Catch-Up Time: Q&A with NFL Draft Prospect Rey Maualuga

For Rey Maualuga, it’s been quite a journey.  A voyage that has never allowed the  6-foot-2, 249-pound physical specimen to remain stagnant in one city.

Yet, from high-school All-American to Rose Bowl defensive MVP, to being named the 2008 winner of the Chuck Bednarick award for top defensive player in the nation, Maualuga has excelled at every level while overcoming every obstacle he’s faced.

Look beyond the Polynesian warrior-style hair and elaborate tattoos, and you’ll discover a kind-spirited individual—until he hits that football field, that is.  

Darren Feeney: Rey, you’ve been getting ready for the NFL Draft here in just less than a month. Tell us what a typical day in the life of Rey has been like lately?

Rey Maualuga: I’ve been preparing for the scouting combines ever since the Rose Bowl game and Senior Bowl ended and now I’m just preparing for Pro Day here at USC on April 1. 

I wake up at 7 a.m. every day, have my meals prepared for me and then head over to a performance institute and work on combine-specific drills.

I injured my hamstring in Indianapolis in the first combine, so I have physical therapy for an hour and a half every day and also get a massage twice a week.

DF: We saw you pull up a bit gingerly during the 40-yard dash, how is the hamstring feeling?

Maualuga: It’s feeling good.  Two weeks prior to the combine I was trying to do too much, thinking that nothing was going to happen and I went out there, did some sprints and just figured it was going to hold up.  But during the 40, I felt a pop.

I think it was a blessing in disguise, because it cooled me down a little bit.  I’m working harder now, not that if it didn’t happen I wouldn’t be, but my legs are getting stronger and I’m getting the mental side of things right.

DF: Do you think the injury will have a significant impact on your draft stock?

Maualuga: I really don’t.  If it does, then I’ll let it be.  But true draft stock doesn’t really matter unless you’re in the top 10. The person drafted in the sixth round could be playing more than you.  It all depends on taking care of business. 

The main difference between a first-round player and a sixth is the money portion of it.  But other than that, the first order of business is to get drafted and the second thing is to go out and perform.   

DF: Throughout your career, you’ve had to make transitions.  The first of which was a transition from one of the top high school programs in the nation, St. Bonaventure,  just north of Los Angeles, to small town Eureka High School.  How difficult of a transition what that for you?

Maualuga: It was a very big transition.  At St. Bonaventure, they produced more college athletes and I had better chance of gaining a scholarship. 

But then my dad got the calling from God to move up to Eureka. I was pissed.  My dad, mom and brother all moved up North and I stayed with my coach. But then came spring break and my dad told me you’re going to move up here and we’re going to come down and pick up your clothes and stuff. 

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