SUPER BOWL: SNOW A WINNING DRAW FOR CARDS' DEUCE
by Kurt Kragthorpe

The Salt Lake Tribune

Tampa, Fla. » When she meets Snow College students, Claudia Olsen tells them, "I'm not your mother, but I'm here to help."

On his way to playing in Sunday's Super Bowl XLIII, Deuce Lutui apparently absorbed only part of that message.

Five years later, the Arizona Cardinals offensive lineman still addresses Olsen as "Mom," illustrative of the relationship he developed with the adviser to Snow's Polynesian Club and how a year in central Utah shaped his life and his football career.

"Oh, man, it meant everything," Lutui said this week, standing on the sideline of Raymond James Stadium during Media Day. "I'm just happy I went through that experience."

Ephraim was not originally on Lutui's map to the NFL. Born in Tonga and having grown up in a suburban Phoenix home he describes as "humble," Lutui signed with the University of Utah but did not qualify academically.

After a year at nearby Mesa Community College, where the coaching staff was fired, Lutui transferred to Snow. He wondered what he was getting into -- beginning with the "unfamiliar smell" of turkey farms that he now speaks of fondly -- and how major college recruiters would ever find him in tiny Ephraim.

They kept good track of him, and so did Olsen, who works in the school's Student Support Services program, besides advising the Polynesian Club. Holding her infant grandson in a booth at Fred's Sports Grill in Manti,

where her daughter and son-in-law's menu features the appropriately massive "Deuce Burger," Olsen recently remembered how Lutui worried about his future, and looked for guidance.

"There's a few kids that come through that you just gain a closer relationship with," she said. "I love them all."

Yet there was something different about Lutui. Maybe it was how his life was altered when he was 6, and his sister was killed in an auto accident that badly injured his parents. "I've really been blessed to experience such a tragedy. It helped me view this life in a different way and has allowed me to live every moment to the fullest."

Lutui was determined to someday help his family through football. His combination of size -- in those days, he weighed upward of 350 pounds, the limit of Snow's biggest scale -- and quickness was stunning to former Badger receiver Nate Meikle.

Meikle, while coaching in a summer camp for high school players, remembers how Lutui would outrun defensive backs and catch passes.

Snow's games against rival junior colleges produced "the most lopsided matchups you'll ever see," Meikle said, as Lutui bullied opposing linemen.

"I've been around a lot of big guys, but none that move like he does," said Meikle, who moved on to BYU.

Lutui almost did, too. Urban Meyer pursued Lutui after replacing Ron McBride as Utah's coach, so the Utes could have had current Pittsburgh Steelers guard Chris Kemoeatu and Lutui on the same offensive line in 2004.

Lutui mainly considered BYU and Nebraska before choosing USC, after then-offensive coordinator Norm Chow was a regular visitor to Ephraim and coach Pete Carroll also came to town. USC quarterback Matt Leinart hosted Lutui on his recruiting trip to Los Angeles and they developed a friendship that was extended when the Cardinals drafted them in 2006.

"Deuce is one of those guys I love playing with, because he's always happy, always in a good mood, but when he steps on the field, he has a different passion about him," Leinart said.

The night the Trojans beat Oklahoma for the 2004 national championship in Miami, Lutui's wife, Pua -- she's from West Jordan, and they met at Snow -- delivered their first of three children.

After trimming his weight to 330 at USC while moving from tackle to guard as a senior and being drafted in the second round by Arizona, Lutui started for most of his rookie year and is a fixture on a line that has stayed intact for every game this season.

"He's really improved a lot," Leinart said. "He's solidified himself. … I think he's going to be one of the top guards in the NFL. He's only going to get better."

Life also is better for Lutui's parents, although his dream of buying them a new house is unfulfilled, because they do not want to move. Their son understands the merits of staying in one place. He also knows he may never have played for his hometown NFL team in the Super Bowl without having moved to Utah.