Carolina Panthers blocker Amini Silatolu paves path to pros

The Notre Dame-Nevada matchup the first weekend of the 2009 season might not have captured the country’s interest, but Amini Silatolu was watching.

A Nevada signee who didn’t qualify academically, Silatolu watched the game from the living room of his parents’ home in northern California – a man without a school.

“They’re playing at (Notre Dame), and I’m sitting at home watching,” Silatolu said. “And watching them running out on the field, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, that could’ve been me.’ ”

It took a couple of years at an out-of-the-way football outpost in north Texas, but what could have been has become what will be for the 6-foot-4, 311-pound offensive lineman.

Through his academic struggles and stops at a California junior college and little-known Midwestern State, Silatolu never lost sight of his goal of making it to the highest level of football – even if he never said much about it.

Having made it to the NFL as the second-round pick of the Carolina Panthers, the soft-spoken giant who manhandled Division II opponents isn’t going to start boasting now.

“Off the field I’m the nicest person you’ll ever meet. I’m really quiet and don’t talk too much,” Silatolu said during a recent phone interview. “I’ve never been that overconfident guy that runs his mouth. Instead of doing a lot of talking, I do a lot of walking. That’s just who I am.”

Silatolu’s journey would have humbled just about any player. But Silatolu was humble long before he became a road-grading lineman.

Silatolu learned the value of hard work from his parents, Saia and Lupe, who held a series of menial-labor positions after moving to the United States from Tonga in 1985 for a better life.

And if the YouTube clips of Silatolu driving defensive linemen out of the video frame aren’t enough to quicken the pulse of Panthers fans, his college coach advised: Wait until fans see him in person.

“For a guy that no one knows anybody about, you’re going to be excited about watching him block,” Midwestern State’s Bill Maskill said. “He’s a guy that doesn’t know but one speed. He goes as hard in practice as he does in games. He just goes all the time.”

Saia and Lupe Silatolu settled in California after moving from Tonga, a country comprised of 176 islands in the south Pacific. Saia took a job at a gas station, while Lupe worked as a housekeeper at a hotel until her two sons were born 17 months apart.

When the boys were toddlers, Lupe took them to Tonga to live with her mother for a year while she returned to the States to look for work. While living in Tonga, the boys attended their uncle’s rugby games, the closest thing to American football on the island.

“As soon as they came back, you could tell they were really into football,” Lupe said. “So Saia took them to join Pop Warner.”

Silatolu played no other sports growing up. Football was his love, and everything else was a distant second – including homework.

Despite his parents’ encouragement, “Amini wasn’t really good at school,” his mother said.

After high school in Tracy, Calif., Silatolu attended San Joaquin Delta College in nearby Stockton. He started two years at left tackle, and had visits scheduled to Hawaii, California and San Jose State, as well as a scholarship offer from Tennessee.

But they all backed off after seeing Silatolu’s grades. He signed with Nevada, but was ineligible to play for a Division I school because he hadn’t finished his associate’s degree.

During an unofficial visit to Cal, one of the Bears’ coaches asked Silatolu to name his No. 1 goal, expecting him to mention NFL aspirations. Silatolu surprised him by saying he wanted to play for a four-year school.

“That’s how it all starts,” Silatolu said. “I never got ahead of myself. I just thought about the next step to get where I needed to be.”

That next step was Midwestern State, a school with an enrollment of 6,000 in Wichita Falls, Texas, and the alma mater of Dr. Phil (McGraw) of TV fame.

Within Silatolu’s first three days on campus, Maskill realized he had a devastating blocker.

“He just knocked the hell out of people,” Maskill said.

Silatolu dominated the Lone Star Conference from his left tackle position. According to Midwestern State, Silatolu was on the field for 560 pass plays during his two years with the Mustangs, and allowed a half of a sack.

Silatolu, 23, was a consensus All-American last season while anchoring the top offense in Division II in terms of total yards (531.9 yards a game) and points (48.6).

But it was the manner in which Silatolu finished blocks that caught the Panthers’ attention.

“We call it black line,” coach Ron Rivera said the night the Panthers drafted him 40th overall. “You take a guy and take him outside the black line of the (video) screen and he was just gone. That was impressive.”

Maskill told every scout who visited Wichita Falls (population, 101,000) that Silatolu was a throw-back.

“He’s mean. He’s tough. He’s nasty. He plays hurt,” Maskill said. “All the things the old guys used to do, he does it.”

