Alexander “Moana” Vainikolo is known in several ways in Albuquerque, N.M.

To most, it’s simply “Mo.”

To his University of New Mexico teammates, the Maui High School graduate checks in as a team leader from his linebacker position.

At home, he’s “Daddy” to 22-month-old son Nehemiah.

Saturday, when the University of Hawaii football team comes to town, the Rainbow Warriors’ skill position players are quite likely to run into Vainikolo up close and personally.

“Oh man, it’s something I can’t even really explain,” said Vainikolo, a 6-foot, 230-pound senior from Kihei. “Sunday night I was watching film just thinking, like, ‘Man, that was actually the school that I grew up always looking at, the one that was always on TV. Always on OC16, always doing the haka, seeing Vili the Warrior pop up on TV almost every time as a kid.’

“It kind of reminded me how much I should appreciate where I’m at right now, with us being in the same conference as Hawaii.”

Vainikolo is tied for third on the Lobos defense with 34 tackles in five games. His five tackles for loss are third on the team.

Last season, fresh out of Mount San Antonio College in California, he finished with 35 tackles for a New Mexico team that finished 3-9 while missing UH on the schedule.

He had nine tackles, including 1.5 for loss and a sack last week in a 23-10 loss at Wyoming.

“Mo is a force,” New Mexico head coach Bob Davie said at his Tuesday press conference. “Mo probably played, from a productivity standpoint, his best game against Wyoming. They wanted to put the ball on the perimeter out there on those jet sweeps, they wanted to run some play action on some things, you know, Mo made a couple big plays.”

Davie continued, “I just came out of the defensive meeting coming over here and we were watching practice with them this morning and I commented again just how Mo looks and how sudden Mo is.”

Davie has noticed Vainikolo’s dedication to the game as a senior. He is one of just two players on the UNM roster listed as from Hawaii.

“Mo lost probably 35 pounds from last year and that’s made a huge difference,” Davie said. “(This week) probably is unique — I will let him put his spin on that.”

At 2-5 and on a four-game losing streak, these Lobos need a win.

“It’s definitely an important week, we can definitely use this week, Hawaii could really be that team for us to utilize, to send a message to ourselves and to the Mountain West Conference that it’s not over for us,” Vainikolo said.

Vainikolo’s brother Atunaisa Vainikolo is a defensive lineman for the University at Buffalo, while former Sabers teammates Tristan Nichols (Nevada), Pono Lolohea (Northern Arizona) and Soane Vaohea (Montana State) are also playing NCAA Division I football.

Mo Vainikolo admits that he has thought about a future shot at the NFL, but there’s much more to get done in Albuquerque first.

“It’s definitely on my mind all the time,” he said of the NFL. “But everything’s focused on what we have got to do at New Mexico right now, finish out the season strong. But the NFL is definitely in the back of my mind every day.”

While New Mexico was never on his mind as a Saber, “the Mountain West, I kind of was hoping to land somewhere in the Mountain West or the Pac-12 and then New Mexico came up. I’m a firm believer in God taking me places — I firmly believe that he’s exactly where he wants me to be. So, I’m just real grateful, man.”

He says that New Mexico has become home, at least for the time being.

“In the little bit of time that I’ve been out here, since last spring (of 2018), I feel like I became a man out here,” he said. “Just in taking on bigger responsibilities, you know, moving my son out here, just the expectations every day from the coaches, the head trainer, the strength coach, it kind of just molded me into a man.

“I feel like I’m a lot more responsible now. I expect a lot out of myself on a daily basis because of the people I have around me and what they expect out of me every day — the coaches, the whole staff actually. It makes it feel like home for me.”

The two most important people in his life are Nehemiah and girlfriend Sasha Torres, who he met at Mount SAC.

“I was stuck in the position where I didn’t know where I was going to go after Mount SAC, and in that little window of just being curious and what’s the next move, that’s when Nehemiah was brought into this world,” Vainikolo said.

“That’s when New Mexico just happened to be the school that reached out to me when I thought there was really nothing for us after Mount SAC, so that’s why I really owe this place a lot. I try return it with thanks every single day with the work I put in and appreciate the coaches and everybody here.”

Nehemiah is now a sort of team mascot or good luck charm.

“He’s there (at the games), he probably doesn’t understand what’s going on, but he’ll definitely hear some stories when he’s older — that’s one thing that I can’t wait for,” Vainikolo said. “After the games, he’ll be in the locker room. All the players know his name, just calling his name and he’ll be running around the locker room, saying ‘Hi’ to everybody.”

With girlfriend and son at home, Vainikolo has an extra gear to reach his work level on the football field.

“That’s every day, whatever it takes from me,” he said. “It’s not an option to not practice as hard as I can practice, to push myself to the best that I can be on a daily basis. It’s not an option to do anything less than that because if I do, at nighttime when I go to sleep, it kind of bothers me a little bit. To me, I let them down if I’m not doing my very best for them. … I have to give my best every day so I can look at my son and know that the effort I gave today at practice and school was my best. It’s really selfless now, everything is for him.”

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com.