Maualuga's motor is always running
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BY CURT McKEEVER / Lincoln Journal Star
Every time Pete Carroll feels like trying to coax Rey Maualuga into turning down his horsepower a notch during Southern California football practices — a thought that occurs daily — the Trojans’ coach has to catch himself.
“His ‘holding back’ is a physical hit,” Carroll said of the 6-foot-3, 250-pound junior.
Indeed, as the middle linebacker on a defense stocked with future NFL players, Maualuga is the player opposing coaches build game plans around.
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He’s the most feared — just ask teammate Patrick Turner.
Four days before the Trojans’ Sept. 1 season opener against Idaho, Maualuga was already in game-day mode.
Defending a pass play to Turner across the middle, he waylaid the 6-5 flanker with a hit that left him sprawled on the ground and needing medical attention.
As it turned out, Turner had suffered a pinched nerve in his left shoulder and had to sit out the opener.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Turner never saw Maualuga closing in on him and only heard what sounded like “thunder” going off in his helmet.
Though apologetic, Maualuga noted how Turner had been jokingly taunting him.
“Before practice, he was like, ‘I’m going to (Randy) Moss you, Rey. I’m going to Moss you,’ like catch a ball over me and like beat me downfield like in a footrace,” Maualuga told the Times. “I’m like, ‘Your helmet is going to come off, your helmet is going to come off.’ Swear to God, those were the exact words coming in. For some reason, it was like, boom. He was there. I was there. It just happened.”
Last season, Maualuga was ‘there’ to make 78 stops for the Trojans. In a 28-10 win against Nebraska, he had a career-high 11 tackles, which helped him be named one of 10 semifinalists for the Butkus Award, representative of the nation’s top linebacker.
Now, when Maualuga looks to his immediate left and right, he sees two others who will be candidates for that honor this season — Brian Cushing and Keith Rivers.
In 2006, Rivers led the Trojans with 85 tackles and three forced fumbles from his weakside spot. Cushing, who’s questionable for Saturday’s game against the Huskers because of a sprained ankle, has moved back to his strongside spot after leading the Trojans with 13½ tackles for loss while playing end. He also was the defensive MVP of USC’s Rose Bowl win against Michigan.
“The talent we have on this defense is outrageous,” Maualuga said. But “when we go on the field, everyone is just so focused on doing their assignments, there’s no time to really think about all that.”
Hoping to polish his game more, Maualuga has increased the time he spends watching film. As comfortable as he is with his physical tools, he wants to be so in tune mentally with an opposing offense that he knows where to line up and flow before the ball is snapped.
“Rey’s still got a lot of growing, in terms of mastering his position,” Carroll said. “He’s really just tapping into it. I think he can be a great player for us, and a great player at that spot has got to do things right play after play after play, and it’s a challenging position to do that. (But) Rey’s working real hard at his stuff.”
Maualuga ended up at USC after also taking recruiting trips to Nebraska and Oregon.
Of Lincoln, he recalled how “all the fans are into Nebraska football,” and how the coach who recruited him, John Blake, kneeled with him in a prayer for his ill father.
“If I could see him again, I’d thank him for that,” Maualuga said. “Everything about Nebraska was good when I went out there.“
In the end, Maualuga’s desire to be closer to his father, who passed away before the Trojans faced Texas for the national championship in the 2006 Rose Bowl, led him to a place that he said has “ended up being the best school for me.”
Even if, at times, like during practice, his teammates on offense wish he were elsewhere.
“When you get off the field, you’re friends, but that passion — I go up there and I’m telling the running backs, ‘You aren’t going to gain a yard,’” Maualuga said. “It’s just a rush, I guess.”
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.
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