He is the first Las Vegas native to play for the Las Vegas Raiders.

Jonah Laulu is our guest this week on Nevada Week In Person.

♪♪ Support for Nevada Week In Person is provided by Senator William H. Hernstadt.

-Welcome to Nevada Week In Person.

I'm Maria Silva in for Amber Renee Dixon.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Well, he was born and raised here in fabulous Las Vegas, a star football player at Centennial High School who went on to play at the University of Hawaii and then Oklahoma before being drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in 2014--2024 rather--ultimately ending up back here at home with the Las Vegas Raiders.

Jonah Laulu is here.

Welcome!

-Thank you for having me.

Honored to be here.

-What does it mean to be back home playing in your hometown, the city that raised you?

(Jonah Laulu) It's a really good feeling.

I mean, it's something you dream about growing up.

I always wanted to play football.

I mean, getting to be able to play here out of all places, because there's 32 teams in NFL, I mean, it's crazy.

I always think about it, and it doesn't hit me until usually when we come back from away games and we're coming off the plane, get on the bus, when we're driving.

Then we're driving through the city, and I'm like, Wow, I really grew up here.

Like, these guys have no idea.

They are all from all over, but I really grew up here, and I get to play here in front of my family and friends, and it's really, it's really cool to me.

-And Mom can come watch, like you said, watch your games.

I'm sure you're getting hit up for a lot of tickets, right?

-Indeed, I am.

Indeed.

-And again, you have the honor of being the first Raiders player to be born in Las Vegas and raised in Las Vegas.

That's going down in the history books.

That's impressive.

-I don't know about that, but, yeah, it's cool, because I didn't even know that was a thing.

And when the Raiders first came, I instantly was a Raiders fan.

And so to be able to play and represent the organization and hometown, it's a blessing, for sure.

-Let's talk about how you ended up with the Raiders, because, as I mentioned, 2024--not 2014, that would have made you this high.

-I would have been old.

-You would have been a little kid.

2024 you were drafted by the Indianapolis Colts, correct?

And then you were waived a few months later.

For those of us not following football--I can watch it; I can tell it--what does that mean when you were "waived"?

-So basically, being waived means they don't, they're not releasing you from the team.

When they release you, you're fired, basically.

And so they waived me, and they were saying, you know, We'll bring you back onto the practice squad, you know, hopefully, you know?

You need to refine some things.

You need to get better here and there, blase, blase.

And then, and when they do that, that opens you up to be taken by any team in the league.

So for 24 hours, you're on the waiver wire.

And if you don't get claimed by any team, you go back and I could sign on the practice squad with them.

And then, you know, lo and behold, I got picked up or claimed by the Raiders the next day at like noon, and it was crazy.

-Talk to me about that roller coaster of emotions again.

Here you thought, My career might be over; I'm on practice squad.

And then to be picked up by the Las Vegas Raiders.

-So training camp is, you know, very grueling.

It's very hard, tough on your body and mental.

And so at the end of all of that, everybody's, you know, butterflies.

They don't know what's going to happen.

Everybody's nervous.

And you know, you get a call saying, come to the facility, bring your iPad.

They want to talk.

The coach wants to talk to you.

Then I go, and then, obviously, they tell me they're waving me.

And at first, you kind of feel sorry for yourself.

It was like, ah, like, I thought I did everything I could.

What could have I done?

Blah, blah, blah.

You kind of feel down on yourself, obviously, because you've worked so hard for this.

And then as I drive home--because it was, it's like a 30 minute drive.

So I'm driving back.

I'm like, Dang it, man!

Like, ah, like, you know, everybody knows because it's blasted all over.

-Of course.

-Everybody finds out when you find out.

So like, and people are hitting me up, you know, Keep your head up, which, you know, those messages definitely helped, because you are feeling sorry for yourself.

I don't care who you are, you're going to be down on yourself for a moment.

And that's okay.

That's what I was telling myself, It's okay to feel bad for now, but I gotta-- -I love your positive attitude.

-You gotta take it with a grain of salt.

Okay, I need to be better.

They're true.

Obviously, I'm not on the team for a reason.

And so, yeah.

So for those 24 hours, I was talking to my friends, family.

They were cheering me up, making me feel better.

It's still a great opportunity.

Still have my foot in the door.

