Articles on Maualuga's development and maturity

[SkinsMaster88]

Link: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/maualuga-carroll-norton-2210486-year-party

USC's Maualuga takes journey to maturity

Three years after his lowest moments, USC middle linebacker Rey Maualuga is nearing completion of his development from boy to man.

By MICHAEL LEV

The Orange County Register

LOS ANGELES-Rey Maualuga jokes about Halloween being his "three-year anniversary."

It was after a Halloween party in 2005 – in the heart of Maualuga's freshman season at USC and in the midst of his personal pain – that he got arrested for punching somebody.

It was then that Maualuga's journey began, the one that took him from boy to man.

Looking back on the incident today, just past the halfway point of his senior year, Maualuga recognizes the value in getting in trouble. He might have been the one to throw the punch, but he needed that slap in the face.

"You're only given a certain amount of chances," Maualuga said. "I grew up."

It took time, and it required support. But three years later, USC's star middle linebacker is a different, better person.

Maualuga barely resembles the 18-year-old freshman who, he said, "just wanted to come here, party and live the life of a college student. Things that I did, I never thought about it first. I would never think. Everything was do, then think about it."

Maualuga has become a thoughtful young man. Before the Arizona game last week, he honored the request of a USC fan whose 5-year-old daughter was having a birthday party and wanted Maualuga to attend. Although the party was on game day, Maualuga made sure to call the girl to wish her happy birthday.

"With the hundreds of thousands of USC fans out there and all the obligations he has, it was an incredibly kind gesture," Matt Garthoff, father of 5-year-old Sophia, wrote in an E-mail to Pete Carroll's Web site, USC Rips It. "It gave a whole new meaning to the words 'Trojan Family.'

"Rey didn't have to do it ... he did ... and that says a lot about him."

Carroll read the Rips It item to the team, a proud moment for a coach who has meant much more than that to Maualuga.

HIS TWO DADS

Maualuga's father, Talatonu, battled brain cancer throughout his son's freshman season. Talatonu was bedridden, and Maualuga used his dad's incapacity as an excuse to misbehave.

"I sort of took advantage of it," Maualuga said. "I was always disciplined to do the right thing, say the right stuff. Him being sick ... it was like, 'He's not going to get mad at me if I get in trouble because he won't understand what's going on.' I took that to full effect."

Talatonu died just before the 2006 Rose Bowl. Carroll, linebackers coach Ken Norton Jr. and others tried their best to fill that void.

"There was a time there when it was really hard on Rey," Carroll said. "He's a wonderful kid, so emotional, so intense about stuff. It was very difficult on him. He was very close to his pops. We needed to be there for him."

Norton always makes sure he's available for Maualuga anytime he needs to talk. Norton couldn't imagine letting those calls or knocks on his office door go unanswered.

"Rey's such a good soul," Norton said. "You can't help but do everything you can to help him succeed."

Carroll's fatherly instincts kicked into full gear at Pac-10 Media Day in August, when a reporter asked about Maualuga's off-the-field "problems." Carroll insisted and repeated that Maualuga had had "a problem" – the Halloween party punch – although Carroll reportedly disciplined Maualuga for a separate incident in 2006.

"Coach Carroll stuck with me," Maualuga said. "I've been in trouble a few times. He never gave up hope. He stayed with me, and Coach Norton. ... That's special for me."

FINISHING TOUCHES

Maualuga honors his father weekly by writing "DAD" on the black tape he wears under his eyes during games. Not that opposing ball carriers ever have the time to get a clear look.

"He's a freak," senior linebacker Kaluka Maiava said. "Nobody that big can run that fast."

...

Many were surprised Maualuga didn't go pro after earning Defensive MVP honors in last season's Rose Bowl. Maualuga knew he needed more time, and it had nothing to do with football.

"I'm physically ready for anything," he said. "Mentally, I really wanted to come back and put it all together."

That means being in the right spots on the field – and doing the right things off it.

Maiava calls Maualuga a "gentle giant." It's no Halloween costume.

"On the football field, he's a hero. Off the field, he's a gentleman," Norton said. "Early on in his life, his career, he didn't understand that. Now he understands his purpose."

