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JBLM life helped Colorado QB ‘grow up’

Sefo Liufau credits his father Joe and his military background for helping mold him

Colorado senior quarterback Sefo Liufau (13) spent time at JBLM as a child. (Photo U of Colorado).

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There’s no denying it takes a combination of physical skill and mental toughness to play quarterback in college football, especially at the level of NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision.

Sefo Liufau, a senior quarterback for the University of Colorado, credits his father Joe and his military background for helping mold him into the player he is. This season, Liufau has been able to show signs of leadership, dedication to the team, teamwork and resiliency as the Colorado Buffaloes clinched its first bowl berth since 2007.

Liufau has been tested this year as a senior playing his final season. The Buffaloes played well for a good portion of the road game against then-fourth ranked Michigan. Liufau went 16 for 25 for 246 yards and three touchdowns and even attempted to play, despite suffering an ankle sprain.

Liufau has shown toughness throughout his collegiate career, and he credits that to time he spent with his dad on the installation. His father, a retired Army sergeant first class, often brought him to exercises with troops from his unit, the Western Regional Medical Command, now the Regional Health Command-Pacific.

“I started doing (physical training) with his unit and played basketball with his unit growing up, around fourth or fifth grade,” Liufau said. “They made me grow up a lot faster than most kids my age.”

Basketball was the most prominent sport Joe had his son play with his fellow service members. There were a few games of touch football and even one paintball match; Liufau said he was mad by the end of the paintball match after being hit a number of times.

Teamwork brought the important lesson of everyone working together as a unit as a way of protecting everyone’s individual weaknesses.

“You as a leader have to match them all to accomplish the mission,” Joe said. “You are as strong as your weakest link.”

Joe said the service members on his team took the time to offer the young quarterback life lessons for him to carry forward through high school. In a lot of ways, Joe’s troops took Liufau under their wing just as much as he did, he said.

Joe said that competing against adults at a young age seemed to have helped Liufau before going to Bellarmine Preparatory School in Tacoma, where he went 34-5 as a three-year starter with more than 7,000 yards passing, 68 touchdowns and only 20 interceptions.

“When he got to high school, it didn’t faze him,” Joe said. “He said, ‘Dad, I’ll change the program.”

Playing in a bowl game is an accomplishment in and of itself. The last time the Buffaloes played in a bowl game was the 2007 season when the team finished 6-6 while still members of the Big 12 Conference. The team lost in the Independence Bowl to the University of Alabama, 30-24.

In the previous eight seasons, Colorado has struggled with an average a little above three wins per season. Liufau said the team doesn’t want to play in just any college bowl game, but being eligible is a big step for the program overall.

Depending on how the rest of the season goes, Colorado could find itself playing in the Pac-12 Conference Football Championship Dec. 2 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.

While he’s thinking about making a run toward the National Football League next season, Liufau is more focused on the remainder of his senior season and his education. A bowl appearance could be a good way for Liufau and his senior teammates to finish their collegiate careers.

“(I would like) to leave a lasting legacy and a better state (for the program) than when we first got here,” Liufau said. “This university has given me a lot, and I feel I owe them.”

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