Moeakiola will cherish his last game at Sun Devil Stadium

The pregame routine at Sun Devil Stadium goes something like this: The players take the field in different groups for warm-ups as fans start filing into their seats. When warm-ups are finished, the players head back into the Tillman tunnel one last time.

Then the Sun Devil Marching Band — the “pride of the Southwest” — woos all with its performance, especially by executing its well-known “Sun Devil Explosion” move. After the group plays its rendition of the national anthem, the ASU hype video comes on the big board and is followed by the “Stomp the Bus” video, which entails Sparky stomping on the visiting team’s bus.

And right on cue with Sparky stomping the opponent’s bus, the players run out of the tunnel with fireworks blasting from above. This part is most memorable for redshirt senior defensive back Laiu Moeakiola, who said running out onto the field is like seeing yourself as a kid” as everything one has ever worked for comes to life.

“When you go out that tunnel, you can’t explain the feelings that are running through your body,” he said. “It’s like all the 7-on-7s that you participated in, the workouts, trying to eat right, it all comes down to that moment just for 60 minutes on a football field.”

Thursday’s senior night home game against Utah is the last time Moeakiola and his fellow seniors will run out of the tunnel to be greeted by screaming fans.

Moeakiola admitted he wishes he could say it was another game, but said he simply cannot.

“It’s going to be my last game there, it’s going to be bittersweet, but it’s going to be fun being able to share that experience with the seniors on the field,” he said. “It will be an even better memory if we win, so we’re trying to create that moment.”

As a freshman in 2012, Moeakiola played just two games before an injury forced him to redshirt. A shoulder injury hampered him in 2014, but he still tallied 72 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss and five sacks. While he started 12 games last season, injury affected him and he had just 51 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss and two sacks while playing the hybrid linebacker/safety SPUR position.

The one constant through the difficult stretches has been his religious faith, he said.

“It’s definitely been the pivotal part of my life, the rock that I can lean on,” Moeakiola said. “Football only lasts so long, so (my faith) has given me a good balance and perspective on life of what’s really important.”

Moeakiola said the injury setbacks made him more mature and taught him how to be proactive in his approach on the football field.

This season, Moeakiola has seen time at SPUR linebacker and Bandit (strong) safety. He has 43 total tackles, three tackles for loss and one interception, which happened to be a pick-six that was part of a 31-point fourth quarter that helped ASU defeat Cal on Sept. 24.

Defensive coordinator Keith Patterson said he believes this is Moeakiola’s best season.

“He’s played as solid as I’ve ever seen him play,” Patterson said. “He’s always been a very under control-type player, but he’s just been playing at a very high level the last four games.

Patterson has a saying that goes as follows: The way you do anything is the way you do everything.

In other words, the phrase means how one completes one task is how they complete all of them.

When separately discussing Moeakiola — his former roommate — redshirt senior linebacker Carlos Mendoza ironically brought up Patterson’s saying and how Moeakiola represented its exact meaning before Patterson even recited it to the team.

“When it just comes down to it, everything he does on and off the field, he does with a purpose,” Mendoza said of Moeakiola. “I’ve seen Laiu live his life like that just in every little aspect he does. I can see him doing it with a purpose and with an end in mind, and believing in himself and believing he’s doing it for selfless reasons. He believes in the bigger picture.”

Just like Moeakiola, Mendoza has had injury issues of his own. The two share the same religious faith, which they both said they used to help each other through their respective difficult periods.

Mendoza said it was “great” for their relationship and Moeakiola added that the way Mendoza helped him just spoke to the type of people head coach Todd Graham recruits.

“It’s not all about Xs and Os, it’s about relationships we have off the football field,” Moeakiola said. “I’m thankful for Carlos and other guys on the team for being there when you’re distraught or going through something outside of football. That’s just the kind of program we’re trying to build here.”

Moeakiola has seemingly seen it all during his ASU career. He was a part of back-to-back 10-win seasons and part of a 6-7 team that failed to satisfy pundits’ preseason expectations.

“You see both sides of the spectrum — where you could be if you have a great season and where you could be if it’s not where you want it to be,” he said. “It goes back to ground zero, how we’ve been working and what we have to do in order to reach our goals.”

He said his favorite moment was the “Jael Mary,” where former ASU receiver Jaelen Strong caught a Hail Mary pass from former quarterback Mike Bercovici to beat USC in the Coliseum. He also mentioned the Notre Dame win in 2014 that eventually led to a No. 6 ranking in the College Football Playoff, saying it was satisfying to beat a traditional program like the Irish.

Moeakiola said he wants to be remembered as a selfless player who gave his all and maxed out every opportunity offered to him.

“I’m just definitely trying to leave an impact whether it’s on the younger guys I’m leaving behind,” he said, “or whether it’s with the team, letting them know that it’s a long four years and you can make a lot of great things happen.”

Graham said Moeakiola is like a “defensive Taylor Kelly,” comparing his impact on the program and legacy to that of the former ASU quarterback who started during Graham’s back-to-back 10-win seasons in 2013 and 2014.

If playing football doesn’t work out in the future, Moeakiola said he wants to coach it someday. Not only has the sport surrounded him his entire life, he mentioned the joy he always feels when sharing tidbits with younger players on the sideline during games.

He also implied that he’d like to coach at a program like ASU.

So when asked about a possible return to Tempe to assume a coaching role in the future, Moeakiola joked.

“We’ll see. Coach Graham pays the money, right? ” he asked, laughing.

It may not be so far-fetched, though.

“He’s a guy that whenever he’s done playing football, I’d hire him in a heartbeat,” Graham said.