‘Everyone’s been pushing me:’ How Australia native Kirtland Vakalahi has adapted to life in America

(Photo: Aiden Longbrake/WCSN)

TEMPE – Football practice at the Kajikawa Practice Fields had long been over. Head coach Kenny Dillingham wrapped up speaking to a swarm of media, while most of Arizona State’s players dispersed on a flock of golf carts set to return to the Sun Devils’ football facility.

Moments before, sounds of pads clashing and players yelling were commonplace. Now, it was reserved for a small group of players, centered on junior defensive lineman Kirtland Vakalahi, as he practiced his technique on the sleds.

In between reps, the group, including senior defensive lineman Jalen Thompson, offered Vakalahi advice to help the Australian native sharpen his craft.

“I was teaching him how to shoot through his hips,” Thompson said.

After Vakalahi arrived in Tempe in January, this spring has been full of similar moments with his teammates and coaches.

“Everyone’s been pushing me,” Vakalahi said. “I’m just trying to pick it up as much as I can and see where I go.”

The Australian native began his football career in 2024, when he moved to Roswell, New Mexico, to play at New Mexico Military Institute. After a successful two seasons at NMMI, Vakalahi transferred to Arizona State, where he’s now looking to establish himself at the Division I level.

When he arrived in Roswell, Vakalahi didn’t know what a first down was, nor any of the techniques needed to be a defensive lineman. He learned quickly, however, and finished his two seasons with 35 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss and three sacks.

Yet, Vakalahi’s adjustments at ASU aren’t just due to his inexperience playing football; part of it comes down to the system change from his JUCO.

At NMMI, the lifestyle is incredibly structured, with busy, organized schedules that included set wake-up times.

“It’s definitely a different lifestyle here,” Vakalahi said. “Being at a bigger program now, I’m just taking in a lot more information. (We) have a bunch of players coming in, but trying to get used to everything around us. Right now, we’re just trying to mesh together and build that relationship.”

On the football side of things at NMMI, Vakalahi played primarily in the B-gap, but with the Sun Devils, he’s being utilized in the C-gap off the edge.

“Since he’s new to football, he doesn’t really know some things,” assistant defensive line coach Leif Fautanu said. “At the same time, he’s continuing to learn, which is awesome.”

Before Vakalahi moved to the United States, he played rugby in his hometown of Spring Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland.

“Rugby was always going to be there for me if I ever didn’t enjoy football,” Vakalahi said. “But I ended up loving this game.”

At St. James College, the equivalent of high school in the U.S., Vakalahi captained his school’s rugby side, while earning numerous awards in the process. In 2022, he received the team’s MVP awards for both the rugby league and rugby union sides.

St. James College is over 7,000 miles away from Vakalahi’s new school in Tempe, so a path to collegiate football never seemed likely.

His football journey only began after his brother, Laekin, signed with the Philadelphia Eagles. Laekin was introduced to then-international scout Chris Naeole via a conversation between Naeole’s friend and Vakalahi’s father, Frank.

Laekin joined the Eagles before the 2024 NFL season and earned a Super Bowl ring after the Eagles defeated the Kansas City Chiefs, 40-22, in Super Bowl LIX.

“That was something that ignited a little flame in me,” Vakalahi said. “I saw the success that he had, and he told me that he loved it, and I said, ‘Why not give it a try?’”

Vakalahi soon found his own path to the U.S. through college football, a daunting move for many. However, he has continued to lean on the support of Laekin, his other three brothers and his parents.

“I couldn’t ask for more in a support group,” Vakalahi said. “Whether that’s from the team, whether it’s from my teammates, coaches, any of the staff, but it comes down to my family too.”

Raised in Australia, Frank Vakalahi didn’t groom his son to be a future football star, but he’s been fully supportive of his kids’ endeavors away from home.

“You hope, as a father, that they are ready for the world and that you’ve taught them enough so that anything that’s thrown at them that they’ll be able to handle,” Frank said. “I want him to go and experience everything out there.”

Following the conclusion of the 2025 season with NMMI, Vakalahi moved to Tempe and had his father visit him in February.

“As soon as he moved there, he just felt an overwhelming sense of support, of love,” Frank said. “He introduced me to his little support network, his friends and family, who have been taking care of him. I was so grateful. I wanted to give them the biggest hug.”

A large part of Vakalahi’s support group in Tempe comes from his connection with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Vakalahi grew up as an active member of the church, thanks to his parents’ guidance.

“I was raised in a very loving, supportive home where my father was able to raise me in a place of always wanting to make the right choices,” Frank said. “Our faith has been the real rock of our home, where they were able to be taught good principles and morals and values that have been instilled in their life.”

When Vakalahi was weighing his options of where he would play college football, he returned to the principles and values instilled in him, helping lead him to the state of Arizona, which has over 400,000 members of the church, behind only Utah, California and Idaho.

“He just told me how much he loves it,” Frank said. “How much he feels that sense of familiarity, that even though he grew up in church in Australia, he still feels that in America, in Arizona.”

The sense of familiarity in the church has helped Vakalahi adjust to football, as he said it is one of the biggest factors leading to his strong work ethic.

“Coming and trying to learn a new sport is something that can be a lot at times,” Vakalahi said. “So having that keeps me grounded and keeps me level-headed, and that’s really going to help me with my future and my career in football.

“Having these opportunities that came to me, I feel if I was put here for a reason, then I’ve got to be here just putting my work in and doing my part of the plan.”

The motto “faith, family and football” rings throughout much of the U.S., as many’s three core values. Incidentally, the Vakalahi family has adopted it as their own.

“Not only are those three things so important, but the order it’s in speaks a lot,” Frank said. “Your faith helps you change from the inside, and that brings out your actions. Then you’re able to build that in a family setting, in your home. Lastly, it translates into anything you do, so being football or being rugby, or being basketball, or whatever it might be, if you have those two things in the beginning in Kirtland’s life, his football will be translated from that.”

Despite his sons’ successes, Frank’s first introduction to football wasn’t through their ambitious endeavors, but rather through playing the “NFL Street” video game series.

Although it didn’t hook him on football, he began to pick up the basics when he took his mission for the church and interacted with American missionaries.

“They would sort of teach me a little bit about football,” Frank said. “I wish I had gotten into it back then in the 90s; I could have been a bit more helpful to my boys if I had.”

Frank never imagined his sons would move across the globe to pursue football, but he hopes the boys make the most of their chance.

“When you’re a father, and you have a child, when they are doing amazing things, it just hits you differently,” Frank said. ”I can see something that he’s able to build on as a foundation for the rest of his life, where one day he might start his own family, and make sure that he’s able to give them all the opportunities.”