Rey Maualuga
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Here's an ESPN College Gameday segment on Maualuga that Shep mentioned last week.
The clip doesn't specify what kind of trouble Rey got into, so I tried to do a little research into what happened. Here's what I came up with:
- November 2005: Maualuga arrested for punching another USC athlete, charged with misdemeanor battery.
- December 2005: Maualuga's father passes away
- Early 2006: Maualuga caught by police urinating outside a bar, not charged with a crime.
- Spring 2006: Prosecutors agree to drop battery charge on the condition that he perform 100 hours of community service, receive 24 hours of anger management counseling, and attend 26 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Also, Maualuga must avoid being charged with another crime within the next year.
- September 2006: Maualuga tells reporters that he's completed his alcohol and anger management program: "I've done what I need to do and I'm just concentrating on football."
- October 2006: Maualuga becomes aggressive at a frat party, going around pushing people. Campus security are called in to resolve the situation, but nothing is reported to the LAPD. Had he been arrested & charged with anything, prosecutors would have reopened the misdemeanor battery case against him.
As punishment for getting in trouble again, Pete Carroll makes Maualuga re-enroll in the alcohol and anger management courses.
- October 2006: Maualuga benched for being late to a meeting.
In the last two years, Maualuga has managed to avoid any trouble with the law. And to his credit, he's dropped some excess weight and appears to be more focused on football.
What concerns me, however, is that he still seems to be making some pretty bone-headed decisions:
- October 2007: Maualuga suffers a hip injury during the Arizona game. The training staff diagnoses it as a hip pointer, but Maualuga tells the media he think the trainers are wrong: "It just feels bad. It's like one of the worst pains I've felt. They say it's a hip pointer, but I came out because I felt a pop. They can say one thing, but who knows my body [better] than I do?"
A few days later, Maualuga does a complete 180 and says he's healthy enough to play the following week. Coach Carroll tells the media that Maualuga isn't ready; after all, he had missed a ton of practice time that week. Maualuga doesn't start against Notre Dame and only sees limited time on the field.
- August 2008: Maualuga decides to take two Vicodin painkillers before USC's opener at Virginia (he had a broken finger). The narcotics make him feel woozy and extremely nauseous. Whenever he tries to drink some water, he ends up vomiting it back up.
While the team is waiting to board its flight back home, Maualuga collapses due to dehydration. The medical staff administers six bags of IV fluids by the time their flight lands in Cali.
And when I went looking for the College Gameday segment, I came across this clip of Maualuga being a goofball.
Brian Cushing's trying to be professional in what seems to be an important interview to him. All the while, Maualuga's making funny faces behind him & messing with his hair. Not only does Rey appear to piss off Cushing, but he comes off as a total idiot when he proceeds to tell Holly Rowe how emotionally poignant this funny face-making moment is for him.
My Curry fandom probably makes me a little biased on this stuff, so I'm wondering if this info makes any of you worry about Rey possibly having some serious character issues.
At the very least, I have trouble seeing Rey as the guy a Belichick disciple would want to build his defense around. He's not the Tedy Bruschi-type; he's more of a Channing Crowder.
That's not necessarily a bad thing, but is it what you should want in a guy you're taking that high in the draft? I don't think so.
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@shepwrite said:
You say he's a goofball; I say he's a character.There is being a character, and having character....
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I tend to see these things in a better light.
It shows attitude, confidence, determination, and aggressiveness
I also like the goofyness, it shows that he has a little bit of personality and humor about him, he is an identity, something we need on this defense, we dont only need a good player, we need a face, a definition, which is why curry doesnt cut it for me. We need attitude.
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@shepwrite said:
I live in L.A. so we get Trojan news on a minute-ly basis... and Rey is well liked by all. He's no "problem child" here at all. He's generally regarded as something of a wild man who has matured through his time at the University of Spoiled Children.You say he's a goofball; I say he's a character. But either way, we really aren't talking about Lawrence Phillips here.
Oh, I'm not saying he's Lawrence Phillips. But not being Lawrence Phillips isn't a very high threshold for determining whether a guy's a good fit for your club.
Also, I think it's deceptively hard to gauge whether a college player is a good guy or not based on his media pub. As Scott Pioli says, the best way to find out those things is to visit the facility and see how a guy treats the training staff or the secretaries in the main office...or if he intentionally disrupts another teammate's interview.
To me, there's enough stuff here to worry me. And considering we'll be giving the guy $20M guaranteed, even a little worry may be cause for passing on him.
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Aloy man... you really dont like Rey do you, I thought at one point you would be satisfied with either but preferred Curry, but now you seem so Anti-Rey
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Aloy man... you really dont like Rey do you, I thought at one point you would be satisfied with either but preferred Curry, but now you seem so Anti-Rey
Aloy man... you really dont like Rey do you, I thought at one point you would be satisfied with either but preferred Curry, but now you seem so Anti-Rey
I'm okay with him, just not as a top 5 pick.
The more I watch of Curry, the more I like him. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about Rey.
I didn't know about much of Maualuga's alcohol/fighting stuff until today. That's why I brought it up, not because of some mischievous plot to discredit Maualuga.
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He didn't look so great againist the Beavers. At times he looked lost. I understand you have bad games but do it againist a good team and not somebody like the Beavers. Please so no. I'm for Wells but if we go D then go Curry. No Rey or Jenkins.
He didn't look so great againist the Beavers. At times he looked lost. I understand you have bad games but do it againist a good team and not somebody like the Beavers.
That game scared the hell out of me. And watching him run himself out of plays and fail to wrap-up tackle in the Cal game didn't make me feel better.
Also, Heck said he looked a little violent & out of control in the UCLA game.
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Rey will not be nere as good as Lewis is. Lewis is one of those players that don't come around often. You really don't need a loud mouth vocal guy either. You need somebody that's let's is play do the talking. I like the guy San Fran has, Willis, and he reminds me of Curry in a lot of ways.
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Plus, Aloysius, you just posted a video of Ken Norton Jr. a Pro-Bowl Linebacker and a 2-time superbowl champion saying Rey MAualuga is way better than he ever was.
If that doesnt mean we should draft this guy, I dont know what does.
I dont smell bust one this one, and I'm pretty good at calling busts.
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@shepwrite said:
Rey's biggest crime is being THAT fast while being THAT big and THAT violent:">" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"> -
@shepwrite said:
Curry was nondescript in his last college football game. Let's see what Rey does against Penn State tomorrow and compare. I'm seriously open minded about it -- no, seriously! -- because I liked the tape you showed on Curry.Nondescript may be a little unfair. Getting a TFL, a few QB pressures, and a couple of tackles isn't too shabby. Whatever it was, it was definitely better than Maualuga's performance against Oregon State.
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Plus, Aloysius, you just posted a video of Ken Norton Jr. a Pro-Bowl Linebacker and a 2-time superbowl champion saying Rey MAualuga is way better than he ever was.
If that doesnt mean we should draft this guy, I dont know what does.
I dont smell bust one this one, and I'm pretty good at calling busts.
Plus, Aloysius, you just posted a video of Ken Norton Jr. a Pro-Bowl Linebacker and a 2-time superbowl champion saying Rey MAualuga is way better than he ever was.
If that doesnt mean we should draft this guy, I dont know what does.
If that's the case, then we shouldn't even watch these guys play - just check & see which prospect's position coach had the better NFL career and you'll know who the better player is.
After all, a coach is always going to give high praise for a guy entering the draft, especially when he's being featured on a segment about how he turned said player into a star.
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good point
but dont you think it holds some water?
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