The Pittsburgh Steelers have found themselves a football addict during the 2023 free agency period. At the end of March, the Steelers and Breiden Fehoko agreed to a one-year contract for Fehoko to provide much-needed depth at nose tackle. However, there was a lot that happened that led to Fehoko joining the Steelers, as well as the NFL as a whole. Dale Lolley detailed how Fehoko made football his life, as well as the player that he looks up to.
How Did Fehoko Get Started In Football?
Fehoko's father, Vili, became the mascot for the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors and would let his three older sons participate in the festivities at each home game. Breiden Fehoko was the youngest of the four total sons and wasn't allowed to take part in any of it... until he allowed himself to.
"People were going crazy. I looked up on the big screen and I see Breiden. He just ran on the field. I went out dressed as a warrior. My wife would dress Breiden the same way. Man, the fans just went crazy, both the Alabama and the UH fans. From then on, we couldn't stop Breiden from coming onto the field. They wanted Breiden to come out all the time. Every time I ran out, Breiden would run out with me."
Fehoko would continue performing with his family after that moment. He was able to watch every single Hawaii game close-up. His brothers were also very influential, as they would all collect football cards and test each other's knowledge of the game in any way they could.
"Last summer, we went back home to Hawaii and in our old storage, I had six totes filled with cards. All types. We would always test each other on where this guy went to college or what this stat was."
After his brothers left to play college football, Fehoko soon did the same, leaving the island state for the Texas Tech Red Raiders, and eventually the LSU Tigers. He helped lead LSU to their National Championship victory, where he was specifically a run-situation lineman that would fill up holes in the interior and shut down the run game. Despite winning the championship, he went undrafted in the NFL and was signed by the Los Angeles Chargers.
As time went on and Fehoko developed, he saw more snaps on the field and was able to make more plays, including playing over half of the snaps of games that he was active in in 2022. In those games, he recorded 23 tackles and didn't miss a single one. That level of efficiency is exactly what the Steelers need on their run defense. Fehoko could cause many problems in the run game while being flanked on either side by Cameron Heyward and Larry Ogunjobi, likely with some help from his mentor.
Which Former Steelers DL Helped Fehoko?
Ever since Fehoko was a kid, he has seen plenty of Tyson Alualu in his life. From watching Alualu play against his brother in high school, to watching his college tape, to receiving messages, and even hanging out with him, Fehoko has known of Alualu for a long time. Alualu reached out to Fehoko back when he was in college and Alualu was in the NFL, offering his help to a fellow Polynesian and nose tackle.
"He's been a huge mentor of mine. Whenever I was in college, he would reach out. 'Hey, this is Tyson. If you ever need anything, here's my number.' When I signed here, he reached out to me, 'Hey, if you want to come over and have a barbeque or whatever. I'm here.'"
Fehoko credits Alualu as somewhat of an idol. Not only does he want to play the nose tackle position like Alualu did, but he also wants to be man that Alualu was off the field. Even with Alualu's unfortune drop-off in production in 2022, he could still continue to mentor Fehoko and help him be a high-end run-stuffing lineman for the Steelers.
"Tyson was a guy who was very humble, a man of few words. But he played his heart out and left everything out there. I only hope to be half the player he was here. That's very big shoes to fill."
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