Tonu keeping pro football dream alive

Maui OL hopes to get his shot after Spring League showcase

Josiah Tonu isn't leaving any stone unturned in his quest to become a professional football player.

The 6-foot-6, 310-pound offensive lineman out of Southern Oregon University attended Baldwin High School, where he played quarterback and receiver before transferring to Saint Louis School for his senior year. He played defensive line on an NAIA final four team at SOU as a junior before switching to O-line as a senior.

His play in the FCS Bowl -- the lower-tier version of the Senior Bowl -- had him thinking of the NFL Draft. After not hearing his name called in Nashville nor receiving a free-agent offer, Tonu got another chance in The Spring League showcase event over the weekend.

"Three days in front of NFL, XFL, mostly XFL coaches," Tonu said via phone from the Mission Viejo High School facility in Orange County, Calif., on Saturday. "My agent actually hooked me up with this a couple weeks ago and now I'm here."

He said this opportunity is another chance to show his talent to a group of coaches who may not have had a chance to see him play in Ashland, Ore. He tweeted a picture of his TSL helmet and pads below the words "One More Chance."

"It feels super blessed to be able to do this, just get another shot at making football a job and everything," Tonu said.

Tonu said that before April's draft "there were about five or six teams just telling me I'm on their draft board or we'll call you if we just want to invite you, but come the draft and then the ending of the draft no one called."

It didn't deter him, however.

"It was kind of hard on me and my family, but just pushed through it," Tonu said. "I started coaching up at Kamehameha (Schools Maui) with my dad, just helping out over there, working out over there. Then a couple weeks ago I got the call that I was going to get another shot at The Spring League. The rest of it is history."

The Spring League was part of Johnny Manziel's road back to professional football.

Now, Tonu feels it can be part of his journey, too. He is not picky on what league he ends up in, although one possibility appears to be gone with the apparent demise the Alliance of American Football.

"Oh yeah, for sure, anything, anything that you can make a living out of," Tonu said of leagues including the XFL and Canadian Football League.

He has four classes left to finish his SOU degree -- he is majoring in communications with a minor in criminology. After football, he plans to be a police officer with the Maui Police Department. He will give his football dream his best shot for now.

"I think I will just give myself a year because at the end of the day, football is always going to come to an end," he said. "Like a real job is what's permanent, so I will give it a year, see what happens. If not, life starts and I will probably go into the academy."

Tonu said he would not pass up the football trails he has traveled so far for anything.

"This journey, I mean, a lot of people came up to me and just told me I should just be proud of myself just for making it this far," Tonu said. "My father tells me that every day for how far I came. And my mom, my dad, my grandparents, my brothers, my sister. Just how far I came and what I'm doing now, not a lot of people get to do. So just take that in and do your best every day."

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com.