University Park, Pa. — Media availability usually ends the same way for a college football player.
The final question is answered, the recorder shuts off and the player heads toward the door and whatever comes next on a busy in-season schedule.
Siale Taupaki did something different.
After spending nearly 20 minutes answering questions following Penn State’s season-opening win over Marshall, Taupaki didn’t simply leave the room. The veteran defensive tackle took the time to shake hands and thank members of the media before walking out.
It was a small gesture.
After hearing Taupaki tell his story, however, maybe it shouldn’t have been surprising at all.
Taupaki comes from a world where respect matters, family comes first and football, regardless of where it has taken him, doesn’t change who he is when he returns home.
“I come from a large family,” Taupaki said. “At some point, it was 22 of us in a two-bedroom house. Some of us had to sleep outside.”
Now, he is a starting defensive tackle at Penn State.
The road between those two places is about much more than football.
‘I Come From Nothing’
Taupaki grew up in California, the son of Kolo and Seilose Taupaki, and played at Oakland High School before beginning his college career at UCLA.
His parents are older, something Taupaki talks about with both humor and pride.
“My parents, they’re older than most of you guys in here,” Taupaki said. “So when people talk about OGs, I’ve got OGs for real.”
The lessons he learned from them have stayed with him.
“Everybody learns everything through IG,” Taupaki said. “I learned everything through my OGs. There’s a difference there.”
That perspective helps explain how Taupaki views the opportunities football has provided.
College athletics have changed dramatically during his career. NIL has allowed players to benefit financially in ways previous generations couldn’t, and Taupaki is grateful for those opportunities.
But while some players might use that money on luxuries, Taupaki sees something different when he looks at what he has.
He sees holes that need to be filled back home.
“My parents are still struggling,” Taupaki said. “You know, I’m broke. While everybody else is trying to buy their next pendant or buy the next car, I’m really trying to fill in all the holes that I had back at home.”
Taupaki doesn’t hide where he came from.
He embraces it.
“Understanding the platform that I have and just seeing all of that stuff, and understanding how far I came, I really try to take full advantage of every opportunity that I can,” Taupaki said. “Like I said, with the platform, I come from nothing.”
Football might have given him a platform, but it hasn’t changed his place within his family.
“When I go home, I’m not even a football player,” Taupaki said. “I’m still a son.”
Family First Sold Taupaki on Campbell
That might explain why head coach Matt Campbell made such an immediate impression on Taupaki.
Unlike several players who followed Campbell from Iowa State to Penn State, Taupaki didn’t have an established relationship with Penn State’s new head coach when he entered the transfer portal after six seasons at UCLA.
Their first conversation could have centered on football.
Campbell instead asked about Taupaki’s parents.
“The first thing he did was ask about my family,” Taupaki said. “He didn’t ask about me. He asked about my family.”
Campbell specifically wanted to know how his mother and father were doing.
For Taupaki, that was enough.
“With that, I was sold because not a lot of people ask about my family or everyone else that comes with me,” Taupaki said. “I knew he was a family man before he was a football coach.”
It gave Taupaki confidence that Campbell was someone he could trust beyond Saturdays.
“I knew I could come to him about anything because he’s a father before he’s a coach,” Taupaki said.
A Long Road From UCLA to Penn State
Taupaki’s college football journey has been anything but conventional.
He arrived at UCLA in 2020 and spent six seasons with the Bruins, developing from a reserve into a contributor and eventual starter.
Taupaki appeared in seven games during the shortened 2020 season before not seeing game action in 2021. His role gradually expanded, and by 2024, he appeared in 12 games with seven starts, recording 23 tackles and a sack.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.One of those games came at Beaver Stadium.
Taupaki recorded three tackles for UCLA against Penn State on Oct. 5, 2024.
Two years later, he was standing on the opposite sideline wearing blue and white.
His final UCLA season produced 15 tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack and a fumble recovery in 12 games. He also earned his undergraduate degree in political science before transferring to Penn State, where he is studying communication arts and sciences.
The move also reunited him with defensive line coach Ikaika Malloe and former UCLA teammate Keanu Williams.
Taupaki and Williams starting alongside each other at Beaver Stadium against Marshall provided a moment for both to appreciate just how far their journey had taken them.
“We for sure didn’t take anything for granted,” Taupaki said. “We took advantage of every opportunity that we got on Saturday.”
Taupaki finished the game with an assisted tackle for loss, but his value to Penn State goes beyond a box score.
Malloe has leaned on Taupaki and Williams to help teach a new defensive system to a room learning different techniques and responsibilities.
For Taupaki, leadership starts with something much deeper than telling a teammate where to line up.
It starts with knowing him.
“You can’t really get anybody’s attention or earn their respect if you don’t understand their story,” Taupaki said.
‘No One Gets Left Behind’
That philosophy shows up in how Taupaki talks about his teammates.
Asked about fellow defensive tackle De’Andre Cook, Taupaki could have discussed technique, run defense or pass rushing.
Instead, he discussed the person.
“I love that man,” Taupaki said.
Cook was quiet when Taupaki arrived, and Taupaki made an effort to bring him into the group.
“I always made sure guys felt accepted and needed within our group,” Taupaki said. “No one gets left behind. That’s not just a football thing. That’s a family thing.”
Taupaki spoke about Cook’s personal challenges and his responsibilities to his siblings before praising what he can provide Penn State on the football field.
Then he returned to the same lesson that seems to define his own outlook.
“Are you willing to take the time to talk and understand the story of a certain individual without judging?” Taupaki said.
That question could just as easily apply to Taupaki himself.
The 6-foot-4, 290-pound defensive tackle can be evaluated through tackles, sacks and snaps. His career can be traced from Oakland to UCLA and eventually across the country to Penn State.
But those numbers and places don’t completely explain the person.
To understand that, you have to understand the two-bedroom home that once held 22 people.
You have to understand the parents who worked and rested without much time for television. When their son made his Penn State debut, Taupaki had to make sure they had the internet access necessary to watch him play.
Afterward, he called home.
He told them about Beaver Stadium. He told them about the people. He even told them about seeing horses and cows around State College – things he joked aren’t exactly common sights back home on the West Coast.
His father told him he got chills just visualizing what his son had experienced.
Taupaki hopes his parents can eventually make the trip east, although their age makes traveling difficult. Until then, he will continue bringing the experience home to them.
Because even after playing college football for years, earning a UCLA degree and becoming a starter at Penn State, Taupaki hasn’t forgotten where his responsibilities begin.
Football player is only one of his titles.
Son comes first.
And maybe that explains why, when his media availability was finished and Taupaki could have simply walked out the door, he instead took a few extra moments to shake hands and thank the people in the room.
For Taupaki, relationships aren’t an obligation.
They’re the foundation.
“I always try to stand on that and be a man of the people,” Taupaki said, “because it’s bigger than me.”
