Puka Nacua Powers Rams Push into the Pacific

The man who is leading the charge is Puka Nacua. It seems Nacua will be the face of the Rams' pacific expansion after what was a PR dream in Hawaii. Nacua, a player of Samoan and Hawaiian heritage, checks every box.

He's relatable, likeable, and most importantly, marketable. A recent report by Rams.com's Stu Jackson illustrates how popular Nacua was in Hawaii.

"It feels like home," Nacua said after minicamp practice in Maui. "As soon as we got off the plane, the first person, he gave me a big hug and he had a big smile and he's like, 'Thank you so much for everyone you do for the Polynesian community.' That's how I expected it to be, to have a warm welcome, somebody to hug. I thought he was going to have spam musubi. He didn't, but it was alright, we got it after."

"I guess it doesn't feel real," Nacua said. "I feel like I'm the same age as these little kids. I'm having a blast. It doesn't feel real sometimes, (that) people are wearing my jersey. But I hope they carry the things that our part of culture, respect, to have the honor and the discipline to represent your family, but also those things that carry and translate directly to football."

Those two quotes are exactly why Nacua is so popular. He understands the core values of the cultures within the Pacific rim. It should also be noted that he pronounces musubi the correct way and while one would think that's not a big deal, there are a lot of people who pronounce the word differently, and that's a tell-tale sign that a person doesn't have a connection to the Pacific.

It's those little things that mean so much, and for the Rams, Nacua is the key to an untapped market of over one billion new consumers.