They didn't cut me, so obviously they still see something in me.

And so, yeah, the next day, driving over there to sign on the practice squad, you know, head held high, chin up.

I'm like, You know what?

I can still do this.

And then my agent text me, and he said, You're going home claimed by the Raiders.

He's like, Hold on.

Let me confirm.

And a little bit later he confirmed it.

When he text me, I had to pull the car over, because I was like, Wait, what?

Like, I see you're going home.

And I was like, Yeah, I am going home.

-Let me rephrase it.

You're going to play for the Las Vegas Raiders.

-Yeah.

It was, it was crazy.

I pulled the car over.

I had to pull the car over, walk outside, walk around the car like, Wait, what?

And then I remember texting my friends and my family, like, Look me up on Google.

Look me up on Google.

Look who I play for.

And then it was just a really crazy, surreal moment.

-What did mom say?

You're close to her.

There's a beautiful video that you have on your Instagram account when you were first drafted.

And to see you two together, it's just really special.

-When I first told her, she was like, Raiders!

She was super excited.

All my friends were pumped up.

And as soon as I got back, because I got back that same day to Vegas from Indiana, and, you know, my sisters came and saw me, took me to my mom's house because I didn't have my car or anything yet.

And it was, it was really crazy.

And being able to, you know, see them all right then and there after the emotional 36 hours I just had, it was, it was a great feeling.

-Well, we're lucky that we have you here in town again.

You're our hometown guy.

We're all so very proud of you.

And you're already giving back to our community.

I'm loving that.

You recently held a youth football camp at Centennial High School.

-I always wanted to be able to be in a position to where I could give back and to be able to give back where it's free, and I can, you know, pour into the next generation, because, you know, the next generation is the best generation, because they're the future.

And so to be able to pour into them, make sure they have a good time, and then make sure they leave with, you know, their stomachs full and a little sweet treat at the end, it was great fun.

And seeing all the kids out there having fun, they have T-shirts with my face on it, it was, it was surreal, because I'm like, Man, this is really happening.

This is something I always-- like, something you always wanted to happen, and you see it come true.

And it's just like... -And surreal also, because not long ago, you were one of those kids.

-Yeah, literally.

Like 10 years ago, I was a small kid in high school and not knowing, unsure of the future, not knowing what tomorrow brings and, you know, having these big dreams, but not really knowing how to get there.

I fully understand where those kids are.

And to be able to come back, they can relate to me, I can relate to them.

And, you know, I'm basically like them in the future.

I can tell them everything's okay.

You can do what you want to do.

You can be an astronaut.

You can be a scientist.

You can do-- you can be a doctor.

And it just starts with getting that mentality in you now that you have to work for what you get.

That's what I was trying to instill in them in the short, you know, two hours I had with them.

It's like, you can accomplish anything that you want to do, whether it's football, basketball, you want to be a doctor, or a veterinarian, whatever you want to do, you can do it.

-I saw a video where you were doing the Ickey shuffle with some of the kids, dancing.

-Some of the kids are a little shy, nervous, which I totally understand, because you don't want to look dumb or something, doing the drill you probably haven't done before or anything like that.

So I was over there.

They had music playing.

I was dancing.

Like, No, it's okay.

Just have fun with it.

You know, You're not getting coached.

You're not gonna get-- the end of the world isn't gonna happen if you misstep on the Ickey shuffle.

We're still warming up, so go ahead, have fun.

-Another thing that I love, the fact that you're giving back to Centennial High School, to our youth here in Southern Nevada.

You had a humble beginning like many of those kids.

So you are, again, someone that they can look up to.

-Growing up, we didn't have, you know, money to spare like that.

And my mom made sure to take care of us.

We're, you know, no shape like struggling at all like that, but to be able to do it for free for the kids and give them a shirt, give them a little backpack, and sign things after that, that's the least I can do for them.

And showing them that, hopefully they'll want to give back in the future because they seen what I was doing.

And they all came up and were saying, Oh, thank you so much for the food.

Thank you so much for the ice cream.

And, you know, We really enjoyed it.

We had fun.

Like, Man, you guys got good parents.

They're over here-- I know your parents are telling you to come say that now, but, no, the kids, those kids definitely were some good kids.

And it was great seeing them smiles on their faces.

-Say it all.

