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USC safety Isaiah Pola-Mao had the rare experience of growing up as an aspiring football player while watching a member of his extended family star as one of the legends of the sport.
Pola-Mao's mother is a cousin of former Trojans and Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu, who is more simply referred to as Pola-Mao's uncle in the USC media guide -- "I just use uncle in respect," he said. And young Isaiah was able to appreciate that connection as Polamalu remained a presence in the NFL through the 2014 season.
But perhaps the most meaningful bond between the two has come in the last couple months as Pola-Mao trained with Polamalu in one-on-one sessions during the pandemic and his time away from the USC program.
PODCAST: Isaiah Pola-Mao talks USC defense, training with Troy Polamalu
"Growing up just watching him was always electrifying. It was always awesome watching him because he does stuff that not a lot of people can do," Pola-Mao said. "Of course with his football season, he never was really able to have that much free time, but I got to hang out with him more and more this past offseason. I've been working with him just trying to get right and he's been putting me on game. It's just insane the type of knowledge that he's put on me."
Pola-Mao said they worked together from May until he returned to campus earlier this month for the start of voluntary workouts.
"I was with him for a while. He was just talking about philosophy, talking about where he in his career was feeling down and out and how he got out of that slump. It was just a whole lot of knowledge being spoken to me because he was telling me everything about his career and places I could do better in, or something that hurt him that could help me in the future. Just stuff like that," Pola-Mao said. "It was just me and him. It was an awesome experience. I loved being out there and just getting the work in. It was just an awesome time being up there around my family."
