Minium: Now Reunited at ODU, Linebackers Koa and Seth Naotala Draw Inspiration From Their Older Brother

By Harry Minium

NORFOLK, Va. – When football practice gets especially hard, when their legs are aching and they feel like then can’t run one more sprint or make one more tackle, brothers Koa and Seth Naotala embrace their pain.

“We know that playing football, that practicing football, it’s such a blessing,” Koa said.

“Even the summer days when we’re out here conditioning, we know it’s a blessing to be running, to be working out and to be tired.”

The Old Dominion linebackers say they appreciate playing football, the opportunity to run and exercise, because it is something their older brother, Kalepo, can no longer enjoy.

At 6-foot-3 and 300 pounds, Kalepo Naotala was a stud football player at Menchville High School in Newport News, and for a year, at the University of Hawaii.

But then, in 2017, tragedy struck when he and his teammates were diving into the Pacific Ocean. Kalepo dove into a rock and was instantly paralyzed from the chest down.

He can move his arms, but he can’t walk and has trouble grasping with his fingers. He is confined to a wheelchair and likely will be the rest of his life.

After nearly six months of hospitalization in Hawaii and then Colorado, Kalepo moved back home in Newport News with his parents, Tony and Shantell, and his three siblings, including sister Siena.

Such setbacks can tear families apart. But not this family. The Naotalas are devout Christians who relied on their faith, and each other, as they rallied to care for their brother.

They have embraced tragedy with an optimistic attitude.

The three siblings, especially, rolled up their sleeves and doted on their brother. As the siblings grew older and moved out of the house, Shantell’s parents moved in to help take care of Kalepo.

“My mother is a nurse,” Shantell said. “We all came together as a family.”

Koa and Seth were in middle school when it happened and weren’t old enough to completely fully comprehend the enormity of how their brother’s life would change.

“We watched how our dad reacted,” Seth said. “We followed his example, and we stood on our faith.

“The way to get better is not to dwell on what just happened, but to just keep moving forward and being led by God in that way.

“And that’s kind of the way we’ve lived our lives up until now.

“Now, it just feels normal because we’ve been taking care of him for so long.”

And as terrible as the situation was, Seth added: “I feel like it’s made us grow closer together as a family, as brothers, as siblings.”

Kalepo said his faith and his parents allowed him to survive the shock and then come to terms with his new life. He said his siblings, more than anyone, kept his spirits up in those first few years after the accident.

“It was tough when it happened,” he said. “It’s still tough.

“It was really hard on me the first two years, trying to get adjusted to my new normal.

“My brothers and sister, they kept my spirits up those first two years. They took care of me.

“I feel like I’ve adjusted. I’m thankful that I’ve made it this far. Being able to see my sister graduate, my brothers graduate, to see my brothers play football together again, it’s all been a blessing.”

The Naotala family is of Samoan ancestry – from American Samoa, not to be confused with the independent nation of Samoa, which was formerly a German and British colony.

Tony and Shantell have deep American roots – their parents and grandparents hail from American Samoa and many family members served in the U.S. Marines, including two grandparents during the Vietnam War.

Tony and Shantell met in California and moved to Hampton Roads after Tony joined the Navy. After 20 years in the Navy, Tony retired and the family planned to move back West. But then Tony was hired as the youth paster at Cavalry Chapel Christian Church, and so the Naotalas now call Hampton Roads their home.

Both Samoas have produced an outsized number of American football players perhaps because of their unique culture and DNA. More than 60 Polynesians have or are still playing in the National Football League.

Hard work is surely a part of the success of Samoan football players.  

“I think it’s in part our genetics,” Kalepo said. “Samoans are just bigger people.”

In part true, but that does not completely explain how Koa and Seth have become such good linebackers. At 6-feet and 225 pounds, both are a little undersized to play middle linebacker at the FBS level.

Hard work helps. So does determination.

Sports was always as big part of the Naotala family. The siblings played volleyball, swam, wrestled and played football. Tony was able to coach all three sons in football, both in organized community league games and in the back yard.

He would dress his sons in full football gear and they would go at each other in the back yard.

The first time Seth knocked heads with Kalepo, he was knocked to the ground. He was crying but as he picked himself up, he said, “Let’s do it again.”