Maskill said Silatolu broke his hand his first fall at Midwestern State. Doctors told him he’d be out the rest of the season. Silatolu missed two games after pins were inserted in the bone, and was back in the lineup.

Silatolu’s toughness and quiet leadership did not go unnoticed by his teammates, who voted him captain before his senior year. How unassuming was Silatolu? Maskill said he didn’t want to call the coin toss before games.

“I really don’t think he wanted to be a captain. He never got up in front of the team and spoke. He did not want to bring attention to himself,” Maskill said. “Everyone respected him for what he did, and how he did it.”

The fact that Silatolu did it against lesser competition was one of the knocks on him before the draft. Another question: How would someone not fond of textbooks handle an NFL playbook?

Silatolu said he kept his GPA around 2.5 at Midwestern so he could stay eligible. And while Maskill concedes Silatolu “wasn’t a fan of the classroom,” he’s plenty smart.

A friend of Maskill’s who is a Cleveland Browns assistant put Silatolu at the dry-erase board to diagram plays and go through blocking responsibilities. Silatolu aced it, the coach told Maskill.

Silatolu also was at the board with Carolina and wasn’t sure he did well. But when the Panthers called him the second night of the draft, he figured it must have gone better than he thought.

“He’s somebody we’re excited about,” Panthers general manager Marty Hurney said. “When you watch tape, the whole approach he takes, the physical play comes out immediately. He puts opponents on the ground. He’s a very driven young man who’s come a long way.”

Minutes after hearing from the Panthers, Silatolu got a call from his younger brother. Paul Silatolu, a Naval petty officer, was calling from the USS New York – a ship whose bow includes 7.5 tons of steel salvaged from the World Trade Center wreckage – off the coast of Italy.

It was a touching moment for the entire family. Nearly a week later, Lupe cried as she recounted the phone call between her only two children.

“It was very meaningful for us,” she said.

Though his path to the NFL was more circuitous than most of the other top picks, Silatolu never lost his way.

“I’ve always believed in myself. Football was always the main thing in my life,” he said. “I knew I always wanted to get to this point. But it doesn’t happen overnight.”

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/05/05/3219838/carolina-panthers-blocker-amini.html#storylink=cpy

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Panthers Load Up On O-line With Silatolu

The need wasn’t immediate, but that didn’t stop the Carolina Panthers. 

They just selected Midwestern State offensive lineman Amini Silatolu in the second round (40^th overall). 

This one comes as a bit of a surprise. Most of Carolina’s remaining needs are on defense and their offensive line is in pretty good shape. 

Silatolu played left tackle in college, but projects as an NFL guard. The Panthers appear to be set there with Geoff Hangartner and Mike Pollak as the likely starters and Byron Bellproviding some depth. But this pick wasn’t about immediate need. 

Silatolu is a guy with huge upside, but he likely will need a little time to develop. He’ll get that time with Hangartner and Pollak ahead of him. But the Panthers want to protect quarterback Cam Newton for the long term. Pollak was signed only to a one-year contract and Hangartner isn’t much better than average. The Panthers obviously are hoping Silatolu can be better than average in a year or two. 

It also is possible the Panthers could view Silatolu as a tackle. There is some uncertainty at right tackle because of Jeff Otah's injury problems. But the Panthers already have some depth there with Garry Williams and Bell.

(Hurney & Rivera discuss their pick of Silatolu video link)

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Hisatake Living The Dream

For nearly everyone on the Carolina Panthers' roster, earning their way into the NFL is a life-long dream.

For rookie offensive guard Ray Hisatake, just being a part of training camp is a dream come true, but it's far from a life-long dream.

Less than six years ago, Hisatake felt like the ultimate rookie when he attended a preseason team meeting at the invitation of College of San Mateo football coach Larry Owens.

"Everybody went around introducing themselves, saying, ‘My name is this. I went here, and I play such-and-such,'" Hisatake said. "It came to me, and I said, ‘My name is Ray Hisatake, Westmoor High School,' and then I sat down.

"They were like, ‘What position do you play?' I looked at ‘Coach O' and he said, ‘D-line.'"

At that moment, Hisatake had never played a single snap of football, and as of two years ago, he had never taken a snap in a game on the offensive line. Yet here he is, an undrafted rookie free agent who has seen three fellow undrafted rookie linemen come and go since he got an unexpected call from former Panthers college scout Pete Russell shortly after the draft.

