Troy Aumua Polamalu (; born Troy Benjamin Aumua; April 19, 1981) is an American former professional football player who spent his entire 12-year career as a safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). An eight-time Pro Bowl and six-time All-Pro selection, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2020, his first year of eligibility.
Polamalu played college football for the USC Trojans, earning consensus All-American honors in 2002. He was chosen by the Steelers in the first round of the 2003 NFL draft. He was a member of two Steelers' Super Bowl championship teams and was the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2010, helping them to another Super Bowl appearance. He was also the head of player relations of the Alliance of American Football. Known for his "range, explosiveness, and impact on the field," Polamalu is widely considered one of the greatest safeties in NFL history, and is credited with playing a key role in the Steelers' success during the 2000s.
Early life Polamalu was born in Garden Grove, California. His mother is Suila Polamalu. Polamalu is of American Samoan descent. He is the youngest of five children. His father left the family soon after Polamalu was born. Polamalu spent his early years in Santa Ana, California. At age eight, Polamalu vacationed in Tenmile, Oregon with his aunt and uncle for three weeks; afterwards, he begged his mother to let him live in Oregon. Concerned about the negative influences in nearby Los Angeles, Polamalu's mother sent him to Oregon to live with his uncle, aunt, and cousins when he was nine years old. Polamalu described his uncle, Salu Polamalu, as a disciplinarian who kept him straight.
Polamalu graduated from Douglas High School in Winston, Oregon. While there, he played high school football. Following his junior season, Polamalu was named to the All-State first team and was the All-Far West League Offensive Most Valuable Player for Douglas High, which achieved a 9–1 record. He rushed for 1,040 yards with 22 touchdowns and had 310 receiving yards. On defense, he made 65 tackles and had eight interceptions. Despite playing in only four games during his senior season due to injury, he was named to the 1998 Super Prep All-Northwest team, Tacoma News Tribune Western 100, and the All-Far West League second team. As a two-way player, Polamalu rushed for 671 yards with nine touchdowns and had three interceptions.
Polamalu also played high school baseball and basketball, where he received all-state and all-league honors.
College career Polamalu received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Southern California (USC), and played for the Trojans from 1999 to 2002. "I believe God named me Troy for a reason", he said (Troy was the ancient capital of the Trojans). "I was born to come here."
Freshman season Polamalu began his college career in 1999 as a true freshman, playing backup at safety and linebacker, while also contributing on special teams. While playing in eight games, he recorded 12 tackles, two sacks, and two forced fumbles. Against Louisiana Tech, he showed his effectiveness on special teams, blocking a punt. His freshman season was cut short when he suffered a concussion at practice. The injury sidelined him for four games.
Sophomore season The 2000 season marked the beginning of Polamalu's career. He opened his season starting against Penn State, and recorded only two tackles but made an interception for a 43-yard touchdown. While playing against Colorado, he made five tackles and recovered a fumble that set up a Trojan touchdown. The next game, he again recorded five tackles and also sacked Oregon State's quarterback. During a game against Oregon, he ended the game with 13 tackles, two tackles for a loss, and one interception. Later on, against Stanford, he made 11 tackles in the game. He set a career-high with 14 tackles against Arizona State and tied that mark against Notre Dame. This marked his first year starting all 12 games at strong safety and he closed out 2000 with 83 tackles, five tackles-for-loss, one sack, two interceptions, and one touchdown.
Junior season In 2001, he had the best year of his college career. He started the season by being voted as the team captain, and in the season opener he recorded seven tackles and one tackle for a loss against San Jose State. Against Kansas State, he had a game-high 13 tackles, three tackles for a loss, and one forced fumble. Polamalu continued his dominance against Stanford, making a game-high 10 stops, one tackle for a loss, and his first blocked punt of the season. In the next game against Washington he had a game-high 13 tackles, two tackles for a loss, an interception that he returned for a 22-yard touchdown. Throughout the next four games, Polamalu continued to have the most tackles in each game. He had a streak of six games in a row and eight total in the season where he led both teams in tackles. Against Oregon State, he accumulated a game-high 11 tackles, two tackles for a loss, two pass deflections, one forced fumble, and a blocked punt that USC recovered. His streak ended against California, when he had four tackles, but made a game-deciding play with an interception that he returned for a 58-yard touchdown. The next week, the Trojans played their rival, UCLA. Polamalu had two tackles but made key plays when he blocked a punt and made an interception that set up key field goals for USC. He won his first PAC-10 Defensive Player of the Week. USC went on to the Las Vegas Bowl against Utah and Polamalu made a career-high 20 tackles, and three tackles for a loss. He finished his junior campaign with a team-high 118 tackles, 13 tackles for a loss, one sack, three interceptions, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, three blocked punts, and two touchdowns. Polamalu won USC's MVP award and was voted a first-team All-American by Football Writers and College and Pro Football News Weekly. The Associated Press voted him second-team All-American.
