How Good Was Troy Polamalu Actually?

Troy Polamalu was never supposed to make the NFL let alone go to college combine that with the fact that he only grew to be a 5 foot 10 safety you get A True Underdog Story But even though palomalu beat the odds by just making it to the league how good was he actually before he was even born palamalu's family was on the edge of falling apart as the fifth Kid born into the family his dad left before he was old enough to even remember with his dad no longer in the picture Palo malu's mom faced a nearly impossible challenge of raising five kids by herself despite doing the best she could Troy spent the first nine years of his life as a self-described city rat in California as the family survived on welfare palomalu's older siblings were an awful influence for young Troy to look up to Polamalu has said my sisters had babies in high school my brother was in and out of jail I have this picture in my head where as a kid I'm just wondering what's going on I'm in first grade my brother's in the back seat of a police car waving for me to open the door what am I supposed to do Troy found himself slowly becoming his siblings as he was stealing lunch from the grocery store every day and breaking into buildings headed down a dark path his mom sent him to Oregon to visit her brother and his wife and what was supposed to be an ordinary trip would forever change Polamalu's life he quickly fell in love with his uncle's family's quiet way of life and knowing what was waiting for him back in Cali halamalu begged his mom to let him stay in Oregon after she gave in to her son's wishes Troy found more than just a stable new home he also unofficially got a new last name as he started going by his mother's maiden name halamalu as a Polamalu he learned discipline and was introduced to organize Sports for the very first time prior to the move palamalu had only ever seen sports on TV but it didn't take long for everyone to see that he was a natural at any sport he picked up in high school palomalu was a three-sport varsity athlete excelling in baseball basketball and football he was so talented on the Gridiron that he played both offense and defense as a junior palomalu rushed for 1040 yards with 22 touchdowns and had 310 receiving yards while also adding in 65 tackles and eight interceptions he was so all around dominant that year that he was named first team All-State and palamalu looked to follow up this impressive season with another one that would firmly establish himself as a top college Prospect but he faced a series of injuries that derailed his senior year just as it got started Troy played in only four game was due to a bruised kidney sprained shoulder and torn back muscles even with the shortened season though he still managed to rush for 671 yards and nine touchdowns while also snagging three interceptions despite terrorizing his opponents halamalu slipped through the cracks of the national recruiting scene as a three-star recruit he wasn't receiving any attention from top college programs once again it was an uncle who swooped in and seemingly saved palomalu his uncle Kennedy was an assistant coach at the University of Southern California and he convinced USC's head coach to give his nephew a chance by offering Troy a scholarship halamalu immediately jumped at the opportunity to stay on the west coast and played for such a big name school he also believed it was fate with USC's mascot being the Trojan and Troy being the ancient capital of the Trojans palamalu said I believe God's named me Troy for a reason I was born to come here while palamalu was confident he belonged there as a freshman he was a backup safety and linebacker palumalu made the most of his opportunities in eight games he recorded 12 tackles two sacks and two forced fumbles after developing a reputation as a playmaker on the defensive side of the ball palamalu's sophomore season was his first real chance to show the nation he belonged as USC's starting safety in the season opener Troy exploded onto the scene with a pick six it was his way of emphatically letting everyone know that the place he made as a freshman were no fluke he further did this by starting all 12 games for the Trojans and finishing with 83 tackles five tackles for loss one sack and two interceptions they weren't eye-popping numbers but the way palomalu could fly around the field and obliterate a wide receiver was eye-opening his Junior season is when he truly put it all together and showed just how high his ceiling was palomalu racked up a team-high 118 tackles 13 tackles for loss one sack three interceptions two pick sixes two forced fumbles one fumble recovery and three blocked punts looking like Superman out there there was nothing he couldn't do as a result palomalu won USC's MVP award and was voted first team All-American heading into his final season of college football he had developed a nationwide reputation for being a game breaker unfortunately for palomalu he didn't get the chance to go out with a bang as for most of his senior year he battled nagging ankle and knee injuries but even with a slight dip in production halamalu was still named first team All-American for a second consecutive season becoming the first Trojan to be a two-time first-team All-American since 1992. he finished his USC career with 278 tackles 29 tackles for loss six interceptions four blocked punts and three touchdowns with Polamalu having cemented his status as a school legend he shifted his sights on making the jump to the next level with a 2003 NFL draft but he wasn't able to sell himself as a top prospect like everyone else a bad knee forced him to miss the Senior Bowl and NFL draft combine standing at 5 foot 10 and weighing just over 200 pounds palamalu was far from the ideal mold of an NFL safety and as a result had his fair share of doubters so his bad knee served as ammo for the haters who thought he was too small or