Forget The Freshman 15, Vita Vea Gained 100 lbs. His First Year In College
Vita Vea is one of the best Nose Tackles in the NFL, but it wasn't always like that. In High School, he was actually a 250 lbs. Runningback.
Vita was on Bussin with the Boys recently and shared the story that he grayshirted, which means that he committed the school year before, but doesn't report to the school until the spring semester to keep their NCAA eligibility clock from starting. He wasn't allowed to be around the team, so he was just going to classes at a Junior College, taking classes, and doing concrete work with his uncles.
However, his Uncles didn't pay him in money. They paid him in food. So he was getting strong doing manual labor and eating a ton. Vita was hoping to play Linebacker, but he hadn't had any check-ins with coaches. Even stranger, is that he never stepped on a scale in that time away. So imagine the surprise when he met with coaches, expecting to be an Linebacker, got weighed and clocked in a 373 lbs!
That's just several dozen ticks too big to be a Linebacker, so they stuck him at Nose Tackle, which was one of the best things to ever happen to Vita. He's a Pro Bowler now and can do things like this:
My favorite thing breaking down the All-22 is just watching Vita put guys on their tushes.
But he is quick with it too!
And if you liked Taylor's hat from the interview, you can pick it up here!
Reminder, if you're not for the boys, you're against em'.