Senior season For his last season, Polamalu continued to uphold his big play reputation. After being voted team captain for the second consecutive year, he opened the 2002 season with seven tackles and one tackle for a loss in a victory over Auburn. The Trojans faced #18 Colorado in the second game and Polamalu had a team-high 11 tackles. His performance in the 40–3 blowout over Colorado won him Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Week. In the fifth game of the season, he injured his ankle on the first defensive series against #17 Washington State. After sitting out a game, he returned against #22 Washington and recorded five tackles and returned an interception 33 yards. Polamalu then disrupted Stanford for the third year in a row, accumulating a season-high 13 tackles, two tackles for a loss, and one sack. He played his last college game in the Orange Bowl against #3 Iowa. A hamstring injury sidelined him for the majority of the game. Polamalu finished his senior season with 68 tackles, nine tackles for a loss, three sacks, one interception, and three forced fumbles. He was voted a first team All-American by the Associated Press, Football Writers, ESPN.com, and Walter Camp, making him the first Trojan to be a two-time first-team All-American since Tony Boselli in 1992.
Polamalu finished his college career with 278 tackles, 29 tackles for a loss, six interceptions, four blocked punts, and three touchdowns.
Professional career
2003 In the last game of his college career in the Orange Bowl, Polamalu injured his knee in pre-game warm-ups and had very limited action in the game that day. The injury also caused Polamalu to miss the Senior Bowl and 2003 NFL Combine. On March 12, 2003, Polamalu participated at USC's pro day, along with Carson Palmer, Justin Fargas, Kareem Kelly, Sultan McCullough, Malaefou MacKenzie, and others. He performed the three-cone drill (6.75), short shuttle (4.37), and 40-yard dash (4.33) for NFL team representatives and scouts.
The Pittsburgh Steelers initially had a verbal agreement with Dexter Jackson, who was the reigning Super Bowl MVP with the 2003 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. With an agreement in place with Jackson, the Steelers focused on drafting a running back in the first round. On March 12, 2003, Jackson signed with the Arizona Cardinals after they added $2 million to their offer and increased his salary by $2.3 million in the first three-years.
Polamalu was projected to be a late-first or early-second-round pick by the majority of NFL draft experts and scouts. He was ranked the top strong safety prospect by BLESTO and National Scouting Combines. The Steelers selected Polamalu in the first round (16th overall) in the 2003 NFL draft.
The San Diego Chargers, who had the 15th overall pick, had a major need at safety to replace Rodney Harrison but passed on the opportunity to select Polamalu by trading down and getting Sammy Davis and Terrence Kiel. The Steelers quickly made a move to bring Polamalu to their team. The Steelers believed so much that Polamalu could have a positive impact on their defense that they traded up from the 27th spot to the 16th spot, originally held by the Chiefs. The Steelers traded away the 92nd and 200th overall picks for the rights to switch first-round picks. The Kansas City Chiefs went on to draft Larry Johnson, Julian Battle, and Brooks Bollinger (the Bollinger pick was subsequently traded to the Jets in the same draft) with the picks acquired from the trade. He has the distinction of being one of only two safeties ever drafted by the Steelers in the first round of an NFL Draft; the other being Terrell Edmunds in 2018.
On July 28, 2003, the Steelers signed Polamalu after a short hold out to a five-year, $12.10 million contract.
On July 29, 2003, Polamalu arrived at training camp after missing the start of it due to a hamstring injury and competed with veteran Mike Logan in training camp for the vacant starting strong safety job left by Lee Flowers.
Polamalu made his professional regular season debut in the Steelers' season-opening 34–15 victory over the Baltimore Ravens. The following week, he made his first career tackle and finished with two solo tackles during a 41–20 loss at the Kansas City Chiefs. On November 30, 2003, he made four combined tackles and had his first career sack on Cincinnati Bengals' quarterback Jon Kitna, in a 24–20 loss. On December 23, 2003, Polamalu recorded a season-high six combined tackles in a 13–6 win against the Cleveland Browns. He finished his rookie season in with a total of 38 combined tackles (30 solo) and four passes defensed in 16 games and zero starts. Throughout the season, he was the backup strong safety and played primarily on special teams and in dime packages. Defensive coordinator Tim Lewis was fired after the 2003 season.
2004 Head coach Bill Cowher named Polamalu the starting strong safety over Mike Logan to start the season and made his first career start in the Steelers' season-opener against the Oakland Raiders. He made seven combined tackles in their 24–21 victory. The following week, he made a season-high 11 combined tackles, as the Steelers lost 30–13 to the Baltimore Ravens. On September 26, 2004, Polamalu recorded six combined tackles, deflected a pass, and made his first career interception off a pass from A. J. Feeley during a 13–3 victory over the Miami Dolphins. In Week 4, he made six combined tackles, two pass deflections, and intercepted a pass attempt by Carson Palmer and returned it for a 26-yard touchdown during the Steelers' 28–17 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. In Week 10, against the Cleveland Browns, he earned AFC Defensive Player of the Week. In his first season under new defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, Polamalu finished with a career-high 96 combined tackles (67 solo), ten pass deflections, five interceptions, and one touchdown in 16 games and 16 starts. He was named to the 2005 Pro Bowl for the first time.