Trenton Irwin and Josh Tupou have taken several flights to LAX, but this was the first time they arrived in nifty white jumpsuits with photographers surrounding the plane.
“Dang, there’s the media as soon as you arrive at the airport,” Irwin said about the Cincinnati Bengals’ airport arrival on Tuesday. “I still don’t know if it’s sunk in yet. It’s sort of … yeah, it’s just wild.”
Irwin and Tupou received rockstar treatment because their Bengals are in the Super Bowl against the Rams and they get to play in the big game near their hometowns.
Irwin, a wide receiver and punt returner, hails from Santa Clarita and is a product of Hart High School. Tupou, a defensive tackle, grew up in Buena Park and graduated from the local high school as a Coyote.
“It’s good to be back in Cali for both of us and to be home,” Irwin said.
Irwin planned on attending Sunday’s game as a spectator because his father, Craig, has always wanted to go to a Super Bowl. Now Irwin’s dad, mother and three younger siblings will get to watch him play in Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium, while the two pups guard the house in Santa Clarita.
Trenton Irwin spent plenty of time with the family friend’s dogs after the Miami Dolphins cut him in 2019 as an undrafted rookie in training camp. He was walking the dogs as a side job while he trained and waited for a phone call from an NFL team.
“I wasn’t making much,” Irwin said. “It was like 20 bucks per walk. … It’s been a humbling start. I’ve never been cut in my life and that was sort of like, dang.”
Irwin got the phone call he had been waiting on for a month after the Dolphins waived him. The Bengals were in need of a wide receiver and held a tryout between Irwin and two other players. Irwin was notified he was the choice a minute after the tryout and trained with the Bengals’ practice squad 30 minutes later.
Irwin was waived two more times since the memorable tryout, but the Bengals kept calling him back. He’s now on their active roster for the Super Bowl and was the team’s punt returner for half the season.
Irwin had his first reception of the 2021 season in Week 4 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, a 25-yard strike from Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. His first career reception occurred in 2020 against the Houston Texans.
“He’s gonna play in the league for a long time,” Irwin said about playing with Burrow. “There’s no other guy you want to have as a quarterback on your team.”
Irwin didn’t know Tupou while growing up in Southern California, but they became friends with the Bengals because of their Pac-12 ties. Irwin went to Stanford and Tupou played for Colorado.
Tupou joined the Bengals in 2017 as an undrafted free agent. He was also waived multiple times by the Bengals before cracking their defensive line rotation, with 33 game appearances and 16 starts over the past two seasons.
Irwin was raised in Glendale before his family moved to Santa Clarita while he was in middle school. Irwin played Pop Warner football for the Glendale Bears and Santa Clarita Wildcats and Warriors.
When people ask Irwin where Santa Clarita is located, he often says 40 miles away from Los Angeles and next to Six Flags Magic Mountain. But Santa Clarita means a lot more to Irwin.
“There are a lot of great memories at Hart,” Irwin said about his high school. “Without any doubt, it’s just the people in Santa Clarita. People are unbelievable. The people that I went to high school with are still some of my best buddies. But I would say the best experience and moment in high school would be when we won the CIF championship my junior year.”
Many of Irwin’s and Tupou’s hometown friends will watch them on TV for Super Bowl LVI, but they won’t be far away. Just a few freeways away for their families to make the trip to SoFi Stadium for Super Bowl Sunday.