not durable enough to succeed in the league ahead of the draft he was projected to be a late first or early second round pick but one team disagreed with these evaluations and saw something special in him so much so that they weren't willing to risk letting anyone else steal him it was a selection that was met with plenty of backlash the Pittsburgh Steelers select Troy Polamalu safety from Southern California nobody doubted Polamalu's talent but not everyone was sold on his ability to stay healthy or make plays with bigger and better athletes he was viewed as a great college football player who may be too aggressive and undersized for the next level palomalo hoped his rookie season would be a chance to prove these people wrong but he never really got the chance he didn't start a single game and was the Steelers backup safety while primarily playing on special teams but after that year Pittsburgh fired their defensive coordinator so Troy had a fresh opportunity to impress a new coach and convince him he deserved to be more than just a special teams player and that's exactly what he did as a head of the 2004 season halamalu was named the team's starting strong safety under new defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau That season served as palamalu's NFL coming out party he shined in the new system starting all 16 games and racking up 97 towns or tackles for loss one sack five interceptions and one touchdown palomalu anchored a defense that propelled Pittsburgh to a 15-1 regular season record then in his first career playoff game he had an interception before the Steelers fell in the next round to the eventual Super Bowl champion Patriots despite The Season's disappointing end it was still a special season for palamalu as he made the Pro Bowl for the first time he followed up that year with an equally as impressive one finishing with 92 tackles seven tackles for loss three sacks and two interceptions along with making his second consecutive Pro Bowl halomalu was named a first team All-Pro and that season became one he'll never forget but the first time in over 25 years the Steelers won the Super Bowl with his Fearless playing style and lead by example mentality he had the Pittsburgh defense looking like the Steel Curtain from the 70s again after another Pro Bowl season in 2006 the Steelers decided to lock up their star safety for the foreseeable future signing palamalu to a four-year 30.19 million dollar contract extension at the time the deal made him the highest paid safety in the entire league Troy was on top of the world with this new contract but it wasn't long before the sky Came Crashing Down an injury plagued season in 2007 forced him to play in only 11 games but he was so good when he played that he was still named to another Pro Bowl is fourth straight thankfully in 2008 he was healthy and played all 16 games palomalu had a career-high seven interceptions and was named a first team All-Pro for the second time in his career he also brought home his second Super Bowl ring then not that anyone doubted Polamalu anymore but the next season his value was made clear as day an MCL injury forced him to play in only five games and the Steelers defense fell completely apart without him in 2008 Pittsburgh's D was first in the league and both points aloud and passing yards then in 2009 without his leadership in play-making abilities they fell to 12th in points allowed and 16th in passing yards Steelers don't they don't scare anybody they don't intimidate anybody they look soft as Cottonelle tissue coming back in 2010 Palo Balu was determined to bounce back stronger than ever and remind everyone just how insanely dominant he is when healthy move two games played two interceptions he went on to lead his team back to the Super Bowl with seven interceptions as he was named first team All-Pro for a third time and won AP defensive player of the year the following year brought more of the same as palamalu finished with 93 tackles and was named first team All-Pro yet again it seemed like nothing could stop Troy until the 2012 season showed otherwise while there were conflicting reports about whether he suffered a severe calf strain or tear palomalu only played in seven games due to the injury people thought Troy's body was falling apart with age and that he wouldn't be able to consistently produce at a high level anymore then the discussions began about the Steelers starting to find his replacement so what did Polamalu do in 2013 he went out and played all 16 games as he was named to his eighth Pro Bowl but the following season didn't come with the same happy ending he battled through a knee sprain and was only able to play 12 games it was a reminder that he was indeed human and was losing the battle against Father Time years of treating opponents like crash dummies and throwing caution to the wind with his body that finally caught up with him during that off-season palomalu realized this and decided it was time to hang up his cleats for good in April of 2015 he retired from the game of football over the course of his storied 12-year career he totaled 770 tackles 56 tackles for loss 32 interceptions or team forced fumbles seven fumble recoveries and three touchdowns with two Super Bowl rings four first-team All-Pro nominations and eight Pro bowls halamalu had established himself as one of the most feared and respective defensive players of his generation and nothing proved this to be more true than in 2020 when he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in just his first year of Eligibility Polamalu's long hair flowing out of the back of his helmet flying around making plays and hitting anything that moved will live in football lore forever foreign

Channel: Nonstop

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Keywords: troy polamalu, nfl

Id: ZlW3K4RLzj4

Length: 10min 40sec (640 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 01 2023