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The big, blond mountain of a man lifted his 1-year-old son into the air at the edge of the practice field, laughing with his baby and wife for a few minutes at the end of an NFL practice.

Mitchell Loewen is having a heck of a year.



He and his wife, Jena, have spent the past year watching his son, Luke, grow, starting a family while Loewen prepared to return to the New Orleans Saints and emerge as the surprise of training camp.

Loewen also got his father back.

Three years after his father first pleaded guilty to felony tax charges, Loewen reunited with him in Hawaii in April after his father’s release from federal prison.

If Loewen finishes this preseason by earning a roster spot, he'll likely get to play in front of his father for the first time since his sophomore season at Arkansas.

"I think he's going to come out early this season, God willing," Loewen said. "Come out and see me play."

A late bloomer from the islands
Drafted out of South Dakota State in the seventh round in 1980 by the San Diego Chargers, Chuck Loewen played in 47 games over five years, starting six of them as a 6-foot-3, 263-pound offensive lineman.

Then he built a life for his family in Lahaina, Hawaii, where he raised two football-loving sons, Cole and Mitchell.

"It was awesome," Loewen said. "He’s kind of one of those guys who doesn’t get super involved, because he just wanted me to figure it out. Unless I go up there and ask him, he’s not going to come down and coach me on the field."

A late bloomer who weighed 160 pounds as a sophomore at Lahainaluna High, Loewen headed to the All-Poly Camp on Oahu in the summer between his junior and senior seasons hoping to catch somebody's eye.

"I had a feeling I was going to get big," Loewen said. "I didn't know how big."

Loewen won Defensive Player of the Camp honors, but college coaches didn't bite, and the man who ran the camp, Dennis Ishii, decided to make sure the talented Hawaiian didn't slip through the cracks.

read more on The Advocate

Thirty3

Would be awesome if it works out!

QBREES9

Good luck to him.

jeanpierre

Teams are starting to get some film on him, but he was still active tonight...

What sucks is that if he doesn't make the 53-man roster, he won't last, make it to our practice squad...

billyt81

Hes a big dude. Seems to get good push on bull rushes. He did 30 reps bench at 225.

jeanpierre

No one should go to jail for not paying taxes in this country, not after what we fought to gain independence...

And especially with the criminality of the last administration openly selling access and it's current deep-state sedition...

jeanpierre

He's gonna be a really tough cut, if it comes to that...

SmashMouth

Pulling for him...

MarchingOn

Make room for Loewen by CUTS (ranked)
OT B. Harris
QB Grayson
QB Nassib
CB Maulet
S E. Harris
LB Anthony
RB Cadet
CB Swann
TE Houmanawanu

jeanpierre

I'd agree with all of these except Anthony; while I'm as frustrated as anyone with his lack of success, and the way he's been used, it's too soon to close the book on him yet...