OK, he gets it.

ASU senior left tackle Shawn Lauvao, who was recently featured on ESPN.com in part for his lifting prowess, is sick of hearing about the 45-pound plates he throws around the weight room like Frisbees.

Sure, if you combined his best lifts on the bench press, squat and power clean, it would weigh more than your hybrid car.

But who’s counting? They’re supposed to be getting lighter anyway.

The native Hawaiian and former Strongest Teen winner of the state has something different on his mind.

“A lot of guys out there are playing just to please people,” Lauvao said. “I try not to fall into that trap of trying to just please coaches, of falling into the trap of the world. I guess you can say I try to rise above that kind of stuff, materialistic things.”

Lauvao, a man of faith and a member of Victory Community Church, along with senior running back Jarrell Woods, waxes poetically when he’s not waxing defensive ends.

‘”I want to change perceptions, change the culture, change people’s attitudes,” Lauvao said.

Yeah, he’s talking about the offensive line — his offensive line. The unit blamed for most of the struggles ASU’s 5-7 team faced last year.

Lauvao and his offensive line teammates read their press clippings.

“We have a chip on our shoulders — definitely, man,” Lauvao said.

Trade winds off the Pacific keep the Hawaiian Islands mild. Lauvao fits the metaphor — calm on the surface, but a tropical storm when moved.

Who better to steer the winds of change than the Polynesian sage? He’s not blowing hot air.

“We all voted him as a captain this year, but he has always had that leadership,” senior tackle Brent Good said. “You can ask anyone on this team, and I guarantee they know Shawn Lauvao.”

Lauvao, who made the move to left tackle from guard this spring, is now the anchor for a unit whose shaky play resulted in 34 sacks of the quarterback and a running game that averaged only 2.9 yards per carry last season.

The son of two prison guards in Honolulu, and the nephew of a missionary, Lauvao has lived on his own since he was 17.

Coming from a culture of respect, honor and character, as Lauvao said, earning your share and not stepping on others when you get it is part of the code Lauvao lives by — and hopes to pass on to his teammates.

“The biggest thing is unity and trying to live in peace with everyone else,” he said.

But peaceful would not describe Lauvao on the field.

“He is a beast — I can’t even lie,”Good said. “You ask any defensive end or tackle that goes against him. He has an impenetrable lock. He has a punch that is so hard — ask them when they come directly to them. Stoned.”

While he may not be the perfect size for a left tackle and projects more as a guard in the NFL, where he will likely be drafted next April, Lauvao has made the transition seem natural.

“Lauvao to me is one of the strongest tackles in the conference,” junior defensive end and training camp counterpart Jamarr Robinson said. “He has good feet [and] good hands. His focus every day at practice is something we all need to accomplish, because he is one of those guys who will go far in his career.”

An agile mauler with a frame of granite, it’s those bear-claws — a more apt description of his hands than his diet — above all else that make him an elite player.

“When Lauvao gets a hold of you, you are not going to get away,” Robinson said.

Reach the reporter at nick.ruland@asu.edu.