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Link: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/pac10/2008-08-11-maualuga-respect_N.htm

Maualuga hoping to gain respect on and off the field

By David Leon Moore, USA TODAY

LOS ANGELES — As a kid, in much the same way he has become perhaps college football's most feared defensive player, Southern California senior linebacker Rey Maualuga was always on the move.

...

Maualuga (pronounced mah-wah-LOO-gah) was constantly challenged to fit in, to find his way.

And to find respect.

It wasn't always easy.

Maualuga admits that, along the way, he did some dumb, even dangerous things in his attempts to make friends or look cool or maybe even cope with something that hurt so bad he didn't know what to do.

...

"We didn't grow up in the best place possible," he says. "Money was tight. We didn't have the things a lot of people had."

...

Then, in 2005, during his freshman year at USC, in a nasty incident that shaped a lot of perceptions of him for several years, he drank too much, punched a student at a Halloween party and was arrested for misdemeanor battery. He agreed to participate in an arraignment diversion program that included counseling, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and community service. The charge eventually was dismissed.

In October 2006, the Los Angeles Times reported that Maualuga had been disciplined by coach Pete Carroll that month for unruly behavior at a fraternity party. Maualuga told the paper he was disciplined by Carroll for an off-the-field incident but declined to be specific. "It was a misunderstanding," he told the Times.

Whether he was acting out because of the pain of his father's fight with brain cancer — his father died just before the BCS championship game at the end of the 2005 season — he doesn't really know. Whether he had unresolved anger as a result of all that moving around, all those feelings of being a stranger in a strange place, he doesn't really know.

What he eventually decided, though, is that he needed to change.

"You learn that you're only given a certain number of chances," he says. "If you keep going back to the same things you were doing, it shows that you don't learn from anything. You're not a person that people can count on. It's all about respect, and you can lose that respect. People won't look up to you."

On a football field, people always looked out for Maualuga. Ask any quarterback or running back who has played in the Pacific-10 Conference the past three years, and they'll say that to be unaware of where Maualuga is on the field is to risk personal disaster.

But Maualuga, eventually, wanted more than that. He still does. He's still working on it.

...

Eventually, after discussion of who he is as a player and a person, he says, "You know, people expect me to be this ferocious hitter, this ferocious guy who goes out and gets drunk and beats people up. It's just something I'm trying to change. I don't go out as much. I just go out with friends, come home early and go to sleep. I'm trying to change that perception of me."

Gradually, he has. He never missed a counseling session. He listened to Carroll and linebackers coach Ken Norton Jr. about how to avoid trouble. He became more punctual. He worked harder in the weight room. He didn't stay out as late.

And, at some point, he became at peace with his father's death. .

Now, Maualuga is a leader on the nation's No. 2-ranked team, in the middle of perhaps college football's best defense. It is a unit that, besides himself, includes top NFL prospects Cushing, Mays, strong safety Kevin Ellison and defensive tackle Fili Moala.

He finds himself with something else, too.

Respect.

"I didn't know him his freshman year, when some things happened," Mays says. "But I think he's grown up a lot. I think he understands what his role is on our team. He's a leader. He's a nationally known player. He's taken on the responsibility. He's really conveying himself in the proper way now. Other guys see that. It's like, 'Rey's really doing it. He's taking care of business.' "

Carroll has seen troubled kids who can't or won't change. To see someone like Maualuga make changes and mature, he says, is a blessing.

"Rey has done a marvelous job of putting his world in order," Carroll says. "He's a very good student. He works out like crazy. He's diligent. He's a wonderful kid in the program.

"We struggled with him through the illness and passing of his father. He took it so seriously. He just needed us. There was a necessity to have a close relationship.

"I mean, it's life. Stuff happened. He needed some support. He was away from his family and all that. But now, he's just found a real good rhythm. I'm really excited to see his growth and maturity."

And, of course, Carroll is excited to see that, on the field, Maualuga still hits like a Mack truck and that, even though he packs 260 pounds on a 6-2 frame, he moves something like an enraged grizzly bear when he's closing in on a ball-carrier.

"He's a man of a man," Mays says.

...

"He's a big strong dude and he brings it," Carpenter says. "He's probably the most feared guy in the Pac-10."

