Many collegiate athletes will talk with family on the day of a game, looking for words of encouragement or good luck wishes. Others may search out and greet those they know in the crowd before a competition.

Not senior defensive lineman Destiny Vaeao. He’s too busy preparing for battle.

When WSU traveled to Berkeley last month, his family showed up early to greet him as the team walked inside the stadium hours before kickoff, but Vaeao wasn’t to be distracted.

“He’s so furious when it comes to football,” older sister Lalomoana Vaeao said. “We were standing on the side trying to say ‘hi’ to him, and all he did was look at us and nod his head. We kind of got the idea that it’s game day and we can’t really bother him.”

Nothing seems to bother him, in fact. A quiet man of few words, he keeps to himself a lot.

From the small city of Pago Pago, American Samoa, English is his second language after Samoan. Even though Pullman is also a small city, adapting to a different culture hasn’t been easy, and Destiny’s ability to lead by example has shown through.

“It’s not easy to come here and to adhere to a different set of rules, it’s overwhelming,” WSU Defensive Line Coach Joe Salave’a said. “He commands the room. When he speaks, everybody listens.”

Destiny is the youngest of five children, with three older brothers and his sister. Lalomoana, the sibling he’s closest to, is three years older than Destiny and graduated from WSU in 2013.

When schools like Alabama and UW tried recruiting Destiny, he decided to at least visit WSU because his sister was there. However, he was surprised when he first met with WSU personnel who had invited him to come to Pullman because football wasn’t mentioned.

“Our first meeting was about academics,” Destiny recalled. “I was like, ‘Why are we talking about academics?’ It made me change my mind. I realized, how am I going to play football for four years? Without school, I’m not going to play football.”

Salave’a was involved in that recruiting process, and he feels like he was just paying it forward.

“It’s an opportunity for me as a former athlete, but also a Polynesian, to make sure that these kids are preparing themselves beyond the scope of football, beyond the scope of college,” Salave’a said. “When you’re from the remote island from the South Pacific, you can’t go home empty handed.”

With that, Destiny made the decision to become a Cougar – not just a football player, but a student.

“My decision wasn’t based on worrying about football,” Destiny said. “It was based more on education. That’s the biggest goal to me, is to get that degree. Everybody can play football.”

He is now just a few weeks away from achieving that goal. Destiny is set to graduate in December with a degree in criminal justice. The goals and dreams don’t stop there.

“Everybody’s got a dream to go to the NFL,” Destiny said. “But if that doesn’t work out, I just want to work with the kids (in Samoa).”

Lalomoana said Destiny enjoys telling her of times he and other football players have worked with children, including visiting hospitals in Pullman and Spokane, and that he seems to have a knack with kids.

“He’s always the favorite uncle,” Lalomoana said. “All the kids love him, in terms of taking care of them and making sure they get what they want from Uncle Toa.”

Toa is Destiny’s middle name, and his family affectionately calls him by that. It means ‘the brave one’ or ‘the warrior.’ It’s an appropriate moniker for a man who’s faced battles both on and off the football field, fighting each one with a quiet but passionate demeanor that instills confidence in both his coaches and teammates.

“He’s a quiet warrior,” Salave’a said. “The best is to know that he’s going to graduate and knowing that he took care of the school work and that’s something that hopefully is contagious to the rest of the group.”

Destiny credits Salave’a in helping him grow in all facets of his life since he came to WSU.

“Coach Joe is like a father, a coach, an adviser, a professor, everything, and not for just football,” Destiny said. “He’s not just a coach.”

For his part, Salave’a said he can only help those who are receptive to advice, which Destiny most certainly is.

“He listens and he’s coachable, regardless if he’s right or wrong,” he said.

Last week in a game against Stanford, Destiny’s hard work paid off yet again. In the first quarter, he sacked the quarterback and forced a fumble on a play that would help set the tone for how the defense would play the whole night.

“Nothing is easy. It’s all about hard work,” Destiny said. “We were tired of being underdogs. We’re still underdogs, but we’re working our way up.”

From growing up in a small city to playing in the small town of Pullman, Destiny has grown accustomed to consistently having that quiet, underdog mentality, and coming out on top. It’s what sets him apart from other players from larger organizations.

Whatever future battles he will face, whether on or off the football field, the outcomes will not be certain. One thing will be, though: Destiny will fight. He always has. He always will.