Motuapuaka to carry lunch pail mentality with him for life

The former three-star recruit and starting mike linebacker attributes a lot of his success at Tech to his work ethic and toughness

November 15, 2017

Virginia Tech has always been a place that has won with walk-ons and three stars – guys who weren’t satisfied, hungry to be great, had something to prove, and did everything with a chip on their shoulder.

I have always worked hard since I could remember. I think I got that from my parents, who were both hard workers. Looking back at how I was recruited out of high school, being a three star, overlooked because of my lack of size, Virginia Tech took a gamble on me. They were the first school that offered me a scholarship. After my first offer, other schools started to show interest, and the offers started to roll in. I wanted to play for a team that went to work for what they wanted and was all about a grind mentality.

After a few visits to Virginia Tech, I loved the beautiful campus, the incredible fan base and atmosphere. The food was amazing (which played a big role in my decision), the team was a true family, and I had the opportunity to play for the best defensive coordinator in the nation and have him as my position coach. I knew then that Virginia Tech was the place for me, and the place I would call HOME. Throughout my career, Virginia Tech has done nothing but prove me right.

Before getting to Virginia Tech, I didn’t know anything about the lunch pail and what it stood for. Even early in my career here, I knew it was what our defense stood for, but it wasn’t until last year when it finally came to life.

Last year, Coach Fuente instilled the mentality of “1-0.” It started with our winter workouts and Colorado circuit. He wanted us to focus on one rep at a time and to give all of our attention and effort to that rep and focus on winning that rep and not to think ahead about the next rep or station. This is something that you can translate to anything you do in life. Whether it’s on the field, trying to go 1-0 each play, or in the work force, taking it day by day and winning each day.

That has been our mindset for two years now. Of course, winning every day would be ideal, but the fact is that you will lose some battles. And it’s OK. It’s about moving forward to the next rep or the next day and attacking that with all you have. You don’t have time to sulk or dwell on that last play or what happened the day before. The game of football moves too fast, and the game of life certainly moves too fast to dwell on the past.

WIN are the letters that are painted on the lunch pail. It stands for What’s Important Now, which also means going 1-0. I have really grown to love what the lunch pail stands for and have carried the WIN 1-0 mentality to the way I live my life. I will use the lunch pail mentality in every aspect of my life in the future.

The lunch pail is Virginia Tech. It represents family, and those who have come before us and those to come. It represents hard-working people, it represents generation-changers, and it represents the people who will one day change the world. WE ARE VIRGINIA TECH.

Andrew Motuapuaka

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