so puka's real name is actually makaya puka is a nickname when he was little probably when he hit about walking age he just like was this little fat buddha had no neck had this bald head hookah is one of the most athletic kids i've ever seen in football so he's got tons of athleticism then you look at his body and he's a big body he takes everything uh serious and does it um a hundred percent cougars like all right we're going to work out right now i'm like are you sure bro we just worked out like 30 minutes ago and he's like we're going again and i was like all right sounds good bro i'm going to win this game because right here he's about to gather both of these right here i'm about to throw him right down the gutter and blow it he's got two strikes in a row but he's not like that this is exactly how samson is he's always going to fight for his family he wasn't even close and that's why i actually named samson because when he was in my tummy i just remember feeling like he he just was this strong kid that's always been his personality he's just one of those guys that he steps on the field or walks into a meeting room or whatever he brings a lot of energy to everything he does he talks to everybody as much as he seems like he doesn't talk he talks to a lot of people it's like he's like the perfect medium i guess consistency baby i'm out here every time in pains knocking him down this kid's just all over the place it's ugly it's not beautiful i play a beautiful game it's art what i do i think he can get annoying sometimes because i spend so much time with him obviously but when you know one brother i think you know the rest in the nekula family and these are guys who are full of life who are competitive or passionate about everything that's in front of them and i'm just thrilled at the chance i have to get to work with two of the five boys in that family and i know they're going to make byu better and our job is to make them better because they're here we weren't the wealthiest we had a lot of kids and you know club sports are really expensive usually because they're traveling 24 7. but we've made it work my dad made it work he had us hustle with him so he would have a set of the concession stands um with some of the candy and the drinks during the tournaments and then at the end of the day our dad would have us go scrape the gums and then mop the floors down of all the basketball courts in the gym he helped us to learn like ways to like you know give back there's a lot of good times of working with my dad and stuff he always loved being at the games he loved being able to just teach his kids you know the sport instilling in them that fire and passion to play to win and to give it your best may 14th 2012. so it's where pops is at yeah it's game day a little bit but you know i just came to visit family get the mind right take a little off football actually when this started there there was there was a baby tree it wasn't even there no shade here honestly and now it's all grown up lionel had diabetes he was a type 2 diabetic as time had progressed his diabetes just worsened i remember him calling for my older brothers to ask him to sit up out of bed they couldn't really even get him up either my dad just said he couldn't get up and uh [Music] he was having diabetic symptoms that i wasn't aware of and so in that time frame that they were rushed to the hospital his heart was racing so fast the medications they were trying to give him to slow down his heart rate wasn't working so they felt like inducing a coma to help and unfortunately he didn't make it and then stuff happened so quick and we ended up in utah and my mom brought us all here and probably the best meant for us to get out of vegas you know start over we still did things together as a family but there was obviously that missing part that wasn't there with us but there was a plan that he had put together of us just being able to use sports as a platform for us to achieve the wants and goals in our life and that would be a way for us to help help our family and live his legacy i guess in a way this is been a long time i wish i could come here more but it's always been a struggle for me to come here i guess that's always been the plan we just stick together with our families he was only fitting that game once here in las vegas back where he is and where it all kind of started being a loving eternal husband and a best friend he was just good to everyone wanting to help everyone out trying to figure figure out every every way possible to help them out and help our family out helps me when i'm when i know i'm not where i need to be or when i'm not hitting the goals that i want to hit remember why i'm doing in the reason i'm doing is the example that was set before me is to work hard and to take care of those around me and that's what i'm trying to do we can all take take it for granted sometimes and then the cool boys definitely don't seeing the way that they represent themselves on the field and off the field has been really impressive for me and it's an honor for me to be their coach they are very lucky to have their mom that they have to lose their dad um in the phase of life that they did for their mom to raise five boys those with those types of strong personalities they've kept her young she's an angel she's a warrior and um they're super lucky to have benina as their mom quarantine was it was really super nice samson came home everybody was home it was a hard time but also a good time a lot of people were you know lost some loved ones um some people got sick but for me and my family i think it was the best thing for us we got to grow a lot closer we actually got to spend time away from football it was nice to be home with everybody just felt like we hadn't been home as a family together in a long time as much as i thought i wanted to get out to seattle and i loved seattle and i learned a lot and grown a lot and i got to see stuff that i feel like i wanted to see and i wouldn't see out here in utah but then i was like i miss you i miss being around my family is when i i guess all my family's out here my mom's cousins and stuff like that so hookah you know brought it to my attention the timing of everything is just perfect honestly it doesn't seem like god will put anything in our way with for like right now like he said this is just god's time it was all perfect everything's aligned yeah i don't know it was hard i guess everything there was nothing bad in that's from my situation at the university of washington but family my family's made it easier i guess for sure being able to come home to familiar faces and keep me on track it was so hard to leave me i mean the five years up there they were always good to me they let me be who i was for my five years and i was breaking down crying and i was like dude i don't know what to do i know it's the right thing to do to leave go home but it just wasn't easy leaving the my boys like that and so it's followed lucas pass just kept praying about it find peace for an answer and stuff and find peace within myself to see if this was the right move and came to decision and we ended up here and it feels great it feels uh feels like home honestly what would you think of these two coming together oh i'm playing here now he would be so proud of them and i'm i'm positive that he played a little part in maybe them coming here you