2022 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: North Allegheny’s Tyree Alualu

By: Chris Harlan
Friday, June 24, 2022 | 5:08 PM

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Editor’s note: The Tribune-Review and the TribLive High School Sports Network are profiling each member of the 25-player Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star team. The players will be recognized July 15 during HSSN Media Day at Kennywood Park.

As a sophomore starter surrounded by seniors, Tyree Alualu’s primary job was putting himself in the right place at the right time.

Now, it’s time for more.

“I have to take on a new role this year,” said the North Allegheny junior, who’ll shoulder more responsibility after earning all-conference honors in WPIAL Class 6A last season as a sure-tackling inside linebacker.

The 5-foot-11, 203-pounder will be a “quarterback” for the defense, tasked with keeping everyone in the right place on the field, but he also will become a two-way player as a running back on offense.

“I’ve been working on my endurance lately,” Alualu said. “I want to be able to play both sides of the ball, making tackles on one side of the ball and breaking tackles on the other.”

He joined the track team last spring as a sprinter and high jumper. This summer, he’s attended college camps at Penn State, Kent State and Oregon.

Alualu is the son of Steelers defensive lineman Tyson Alualu and the latest in a line of North Allegheny players with NFL connections. NA coach Art Walker said those players, including Tyree, have an innate awareness about football after growing up with the sport being part of their everyday lives.

“There’s an understanding that you’ve got to put work in order to be good,” Walker said. “It’s not just going to happen.”

Alualu points to his film-study habits.

“My dad makes sure I watch film on every team, every lineman we play against, every quarterback tendency, everything,” he said, “to make sure I’m on that.”

Alualu was North Allegheny’s third-leading tackler a year ago when the Tigers went 7-5 and reached the WPIAL semifinals.

The team graduated six of its top seven tacklers, so Alualu must be an anchor on that side of the ball.

The NA defense uses two inside linebackers, but the teammate Alualu shared the middle with last season graduated. So, Alualu is now the veteran on the inside, earning him a leadership role that makes him responsible for everyone.

“You’re making sure everyone knows what their assignment is,” Alualu said, “whether the corner is supposed to be manned up or playing zone, or just making sure everyone is in line. That’s my role on the team as a leader.”

Walker said those added responsibilities should come easy for Alualu because it’s not much different from what he did last year.

“He did a lot of that stuff as a sophomore,” Walker said, “but now he has a higher comfort level and understanding of what’s going on. He’s now a leader, not just for his class, but for the entire team.”

Tyree Alualu

North Allegheny

Junior

5-11/203

RB/LB

Committed to: Uncommitted

2021 statistics: 42 tackles, two sacks, one interception, two fumble recoveries

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: North Allegheny