#58 - LinebackerHEIGHT: 6-3 / WEIGHT: 250 LBS
Junior/Junior
Eureka, CA (Eureka HS)
2007: Maualuga, an All-American candidate, returns as USC’s starting middle linebacker as a junior in 2007. He is on the
“Watch List” for the 2007 Lombardi Award.
2006: Maualuga started most of 2006 at middle linebacker as a sophomore and proved to be an impact player. Overall in 2006 while appearing in all 13 games (he started all but Arkansas, Oregon State and Notre Dame), he had a 78 tackles, including 5 for losses of 17 yards (with 2 sacks for minus 8 yards), an interception, 3 deflections and a forced fumble. He made the
2006 Pro Football Weekly All-American honorable mention, Collegefootballnews.com Sophomore All-American first team, All-Pac-10 first team, ESPN.com All-Pac-10 first team, Scout.com All-Pac-10 first team and Rivals.com All-Pac-10 second team and was 1 of 10 semifinalists for the 2006 Butkus Award. He had 6 tackles at Arkansas, then a game-high and personal-best 11 tackles (1 for a loss) versus Nebraska, 4 tackles, including 2 for a loss (with a sack), and an interception at Arizona and a team-best 9 tackles with a deflection at Washington State. He added 5 tackles and a deflection against Washington, a team-best 8 tackles against Arizona State, 7 stops at Oregon State, 5 tackles (0.5 for a loss) at Stanford and 6 stops and a forced fumble against Oregon. He made 4 tackles (0.5 for a loss) against California, 3 tackles and a deflection against Notre Dame, 7 tackles (with a sack) at UCLA and 2 stops versus Michigan.
2005: Maualuga was an effective and often-used backup middle linebacker and key special teams player as a first-year freshman in 2005. Overall in 2005 while appearing in 12 games (all but Hawaii), he had 37 tackles, including 4.5 for losses of 23 yards (with an 8-yard sack), plus he had 2 forced fumbles, 2 deflections and an interception that he returned 9 yards. He also returned 1 kickoff for 7 yards (7.0 avg). He had a team-best 9 tackles (1 for a loss), 2 forced fumbles (both recovered by USC to set up touchdowns) and 2 deflections against UCLA, 6 tackles (with the sack) and the interception at California, another 6 stops against Washington State, 5 tackles versus Stanford, 3 stops (2 for losses) against Arkansas and another 3 versus Fresno State. He made a tackle and returned a short kickoff 7 yards against Texas. He made the
2005 Football Writers Freshman All-American first team and Scout.com Freshman All-American first team. He won
USC’s John McKay Award (most competitive spirit).
HIGH SCHOOL: He earned
2004 Parade All-American, USA Today All-USA first team, Super Prep Elite 50, Prep Star Top 100 Dream Team, Student Sports Top 100, Rivals 100, Super Prep All-American, Prep Star All-American, Tom Lemming All-American, Scout.com All-American first team, EA Sports All-American second team, Super Prep All-Farwest, Prep Star All-West, Long Beach Press-Telegram Best in the West first team, Tacoma News Tribune Western 100, Orange County Register Fab 15 first team and Cal-Hi Sports All-State first team honors as a senior linebacker at Eureka (Calif.) High. He had 96 tackles, 37 tackles for loss, 4 interceptions (2 for TDs), 2 fumble recoveries and 1 kickoff return for a touchdown in 2004.
As a junior in 2003, he was a
Student Sports Junior All-American and Cal-Hi Sports All-State Underclass first team pick while posting 146 tackles, 43 tackles for loss, 11 sacks and 1 interception. Eureka went 20-2-1 during his junior and senior seasons.
He spent his 2001 freshman year at St. Bonaventure High in Ventura (Calif.).
PERSONAL: He was born in Oklahoma.