"I had no agents calling me, no teams, and then Pete Russell called me. I was like, ‘Come on, who is this?'" Hisatake said. "He told me, ‘I've been watching film on you, and I really like the way you look.

"I'm not making you any promises, but I wanted to call and encourage you that there is some interest in you, so don't go home and sit on the couch.' "

Since that moment, Hisatake has been the opposite of a couch potato. He's even decided that if he gets a call from his girlfriend in Hawaii to tell him that she's given birth to their child, he'll see his preseason opportunity with the Panthers through before paying a visit.

"He's doing a great job," left tackle Jordan Gross said. "I've played O-line since I was a sophomore in high school. Ray is a little bit behind in his experience level, but it doesn't really show on the field.

"He's really built himself a nice niche on the O-line."

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

It wasn't that Hisatake (pronounced "Hiss-a-ta-kee") didn't want to play football growing up in Daly City, Calif., literally a couple of minutes from Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

Despite looking like a perfect candidate, Hisatake couldn't play.

"I was too big to play Pop Warner. In eighth grade, I was 5-11, 275," said Hisatake, now 6-3, 305 pounds.

"I didn't play football in high school; we didn't have a team."

Hisatake also couldn't afford to attend any 49ers game next door, but he spent little time worrying about football because he had another dream: to be the first person in his family, the first among his six siblings, to go to college.

With that in mind, Hisatake threw his large frame into track and field, becoming an accomplished-enough discus and shot putter to get an invitation onto the College of San Mateo track team, which he hoped to parlay into a scholarship to a four-year school.

When Hisatake realized that was unlikely, he remembered the offer that the girls' basketball coach at his high school had made to call his good friend at San Mateo, Coach Owens, and ask if he'd give Hisatake a look.

"I knew I wasn't good enough (at track and field) to get a full ride, so I figured I'd just give football the old college try," Hisatake said. "In my mind, I was thinking with my size that maybe I'd get an NAIA or Division III offer, but I picked up the game.

"I loved track and field, but when I started playing football, I really saw what I was missing."

ALOHA STATE OF MIND

After three years at San Mateo – starting with a grayshirt year when he learned things like how to put on his pads – Hisatake found himself getting scholarship offers from Division I schools.

"It was amazing," Hisatake said. "Never would have thought."

He accepted an offer from Hawaii, anxious to continue his education in the classroom and on the defensive line, but he got an early surprise from assistant coach Mouse Davis and head coach June Jones.

"Coach Davis saw me and said, ‘Can you bend? Go ahead and squat for me,'" Hisatake said. "So I did, and he said, ‘Hey, June, move him to left tackle.'

"That was it."

After redshirting in 2007, Hisatake was a backup in 2008. Last fall, he started at right guard for the Warriors. He reached his ultimate goal last December, graduating with a degree in sociology, but it looked likely that he had reached the end of the line with football.

THE NOTEBOOK

Now, the Panthers are the latest to give Hisatake a chance.

"I've had my good days and my bad days, but I was fortunate enough to come into a group of vets that are very positive. They're really trying to look out for me," he said. "Every day I'm out there, I try to listen to the vets and work hard and get better."

Hisatake doesn't stop at listening. Gross pulled the rookie offensive linemen aside at one point and stressed the importance of working extra on their weaknesses.

Hisatake took the advice to heart.

"Every little thing the vets or Coach Mags (offensive line coach Dave Magazu) say, I write down in my notebook. I look it over before practice every day," Hisatake said. "I'm out there 20 minutes early and I stay 20 minutes after practice to work on the stuff that I need to work on.

"Then every day after practice, I'm in the O-line room watching film with Mackenzy (Bernadeau)."
Hisatake understands that he's still a long shot to make the 53-man roster, but since he put down the shot put and started learning how to throw around opposing linemen, that's the way his football future has been.

"With all the changes that are starting to be made to the roster, me being able to stick around this long, it feels surreal coming from my football background," he said. "This is really amazing to me."

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Former Bulldog Scores NFL Contract

In a world where most players enter college football programs with years of Pop Warner and high school playing experience, Raymond Emanuel Hisatake stands out.

Hisatake, 23, a former CSM Bulldog defensive lineman, signed a three-year free agent contract with the Carolina Panthers on April 24, and will be suiting up in a No. 62 Panthers uniform.

He received a $10,000 signing bonus and will have a first year salary of $320,000.