Perhaps that helps explain why Koa leads ODU with 85 tackles and is sixth in the Sun Belt with an average of 7.3 tackles per game. Seth is his younger brother’s backup and has 25 tackles.

“If you watched Koa against Marshall, you saw him knocking down offensive tackles who weigh 350 pounds,” said Blake Seiler, ODU’s defensive coordinator. “Off the field, he’s one of the nicest young men you’ll ever meet. He’s a leader in the locker room.

“He’s always positive, always lifting people up.

“But when they snap that football, he’s as mean and violent as they come, and that’s what makes him great.”

Koa was the backup last season for All-American linebacker Jason Henderson, who suffered a season-ending knee injury just before ODU played Western Kentucky in the Famous Toastery Bowl in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Koa made 14 tackles in his first start in Charlotte, and with Henderson out most of this season as well, solidified himself as one of the best linebackers in the Sun Belt.

When ODU named its captains during fall practice, teammates and coaches picked Koa, even though at the time, he was not starting.

“That tells you how special he is.”

Koa starred at Woodside High in Newport News, then played at Lipscomb Academy in Nashville under former NFL star Trent Dilfer as a senior during the pandemic. He walked-on at ODU without a scholarship in 2022.

“I made a deal with Koa,” said his father, Tony. “I said that we would pay for his first year of school, but you’ve got to earn a scholarship.”

He did, although not quite as soon as he’d hoped. He entered fall practice in 2023 without a scholarship, but several weeks into practice, Head Coach Ricky Rahne announced to the team that Koa had earned a full ride.

Seth, meanwhile, played four seasons at James Madison. He forced a fumble in ODU’s three-point loss at JMU last season, a game that Koa missed with an injury. But after four years at JMU, including a redshirt season and an injury redshirt season, the Dukes changed coaching staffs and Seth entered the portal and thought his football career might be over.

Seiler approached Seth when he learned he was available.

“He hadn’t worked out all summer,” Seiler said. “But when we asked him to walk-on, he didn’t hesitate.”

After just four weeks with the Monarchs, he played special teams in ODU’s opener at South Carolina.

It took Seth much of the season to learn ODU’s defensive system, but he’s played so well that Rahne recently offered him a scholarship to return next season.

“I’m so thankful that they are both playing at ODU,” Shantell said. “When Seth was at JMU, it was hard to get up there. There were times when I would go to one game and Tony to the other.”

Tony, the youth pastor, said Seth’s road to ODU wasn’t random.

“It’s such a blessing,” he said. “It’s awesome. And it had to be divine intervention in how it worked out.

“It’s so awesome to see them playing together again. I don’t get upset if Koa goes out of the game because I know Seth is coming into the game.”

While they said their Christian faith has held them together as a family, the Naotala parents acknowledge that knowing their son was injured so badly was the most difficult point in their lives.

“Nobody can express the sadness we felt,” Tony said. “Proverbs 3:5 says not to rely on our knowledge, but to trust in the Lord to direct your path. So we just trusted the Lord and we’ve been travelling down this path for seven years.

“Our kids, they insisted to Kalepo. The boys have always looked at Kalepo as their inspiration.”

While it took years for Kalepo to fully come to grips with his injury and his new limitations, he eventually realized, he said, that he is still alive because he still has a purpose in life.

There had to be a reason why he survived the accident, he said.

He’s not sure what that purpose is just yet but this fall, he and his father helped coach a youth football team.

“There were three younger cousins on the team,” Kalepo said. “We weren’t able to make it to all the games but we made most of them.

“Some days it was hard to get out of the bed and get into a wheelchair. But I made it a point to be at every practice. It actually helped. There was less pain and spasming.

“It helped me physically and mentally, to share my knowledge with the kids. It was gratifying to hear them tell us that they didn’t win last season like they did this season.”

Kalepo attends every ODU home game and his parents go to every road game. They will be at Arkansas State on Saturday when the Monarchs conclude their season at 3 p.m. (TV-ESPN+).

The Noatala family prayed as a unit before every community league and high school game. They will pray separately when most of the Monarchs kneel down in the end zone just before the game begins to say a quick prayer.

Kalepo will also be praying back in Newport News.

“Our faith is what grounds us,” Tony said. “More than anything else, it’s what our family is all about, our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.”

And their ability to embrace tragedy with uncommon grace.