But he also had a reputation for overrunning plays, for being out of position, for being a little reckless. He has gradually improved in that area and, at the end of last season, he put on a clinic in the Rose Bowl against Illinois with three sacks, an interception and a forced fumble in a 49-17 rout.

He was named the Rose Bowl Defensive MVP.

He declined the opportunity to enter the NFL draft because he wanted to improve even more before going to the pros and because he wants to earn his degree in sociology.

Going into his senior year, he's on nearly everybody's preseason first-team All-America lists and should compete for other national awards.

His goal? To be not just a hitter but a complete player. To be the kind of player he was in last season's Rose Bowl in every game.

"I want to be a person the offense game-plans around," he says. "I want to see that quarterback stare into my eyes with both him and me knowing I might take him out. I want people to fear me. But at the same time, I want to just do my job and not go outside of what I'm supposed to be doing.

"If I can come out this year and do exactly what I did in the Rose Bowl each game, I can do some great things. I have to have that mind-set every practice, every down. If I'm tired, I have to keep competing, keep playing.

"Is it possible? Yes. Why can't I do that every game?"

It's a lofty goal, perhaps one worthy of respect.

----------------------

Check out the links for the full articles, I cut out some of the less important details since they were long. Figured this would help give some people an idea on Maualuga's background and quell some of the rumors that he's a bad character guy.

[Koolblue13]

This time of year is so funny. you read articles like this and really start to like all these different people and hope they will contribute to the Redskins in different ways.

Then the draft comes, they go to other teams and you either forget about them, forget that you cared, or start to instantly hate them, because they went to another team you just don't like.

[IbleedBnG83]

This time of year is so funny. you read articles like this and really start to like all these different people and hope they will contribute to the Redskins in different ways.

Then the draft comes, they go to other teams and you either forget about them, forget that you cared, or start to instantly hate them, because they went to another team you just don't like.

I agree. This has become over kill. Rey is visiting the 'Skins and everyone is up in arms(positvely, negatively, and neutral) about him coming here.

Its still a week and a half away before the draft...

[Koolblue13]

I agree. This has become over kill. Rey is visiting the 'Skins and everyone is up in arms(positvely, negatively, and neutral) about him coming here.

Its still a week and a half away before the draft...

Not only that, but it is such a crap shoot. There is absolutely zero way to know for sure if any of these kids can play and even if they can, it takes time to develop them.

Of course look at all the people who ***** about us trading picks for players, then we move back and address a huge need, but instead of waiting to see what we got, these same folks want to trade this years picks, for other teams players at the same position we addressed last season.

[bobzmuda]

http://www.profootballweekly.com/PFW/NFLDraft/Draft+Extras/2009/wwhi040109a.htm

he Way We Hear It — draft edition

USC LB Maualuga's bust factor scares NFL teams

By Nolan Nawrocki

April 1, 2009

Editor’s note: Check back later today for an update on USC’s pro-day workout.

Entering the season, scouts were enthralled with this year’s MLB class, featuring Ohio State’s James Laurinaitis, USC’s Rey Maualuga and LSU’s Darry Beckwith, all of whom received high marks from evaluators.

However, as the season progressed, concerns were brought to the forefront. Maualuga began missing too many tackles, Laurinaitis stayed blocked too long and Beckwith could not find the football.

With a chance to redeem themselves at the NFL Scouting Combine, none of them stood out, as Maualuga pulled out of the workout with a hamstring injury suffered running his first 40-yard dash. On Wednesday, Maualuga has another chance to prove himself at USC's highly anticipated pro-day workout, but the way we hear it, nothing Maualuga does will erase the concerns teams have about him on tape and off the field.

“Chart how many times he is on the ground,” one longtime evaluator said, “and you will see why I think he will always struggle in the pros. He had so much talent around him — that defense may be as talented as I’ve ever seen in college. It covers up a lot of mistakes.”

For as fearlessly as Maualuga may run through contact and as violently as he may deliver some big hits, he too often struggles to break down in the open field and gets caught out of position by taking false steps. His instincts still leave a lot to be desired. Scouts that revisit the Trojans’ loss to Oregon State have come away even more unimpressed, as Maualuga’s shoddy tackling was identified as a major reason for the 27-21 loss to the Beavers.

