I am a National Football League player of American Samoan heritage. Because of my status as a professional athlete, I have been blessed to play a role in educating players and fans about the culture and history of America's southernmost territory.

It's important for me to have strong hair in case someone pulls it and tries to rip it all out.

I don't look at football as a violent, barbaric sport. It's a very spiritual sport, especially for someone facing the challenges during a game: the fear of failure, the fear of getting too big an ego, of making a mistake and everybody criticizing you.

I've never been a fan of individual awards because football is such a team sport. There's so many things that goes into making plays. It's about teammates trusting one another and working together.

Football is pretty much played 16 times a year, where training is kind of a year-round thing.

I work barefooted on balance plates. I do explosive squats on balance surfaces that your body has to use muscles it's not used to. It's all kinds of exercises that your body isn't really used to, and it tricks your body into getting stronger every time.

The greatest joy I get is setting up plays for somebody else. I take a lot of pride in helping other people make plays.