"It's a storybook tale," said his former CSM head coach Larry Owens.

"Ray having never played any football at high school to have an opportunity to play professional football and get paid for it, I am really excited for him. We at CSM love him a lot and are very happy for him and his family." he said.

Hisatake never played a football game before he came to CSM, said Owens.

When he first came for tryouts, he wasn't sure what the pads were and how to put them on.

"Ray was easy to coach," said Owens. "He would do everything you tell him to and he worked very hard and has come a long way."

"I am very thankful and very blessed," said Hisatake. "I gave my best and am happy that I will be able to represent CSM and the coaches."

Hisatake graduated from Westmoor High in Daly City, a school that did not have a football program, in 2004 and enrolled at CSM with the intention of joining the track-and-field program.

"It was very hard to get a full-ride scholarship to college through track-and-field," said Hisatake. "I spoke to a few colleges, and I found out that I was good but not good enough (to get a scholarship)."

Still, that did not stop Hisatake from winning the 2006 Coast Conference Track & Field Championship in discus throwing.

"I thought that since CSM had a football team, I might as well try out and hope to get into a Division III college football program," said Hisatake.

Instead, after greyshirting in 2004 and playing as a defensive lineman in 2005 and 2006, Histake won a scholarship to a Division I football program at the University of Hawaii.

At UH, he switched to playing in the offensive positions of left tackle, right guard and left guard.

"When I first saw and met Ray, we were in spring football and he was working out with the track team," said CSM Defensive Line Coach David Heck. "6'4 and 330 pounds does not come around too often. I remember his first play in his first game where he got driven down the field 15 yards and could not get off the block. Now he is the one driving people 15 yards down the field."

After graduating from UH on Dec. 20, 2009 with a bachelor degree in sociology, Hisatake spent three months in Arizona preparing for his Pro Day on April 1.

"I did well enough in the individual drills and managed to impress the Chicago Bear and Carolina Panther scouts," said Hisatake. "The Carolina Panthers gave me a call after the draft offering me a contract."

"Coach Heck was one of the first people outside of my family that I called," Hisatake said. "I consider Coach Heck my family and I still keep in touch with Coach O (Owens), (CSM Defensive Coordinator) Coach Tulloch and my Bulldog teammates; I will never forget the bonds of friendship I made with them."

"I felt so proud and thankful about Ray signing a pro contract; it couldn't have happened to a nicer kid," said Heck. "Coming from where he came from and never playing football to signing a pro contract is the reason I coach; just for him to have the opportunity to be in this position is a great thing. I think this is what junior college football is all about. Giving opportunities to young men that they didn't have coming out of high school."

"I'm happy for Ray," said Bulldog teammate Tevita Halaholo. "He's an athlete. I remember him doing perfect splits in the locker room; biggest dude I've ever seen do the splits. He will do a great job in the NFL."

"The coaches at CSM, they helped me a lot," said Hisatake. "Coach Owens gave me an opportunity to play despite me not having any football experience. I am proud to be part of a great football program at CSM which also helped me get ahead academically; I was able to graduate early from CSM with an AA majoring in liberal arts. Due to the program, I am the first in my family to graduate with a college degree."

"There are three things that I am really happy for him about- first that he got a scholarship to University of Hawaii, then when he got his bachelor's degree there, and now when he gets a shot at playing football professionally," said Owens.

"Ray represents what we all mean when we speak of being a Bulldog," said CSM Football Head Coach Bret Pollack. "He exemplifies our culture and fighting spirit of 'Play Hard, Never Quit' which rings true for all Bulldogs in the classroom, in the weight room, on the field, and in life. Ray continues to exemplify that culture and at the same time provide motivation for current and future CSM students and athletes."

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Kemoeatu Recovering From Surgeries

 

Panthers DT Maake Kemoeatu is making progress in his recovery from two surgeries to repair his torn Achilles, which caused him to miss the '09 season, and plans to play in '10.

"Everything's going great, but it's very painful for him," Kemoeatu's agent, Ken Vierra, told the Rock Hill Herald. "They're working him pretty hard. Right now, he's got to pay the price. He's getting the musculature back, breaking up the scar tissue, and that's a painful process."

Vierra said Kemoeatu is "several weeks" away from jogging on a treadmill, though. And Kemoeatu is due a $9.3 million bonus next month, which would trigger a contract extension through the '14 season. If the team passes on that extension, as expected, he will be due $4.3 million next year. ...

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