-Those are things you can't, you know, money can't buy you that.

It was a great feeling.

-And in an interview you did, you said, I want to plant a seed and see it grow and see them grow.

-Absolutely.

Yeah, because it's all about reaping what you sow and being able to plant that little seed.

Because I know when I was in their shoes, I remember when I was in middle school, DJ Campbell--he's the coach at Centennial now--he came and talked to me at my middle school, and he planted a seed, you could say.

And seeing him, somebody in the NFL, something I wanted to do, but I didn't know if I could.

You know, you say when you're a kid, I wanna be a doctor.

I wanna do this.

And you don't necessarily know how to get there.

You just know the destination.

But the most, it's journey over destination in life.

And so to be able to go plant that seed for those kids, because that's how it felt for me when he talked to us.

I thought it was the coolest.

And I remembered him forever.

And so to be able to come and do that now, I mean, I don't know if I'm gonna have the same impact that it had on me when I was their age, but I really hope it does and I can be a living symbol showing them that it's possible; that you can come from Vegas.

You don't have to go to these mega schools to get seen by schools, or you don't have to go to the biggest schools.

You can still do it, and I hope that they can or they believe they can do it themselves.

-You are an inspiration.

No doubt about that.

I forgive you, because when you were being recruited by colleges--UNLV was one of them--you did not go to UNLV.

You went to University of Hawaii, but very meaningful reason why you went.

Tell me about that.

-Well, I could have stayed at UNLV, but I wanted to get out of Vegas because, you know, obviously, I'm from here and I have a lot of friends here, and I didn't want to get in trouble with them.

And so I, I wanted to be focused.

And then, obviously, my-- so my family is from Samoa.

My grandpa was born and raised there and then went to New Zealand, that's where my mom and her siblings were all born.

And then she came to America when she was 14, 15, and I didn't grow up, like, live with my grandpa growing up.

He lived in Utah, but we would go see him.

But I still didn't feel like I knew enough about our culture and everything.

And it's embarrassing to not really know about your culture.

I wanted to go out there and learn more about my culture.

And I know they had programs over there with, you know, all the different cultures and islands, and I wanted to learn more about ours.

And, you know, I got there, and I don't regret it, because I'm here where I am now.

So it was definitely a good decision, and I got to learn a lot.

They have a lot of Samoan classes over there, where you learn the language and more about the culture and everything.

-Okay.

Let's talk about the new season coming up, first season with Coach Pete Carroll.

-Yes.

-Tell me about how that's going.

How's practice going so far?

-So Pete, he's a very-- he's a character.

My first, well, second memory of him, because my first memory I actually, we went, he talked to me and I went to his office and talked.

But the second memory of him is the first day back, OTAs are starting, and it's like six in the morning.

I pull up to the facility, and then I'm walking in.

And then he pulls up in his car with his windows down, and he's blasting, like, Earth Wind and Fire, something like that, some old school music.

-Like him even more.

-Yeah, blasting it.

And then I'm like, Who is that?

And then, because I hear music before I see him, so I turn, Who is that?

Then I see him.

He's like, he's like, yeah, driving.

And then he gets out the car after he parks, opens the door, didn't turn the car off, so the music is still playing.

And now it's even louder.

I'm like, Bro, it's like, six in the morning.

Like, What are you doing?

He's like one of those coworkers you have where they're all energetic at six in the morning.

You're like, Can you not?

Can you not right now?

-Tone it down, that's me.

-That was literally him.

So to see him come and that was like day one, it set the tone for what he's bringing in.

That's him every day.

He brings that juice, that energy.

I'm pretty sure people seen clips of him wrestling people like WWE or something like that, in warmups.

And that's literally who he is.

He'll go to practice with football gloves on and have a football and, like, you know, run around, and it's crazy, because to think he's, what, 70?

-In his 70s.

-Yeah, in his 70s, and he's still doing that.

He's doing the warmups with us, you know, going up to everybody saying, What's up?

Yeah, you could tell he's bringing that energy.

-We'll see that energy on the field.

It will be a great.

Thank you so much, Jonah.

We're so proud of you.

-Thank you for having me.

-And the first preseason game against the Seahawks.

-Yeah, they definitely did that on purpose.

-I know.

You can see more interviews like this one on our website.

Just head to vegaspbs.org.