That was 10 years ago, when he gulped and appeared before his parents Moana and Faleola with the news that Carey Sa'aga, his girlfriend, was pregnant. Forget "happy" and "lucky," Ofahengaue was told by his parents to "go" -- or else.

'I'm gonna make the team,' Tevita Ofahengaue said.(AP)

"I come from an old-school Polynesian family," Ofahengaue, a BYU tight end, said Sunday afternoon after becoming the 246th and last player picked in the 2001 NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals. "My parents said either marry her or move out. I was only 16 years old but it worked out fine. I married her as a junior in high school."

From shotgun wedding to shotgun formation, Ofahengaue's amazing life will no doubt become draft legend after Sunday. Since that fateful day a decade ago, he graduated high school, left Hawaii for Dallas where he worked four years for American Airlines, had four kids, played at BYU and is pursuing a master's degree in special education.

At the age of 25.

"I came the long route," said Ofahengaue who will be 26 by the time he arrives for fall camp with the Cardinals. "the very long route."

The label stuck on him is "Mr. Irrelevant", due to a Newport Beach, Calif., organization that honors the final NFL Draft pick with a goofy week of festivities in June. The Cardinals, though, seem to be getting the persona that led to Tevita's BYU nickname, "T-Bone."

"I'm gonna make the team," Ofahengaue said from Provo, Utah. "Remember that you heard it from me, I'm going to make the team. If they have a starting tight end who's in his ninth year, this will be his last year ... I am what a tight end is all about."

They're used to such joyful boasting at BYU. Ofahengaue walked on as a freshman, earned a scholarship as a sophomore and ended up catching 103 balls in four years.

"I remember him joking around about being Mr. Irrelevant," said cousin/BYU teammate Kilane Sitake. "If there is a Mr. Irrelevant, it should be him. He'll live it up. He's perfect for it."

When BYU football administrative assistant Duane Busby heard about the Mr. Irrevelant pub crawl, beer can regatta and parade, he said, "Tevita will be the first in line for it."

Sunday probably wouldn't have happened had not fellow Hawaiian Itula Mili called out of the blue four years ago. Ofahengaue was in Dallas loading bags. Mili, a former BYU tight end himself, was making a recruiting call to a guy he remembered from the islands.

"I was flying around the world with American," Ofahengaue said. "I went everywhere. I was comfortable. Then I came to school."

The big, happy Ofahengaue family has since grown with the birth of a fourth child a year ago. The other children are 9, 7 and 3. Mili went on to play for the Seattle Seahawks and the two remain close. In fact Tevita says Itula will be a Pro Bowl tight end next season. If, that is, Mili can beat out his buddy.

"Arizona doesn't know what they just got," Ofahengaue said. "They're going to find out come camp time. They're going to be, 'Dang, why didn't we pick him earlier?'"