Until his cousin, Bernard Afutiti, visited from the mainland nearly five years ago, the notion of playing college football had never occurred to Tyrone Taleni. And why would it? Taleni didn’t know football. He’d neither played nor spent any time watching the sport. Sure, football might be ingrained into the cultural fabric of nearby American Samoa, but on his home island of Savai’i, the western-most island in independent Samoa, rugby was still king.
When it came to rugby, Taleni was a natural. In his small mountain village of Vaiola, they played most days when school was out and the chores were done, sending punt after punt soaring over unspoiled paradise. Over the years, his family had carved out their own slice of this island oasis, living off the land, tending to chicken and cattle and pigs on a family homestead, where cacao, taro, bananas and mangoes grew plentifully.
His connection to the village ran deep, but after spending two years on a mission in Arkansas, Taleni returned to Vaiola in 2017 uncertain of his next steps. That’s when Afutiti and his wife, Crystal, came to the island for a visit.
It was Afutiti, a former college football player, who first floated the idea, planting a seed that would send Taleni careening down an unlikely path in an unfamiliar sport. Afutiti figured his cousin’s rugby talent might translate. Never in his wildest dreams did he believe that conversation would, years later, lead Taleni to USC.
He knew Taleni had designs on becoming a doctor, to help bring better medical access to Samoa. But pursuing that plan meant leaving the island for a higher education in the States, and college was costly. “He didn’t want to put any more burdens on his parents,” Afutiti says.
So Afutiti suggested football: “I told him it was probably his best way to earn a free education,” he said.
Taleni told his cousins he would pray on it.
A few weeks later, Taleni boarded a plane to California. He hasn’t been back to Samoa since.
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