Seneschal2
In the Starting Line-Up
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Former Rajah, Trojan excited to join Moss, Bruschi on team
Lua was a sleeper pick of mine, and if it weren't for his knees, I would've considered him slightly higher. Love the fact that Seau is his idol. He reportedly has a strong work ethic, which he'll need to stick. And from the amount of interest expressed by the Pats, I think they plan on him making the final cuts. But of course -- he's a wait-and-see...
---"How gnarly was that?" said Lua, who had 26 unanswered messages on his cell phone an hour after his selection at approximately 1 p.m. "It's a good deal. My family's happy. My mom is a little sad because I'll be on the other side of the map."
Throughout the process, Lua has been contacted regularly by the Patriots, and Lua thought he could get drafted in the later rounds.
"Through the whole process, they showed a lot of interest," said Lua's father Gabriel. "In the last days, the Patriots were the most interested."
But when Lua saw the Patriots had four picks in the sixth round and none of those were used to select him, he got a little worried.
"They waited a round, probably hoping to get me as a free agent," Lua said. "But the prior round, there was a few linebackers taken, so they probably wanted to avoid losing me to the Saints, Giants, or Dolphins."
One of the perks for Lua is that he will get to play behind All-Pro linebacker Tedy Bruschi, in whom Lua sees a lot of himself.
Lua, at just under 6-1 and who played at 250, is about the same size as Bruschi.
"He's not the biggest or the fastest, but he makes plays," Lua said. "There's a tremendous amount of knowledge you can learn from.
"That's amazing, an incredible feeling, knowing I will be sitting in a room with Tedy Bruschi and maybe Junior Seau and being part of the Patriots."
Although Lua will be an apprentice to Bruschi, the Patriots told him they expect him to have an impact right away.
Lua was a sleeper pick of mine, and if it weren't for his knees, I would've considered him slightly higher. Love the fact that Seau is his idol. He reportedly has a strong work ethic, which he'll need to stick. And from the amount of interest expressed by the Pats, I think they plan on him making the final cuts. But of course -- he's a wait-and-see...