Khyiris Tonga
Khyiris (pronounced KYE-ris) Tonga is a professional football player. He was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the seventh round of the 2021 NFL Draft and played 217 snaps for them as a rookie.
Tonga then signed on with the Atlanta Falcons’ practice squad and then in early October 2022, the Minnesota Vikings signed him away from the Falcons and he first appeared in week 8 of the season against Arizona.
Tonga was born in West Valley City, Utah, on July 7, 1996. He had a difficult childhood and was eventually adopted by his best friend’s parents, George and Siu Tonga.
- He was invited to stay for a night and then a week and eventually George and Siu Tonga’s home became his own. The Tongas gave him stability and taught him about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Midway through his senior year they officially adopted him.[1]
He told Sports Illustrated, “That was the first time in my life where it felt like home. I was part of a family. Growing up I never had a dad, I never met my dad. In and out of my mom’s house, getting into trouble, I never had a home home. When all that happened, it felt really good and I had peace in my life.”[2]
Tonga served as a full-time missionary in Kansas. “He looks back at his upbringing and mission as experiences that helped him handle the uncertainty of the pros.”
“I think it’s really tough and you need to just keep the faith in what you’re doing,” he said. “It’s something I’ve learned in Year 2 is, don’t expect the outcome to be the outcome you want right away.”[3]
Regarding his mission to Kansas, he said, “I’m with people that I don’t even know and I have to learn to love them and try to love them and be patient,” Tonga said. “You work on all these things. That’s one of the biggest things I learned for myself was how Christ-like can I be with people I don’t even know and learning to love them.”[4]
“It’s easy to be Christ-like toward my sisters and my brothers but I don’t know how to be that way with someone who pushed me or didn’t want to hear anything from me. It taught me patience and things I wanted to learn for myself,” he continued. “Those things that I learned are now the things I want to teach my kids. There’s so many things that I can’t even put into words that I took away from it.”[5]
After concluding his mission, he played for Brigham Young University under Kalani Sitake, where he totaled 130 tackles (69 solo), 5 sacks, 15 tackles for loss, 12 passes defensed and two forced fumbles in 50 games.
He played for Granger High School where he made the All-Region 2 First-Team in football as a freshman, playing both offensive and defensive line and tight end. He also played rugby.
