‘Last Chance U’ alum Taugavau makes way to Murray State
MURRAY, Ky. (BVM) — It has become an annual tradition of sorts for football fans around the country and the world to huddle around their TVs to watch the most recent season of Netflix’s hit series “Last Chance U,” chronicling a season of one of the top junior college football teams in the country. This year, Last Chance U has played an even more critical role in football fans’ lives as many have been left with the prospect of not being able to watch their teams in the fall and are using the show as a way to fill the void that the COVID-19 pandemic has created.
This season was a completely different one for Last Chance U. They didn’t follow the teams of the past like East Mississippi Community College or Independence Community College, instead taking the crew out to California to follow the Laney College Eagles of Oakland, Calif., part of the California Community College Athletics Association. While the show still had its high intensity in-game action and compelling stories from both athletes and players alike, one player became a universal fan favorite from the moment his big smile hit the screen.
Nu’u Taugavau, an offensive guard for the Eagles, had a story that was unlike any other in the Last Chance U canon. Taugavau’s life was shown to the nation as the former Walmart employee decided to join the Laney football team in order to advance his education to support his wife, Tia, and his two young daughters, Kiana and Donna, who were 3 and 1 at the time of filming.
“I was surprised,” Taugavau said. “I never thought I would be on something like that, be on the big screen or anything like that. I just do what I do on the daily. I don’t ask for that stuff. It just kind of fell into my lap so I was really blessed to be a part of that. It was really nice.”
I think it’s finally hitting me that we bouta be on Netflix 😳😅 LOOK at my babies 😩😍 their gonna have so much to look back at wen they get older 🤩 pic.twitter.com/h7dOT4EdyA
— Tia Taugavau (@tiayoboss) July 16, 2020
For Taugavau, who was a fan of the earlier seasons of Last Chance U, it was an unexpected surprise to be featured in the show and eventually the camera crew became just like any other member of the team.
“I was a big fan of it from episode one,” Taugavau said. “I knew of it and I liked all of it, all of the seasons before us. For them to come here I was shocked. I never thought they’d even cover us. … We didn’t even look at them like a crew, we looked at them as family. We got comfortable with it. It became part of our daily routine and they became like family.”
Taugavau would rely heavily on his family to help him and Tia, who was working towards graduating beauty school, as they tried to achieve their goals. However, in some cases, this created some havoc for the young athlete as he would be forced to either miss classes or bring his daughters with him to practices as he worked to earn a scholarship. Taugavau was shown in the series as a dedicated father who, though struggling to cope with the life he faced, would do whatever it took to give his family a good life.
“It was cool (to see),” Taugavau said. “It was crazy, man, seeing my wife’s struggles on there too. Everybody gets to see how she is as a mother and a wife. She is very hardworking. I’m glad people didn’t just get to see me, but also my wife and how we work together.”
When the final product finally launched on Netflix, it was an emotional moment for Taugavau and his family as they all got to witness the struggles they faced be brought to light for the country and the world to see.
“My wife’s family and my family were so emotional and just happy,” Taugavau said. “They were just proud of us, me and my wife, so I am happy with the outcome and just everything.”
While his personality popped off the screen with a combination of humor and positivity, Taugavau was also able to show he was among the best players on the roster as his personality would morph on game days into an intense, hard-hitting and foul-mouthed offensive lineman who could move opposing defensive linemen with ease.
“That’s all I was trying to be, honest and real,” Taugavau said. “I’m glad they showed me how I am, a goofball and hardworking on the field. … I’ve gone against people a lot bigger than me and I never backed down from a battle.”
Though Taugavau was openly challenged throughout the series by Laney head coach John Beam about his dedication to his schoolwork and his passion to go wherever he needs to to get a football scholarship, he was able to earn a scholarship to play football at Murray State University following a National Bay Six All-Conference selection.
“I think my favorite times were when me and Beam were talking and it was showing us more off the field,” Taugavau said. “That’s how we were. We were cool on the field and off the field. I was comfortable enough to talk to him about whatever.”
Blessed to have the opportunity to further my education and play the sport I love for free.#Route66 #iamfitness510 #FIUfitness #PolyTriangle #FremontTigers #HaywardFarmers #BrenkwitzGrad #LaneyEagles @LaneyOline @beam_coach @IAMFitness510 pic.twitter.com/ZBT9PlRgPc
— Route 66 (@nuu_neverfold) July 19, 2020
Though Taugavau didn’t know much about the Murray State program prior to his recruitment, admitting he never heard of it before those meetings, he was surprised to learn his uncle had played for the team, winning multiple championships as a member of the Racers.
“When I posted I had gotten the offer my uncle hit me up and was like, ‘That’s where I went,’” Taugavau said. “He told me they won two years in a row over here and I’m like, ‘Wait, what the heck?’ I never even knew what college he went to but I knew he went DI. When he told me that I was like oh yeah it’s good I’m going somewhere where my family started a legacy and hopefully I can carry that on.”
In August, Taugavau, Tia and his daughters made the journey from Oakland to Murray as they looked for his football career to blossom with the FCS program. In a press conference, Murray State football coach Dean Hood said the COVID-19 pandemic aided the team in landing the Laney College product.
“We were constantly on the lookout, calling all of our contacts, anybody we knew in the profession, looking in the portal as the landscape changed,” Hood said. “Our guys did a great job of getting right away on point and obviously following through with the compliance part of it with exactly what we could do and how fast we could do it with trying to secure other talent for our football team.”
Unsurprisingly, when the show came out, an even bigger spotlight was put on Taugavau as he made his way to his new college. A number of fans reach out to him and talk to him about his story and what it meant to them to watch.
“It’s crazy, man,” Taugavau said. “It’s a lot of people out here that watch the show and I’m just surprised how big Last Chance U is. Everybody watches it. I’ve got people from Germany, France and Brazil hitting me up. … Every time I go to Walmart or something somebody comes up to me and even the workers notice me or if I’m in a McDonald’s drive through they notice me.”
While Taugavau deals with the reality of his newly found celebrity due to the docuseries spotlight on his life, he will try to help bring some added power and ability to the Racers’ offense.
Last season, Murray State went 4-8, finishing the season on a five-game losing streak. Listed at 6-foot-2 and 300 pounds, Taugavau will be a large and welcomed piece to the Murray State offensive puzzle, and he is ready to give back to a university that has given him and his family so much, including housing for his family.
“I’m loving it,” Taugavau said. “Everything I asked for they did so I’m going to do the same in return. Anything they ask of me I’m going to do in return.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CE7bFA7jDYx/
As far as his goals are concerned, Taugavau wants to not only help the Racers win a conference championship, but also begin a pipeline of Polynesian players to the school as he is the only one on the team right now and has held his culture high as founder and president of Wayfinders at Laney, the school’s first organization for Pacific Islanders.
“I want to bring more Polynesians out here,” Taugavau said. “Hopefully I’m the pipeline. If I do good, hopefully they bring more of us over here.”
Though he may not be in the national spotlight anymore, Taugavau will still have plenty of eyes on him when he first hits the field for the Racers.
