As a child growing up on Oahu, where there are no professional major sports teams, Marist Liufau admits he didn’t have an NFL team to root for.
As of Friday, he’s now a member of America’s Team.
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Liufau, a linebacker from Notre Dame via Punahou, was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the third round of the NFL Draft, fulfilling a childhood dream.
“It’s just a big mix of emotions,” Liufau told KHON2 from his family home. “Happy to be able to get this opportunity and just with a franchise like that, I’m just speechless right now. It’s all I can say right now, just being able to be with my family, it means everything to me to experience this with them and all of that so we’re all enjoying it together.
“Hawaii, we obviously don’t have a team here so I never had a team growing up here. Now I’m a Cowboy so that’ll be my family’s new team.”
Liufau, who racked up 44 tackles, including six for loss with three sacks as a senior in 2023, displayed tantalizing size and range at 6-foot-2, 235 pounds and an official 40-yard dash time of 4.64 at the NFL Combine.
Projections from scouts had Liufau getting picked early in Day 3 of the draft, but going on Day 2 does the Kalihi native just fine.
“You always hope for the best but with the draft, you never know. I was blessed to get the call today and now we’re celebrating right now,” Liufau said. “I’m just grateful for everything that’s happening right now.
“I talked to Jerry Jones, coach (Mike) McCarthy and a bunch of the defensive coaches as well. I also talked to the special teams coordinator recently and that was crazy. I was speechless at the time, too, so the conversation wasn’t much of a conversation but more just listening to them but like I said, it’s such a blessing.”
Liufau, who began playing football at age 10, says he decided in middle school to pursue his football dreams. Liufau parlayed his track and field background into training with Asai Gilman, who helped hone his craft. As a senior with the Buffanblu in 2019, Liufau earned all-state honors at linebacker and chose Notre Dame over a dozen other offers.
Liufau’s football resume will now have Punahou, Notre Dame and the Dallas Cowboys listed, three major brands in their respective arenas.
“I think it’s just special. A special opportunity, and not everyone gets to have that,” Liufau said. “It just comes with very hard work and carrying a lot on your shoulders but making those who supported you and got you to those places, making them proud. It would be a disservice for me to let them down and not do my work and be successful and those different places, because it’s not easy to get to those places and it’s not easy to be successful there so I have to do my part and make my family and loved ones proud.”
Beyond making the team, Liufau hopes to be an early contributor with the Cowboys, whether it be on defense, special teams, or as a teammate.
“I want to contribute, whether it be on special teams or whether it be servicing the veterans or my teammates, things like that,” he said. “I just want to contribute early on and earn the respect as soon as I get there and moving forward as a rookie.
“You’re getting a player who plays with his hair on fire, has a chip on his shoulder coming from an island like this and the things that we grow up on, the culture that we grow up on and our values, they speak for itself. They’ll see what they get when I get there.”