Nate Ilaoa

Stephen Tsai writes a profile of Nate Ilaoa and all the trials and tribulations he's had to go through to get to where he is today.

"So now I'm getting surgery and my knee's not even done healing, and that means you can't rehab," he said. "I can't lift and I can't run. I can't squat (lift) or do the dumb-bell stuff. I'm just sitting there with a bad knee and a bad shoulder, and the doc is saying, 'just chill.' "

Ilaoa, who weighed 180 pounds when he signed as a slotback in 2001, was up to 240 pounds entering the 2005 training camp.

"He had that midnight problem," said his cousin, UH center Samson Satele. "That's Jack-in-the-Box, Zippy's, whatever's open at midnight. That's how he gained the weight."

After Ilaoa suffered a pulled hamstring on the second day of the 2005 training camp, head coach June Jones voiced his displeasure to reporters. Jones said Ilaoa was overweight, and had let down teammates. Jones said Ilaoa's poor condition led to the hamstring injury.

"It was a tough situation," Ilaoa said. "But I wasn't going to give up. I had a lot of support."

DeLaura knew that Ilaoa's injuries made it difficult for him to train. Unwilling to give up on Ilaoa, deLaura created a special conditioning program.

The article gives the people who criticized him for reporting out of shape in 2005 a new perspective on what he had to deal with. But now he's a fit and healthy 250 pounds, which is heavier than he was when he was out of shape, but now it's all power and muscle baby!