more so finishing the hard work that we put in while I was here.

“So it was constant talks, but I don't think until I saw Brandon Mebane come back and finish his degree, I feel like that lit something in me to really take action. For somebody that I've seen, that I played with, go to the NFL and have the success he had and then come back and finish it, I think that's kind of what started or had me thinking, you know, I have to do this sooner than later, and then little factors like my son already in college football, just wanting to get my degree before him. All those things started playing a factor in my head of trying to get it done before he gets it done, because he might be done next year.

“It's just crazy, because even sitting at the commencement here in Memorial Stadium, hearing a lot of people talk, or the people that I sat around that got doctorates and did it in eight years, and them saying that, you know, it's a long time coming, and then not understanding it, not knowing who I was, or my own journey. I was like, ‘Well, it took me 20 years to get mine,’ but all in all, there is still a lot of pride in finally getting this done and like I said, not just because it is for me, but it's for the people that I represent, and the people that helped me get here.”

The former Bear didn’t just have a class or two to wrap up to see his dream through, though.

“I had maybe 16, 17 units (left to graduate),” Alualu said. “I first started by taking online classes during summer school here in spring of last year, and then I took three or more classes in Pittsburgh at a community college out there, and then two classes online in the summer, and then that kind of got me caught up. I’ve still got one class this summer.

“It means everything. When I first was getting recruited, Aaron Rodgers was quarterback, they beat USC, so it was like Cal was the up and coming program in football. And then it was like, if you get a degree from here in Berkeley, you can do whatever you want. It carries so much more weight than a normal degree from another university. So it means everything to me because it's a Cal degree, and then it means so much more because of my journey, and because of the people that are a part of it. So I'm just thankful and grateful.

“This commencement, I was planning on just coming to the department one, the smaller one. I didn't know how big this was going to be. I didn't like a lot of spotlight on myself, but it meant everything to me because my kids are in sports, because they’re in classes in school right now, they wouldn't be able to make the one on Wednesday, so we flew out here mainly so that my kids can see and experience that kind of be a part of this in Memorial Stadium, be with me with my robe and my cap and gown on, so I mainly did it for them. For us to take some pictures outside here at Cal, that meant everything to me, that my kids can physically see me walking or getting my degree with a lot of the other younger 2026 grad class, so it just meant everything to me.”

Alualu and Cal head coach Tosh Lupoi

Joining Alualu on a full circle journey is rookie coach Tosh Lupoi, who returned to Cal 25 years after arriving as a freshman player from De La Salle to embark on leading the program he poured the first decade of his football career into.

“I couldn't think of anybody better for this job that cares so much for Cal football,” Alualu said. “When I was getting recruited and then when I played, I got to see Tosh play, Tosh coach and he carries that same demeanor. He’s always had that whatever it takes mentality and he's somebody that you knew was going to encourage and challenge you at the same time to be at your best, and when you’ve got somebody that truly cares about you as a person, but about this program, you want to make sure you do your part the best way possible.

“For him to come back, there's so much excitement around it. But just from my own perspective, man, I just can't wait to see what this guy does with California football and to bring it back, not even bring it back to where it was. I feel like his standard is so high that he's going to try and surpass everything that Cal football has been, the expectations that people put on him as a coach here. I guess I'm just excited that this guy is back in this building and running this program, but I'm thankful because over the years trying to get back, but with Tosh here, I feel like he's doing the same without even saying it. There’s just so many people just speaking for myself that want to be more involved because Tosh is back at home.

“It's cool to reminisce on the great times that I had at Cal and I’m excited about our future and where Tosh will take us leading this program.”

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