WAILUKU, Hawaii – When the Rams took the field for their minicamp workouts at War Memorial Stadium in Maui, you knew when [Puka Nacua](/team/players-roster/puka-nacua/) arrived because he always received the loudest cheers.
Whether it was the youth in attendance for one of Tuesday or Wednesday's post-practice clinics, or the overall audience for Wednesday's practice, the wide receiver of Samoan, Hawaiian and Portuguese descent felt the warm welcome throughout the Rams' time on Maui.
"It feels like home," Nacua said after Tuesday's practice. "As soon as we got off the plane, the first person, he gave me a big hug and he had a big smile and he's like, 'Thank you so much for everyone you do for the Polynesian community.' That's how I expected it to be, to have a warm welcome, somebody to hug. I thought he was going to have spam musubi. He didn't, but it was alright, we got it after."
Nacua went onto the field wearing Kyren Williams' No. 23 practice jersey, thinking the fans would rush the running back instead of him, "but I forgot the hair and everything," he said, referring to his long hair tied into a bun, and that "I'm a little bit bigger than Kyren." Each player arrived with their helmet off, so it was impossible for Nacua and his big smile to go unrecognized by the many Hawaiian fans and young Polynesian athletes who look up to him.
An active and involved coach when the Rams hosted a girls flag football clinic Tuesday afternoon, Nacua is becoming admired in the same way he looked up to Polynesian NFL players like Troy Polamalu, Marcus Mariota and JuJu Smith-Schuster growing up. A lengthy line greeted Nacua at his autograph session at the Rams' pop up shop at Wailea Village – where he also received some of that spam musubi.