Despite leading the team with 12 tackles, Maualuga was not able to stop Oregon State RB Jacquizz Rodgers from consistently gashing the defense straight up the gut. Maualuga’s sprained right knee reportedly did not have any swelling after the game when an MRI was taken. However, he did not play against Oregon the following week, as Brian Cushing replaced him in the middle, leading scouts to question how much the benching was related to injury and how much was related to performance, the latter of which inside sources say was a greater factor in his absence.

Laurinaitis and Beckwith both brought great leadership to the field and have been model citizens off it. The same can not be said for Maualuga, who program sources publicly said had matured after finding trouble early in his career while dealing with his father's battle with cancer.

Maualuga not only showed poor judgment preceding the Rose Bowl, when he mocked ESPN reporter Erin Andrews, and later apologized, inside sources also have pointed to the need for Maualuga to be closely monitored, as well-trusted fellow linebackers Keith Rivers and Cushing were deliberately assigned to be his roommates on the road to provide the stability he needed to stay out of trouble.

"He has a high bust factor," said one NFL executive responsible for stacking his team's draft board. "There is a lot there that scares me. There is a right price for everyone, but I would not feel comfortable taking him in the first round where we are picking. The money is too great. You cannot afford to make mistakes and expect to recover from them."

[SkinzFoLife]

A radio sports guy here in Southern California who played LB for USC named Petros Something or other, who also commentates on PAC 10 football said Rey is the weakest of the 3 USC LB's entering the draft. He said he misses too many assignments and free lances outside the scheme too much. He said he is the typical ESPN highlight guy, where all you see are his 1 or 2 highlight reel plays a game and rest of the game he's mediocore.

[Oldskool]

A radio sports guy here in Southern California who played LB for USC named Petros Something or other, who also commentates on PAC 10 football said Rey is the weakest of the 3 USC LB's entering the draft. He said he misses too many assignments and free lances outside the scheme too much. He said he is the typical ESPN highlight guy, where all you see are his 1 or 2 highlight reel plays a game and rest of the game he's mediocore.

Yeah i've heard him before and he sometimes has good insight but other times he really is in the minority.

All I can say is that I expect the Skins to do their due diligence with Rey.

[RenegadeTK]

hope he continues to get his life straightened out. and i hope he continues to improve on the field.... if he's in the B&G

[bobzmuda]

Yeah i've heard him before and he sometimes has good insight but other times he really is in the minority.

All I can say is that I expect the Skins to do their due diligence with Rey.

I think that's why they brought him in.

You hear of teams drafting guys they've never even brought in for a visit. I think that's because they have all they need to make a decision on that player.

I think the Skins like his skill-set, but they want a closer look so they can kick the tires so to speak.

I doubt nothing will ever top the Jimmy Williams answering his cell phone while in a meeting with Joe Gibbs and Gregg Williams though.

[Dick Edds]

I was a huge proponent of Rey from the beginning of the off-season ... but the more I have seen from Cushing and Clay Mathews ... the more I realize how much more disciplined they are on the field.

I can't speak for Rey's maturity level or off-the field incidents (that's for Vinny and Co. to determine the risk) ... but I think after watching Cushing and Mathews at their pro-days, Rey Mal IS best suited for the MLB spot and not on the outside in space and coverage.

I just wish the draft would get here already and I hope we got OT.

[Skinsfor4]

I was a huge proponent of Rey from the beginning of the off-season ... but the more I have seen from Cushing and Clay Mathews ... the more I realize how much more disciplined they are on the field.

I can't speak for Rey's maturity level or off-the field incidents (that's for Vinny and Co. to determine the risk) ... but I think after watching Cushing and Mathews at their pro-days, Rey Mal IS best suited for the MLB spot and not on the outside in space and coverage.

I just wish the draft would get here already and I hope we got OT.

I like Mathews if we go LB as the intangibles are there already as for Rey,I agree he should only be a MLB and not a work in progress.:helmet:

[Big Mac Patty Wack]

This time of year is so funny. you read articles like this and really start to like all these different people and hope they will contribute to the Redskins in different ways.

Then the draft comes, they go to other teams and you either forget about them, forget that you cared, or start to instantly hate them, because they went to another team you just don't like.

Very well put. I think most people feel that way.

[IbleedBnG83]

Much a do about nothing...