William Harvey Unga (born January 18, 1987) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

fullback and the current running backs coach for the Brigham Young University football team. He was drafted by the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

with a seventh round pick in the 2010

Supplemental Draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Brigham Young Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second President of the Church (LDS Church), president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his ...

where he became the school's second all-time leading rusher.

College career

After the season-opener against the

Arizona Wildcats The Arizona Wildcats are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Arizona, located in Tucson, Arizona, Tucson. The Wildcats compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I (NCAA Divis ...

in 2007, Unga earned the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations o ...

(MWC) offensive player of the week award. He had gained 194 all-purpose yards, with 127 yards coming from receptions. Unga became the starting running back in 2007 due to an injury to

Fui Vakapuna Fui Vakapuna (pronounced foo-ē vac-uh-poo-nǎ; born March 9, 1984) is a former American football fullback. He was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the seventh round of the 2009 NFL Draft. He played college football at BYU. Professional c ...

in the prior season. As a starter, Harvey rushed for over 1,000 yards in just 11 games, with this mark reached in the second quarter against their in-state rivals,

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, on November 24, 2007. He was named the MWC Freshman of the Year. He had the second-most yards gained by a freshman in MWC history, and third among all freshman running backs in the nation in 2007. In 2009, Unga rushed for 1,087 yards and 11 touchdowns, and became the school's second all-time leading rusher with 3,455 yards. He earned first-team All-MWC honors following the season. On April 16, 2010, Unga voluntarily withdrew from BYU after violating its honor code.

Professional career

Supplemental draft

Unga declared for the

NFL Supplemental Draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

that took place on July 15, 2010. He worked out for 20 NFL teams on July 8 in Utah.

Chicago Bears

Unga was selected by the

with a seventh round selection in the 2010

. He was signed to a four-year contract on July 21, 2010. On August 31, 2011 the Bears received a roster exemption for Unga, who had left the team twice during the preseason for personal reasons. He was placed on the reserve/left squad list on September 20, 2011. Following the 2011 season, Unga was reinstated to the active roster on April 16, 2012. On August 27, 2012, Unga was waived by the Bears. He was later placed on the

practice squad In sports, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. Frequently used in gridiron football, they serve as extra players during the team's practices, ...

. He was once again waived on October 9, and replaced by

Kamar Aiken Kamar Aiken (born May 30, 1989) is a former American football wide receiver. He played college football at UCF and was signed by the Buffalo Bills as an undrafted free agent in 2011. He also played for the New England Patriots, Baltimore Ravens ...

. On December 4, Unga was brought back to the Bears practice squad. On December 28, Unga was elevated to the active roster. On August 30, 2013, Unga was released. On September 1, Unga was re-signed to the Bears practice squad, However a month later, on October 1, Unga was once again released from the team.

Carolina Panthers

Unga signed with the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...

on August 16, 2014. The Panthers released Unga on August 24, 2014.

BYU Cougars

Unga is currently serving as the running backs coach at

BYU Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day S ...

under head coach

Kalani Sitake Kelaokalani Fifita "Kalani" Sitake (born October 10, 1975) is a Tongan–American football coach and former player. He has been the head football coach at Brigham Young University (BYU) since December 2015, and is the first Tongan to become a ...

. He was promoted to this position on March 19, 2020 after having worked as a graduate assistant and student assistant since 2015.

Personal life

Unga was born to Jackson and Theresa Unga. His father played running back for the BYU Cougars in the early 1980s. Since July 16, 2010, he is married to Keilani (née Moeaki), a former BYU women's basketball player, and sister of former

tight end

Tony Moeaki Anthony Moeaki (born June 8, 1987) is a former American football tight end. He played college football at Iowa. He was selected in the third round of the 2010 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs, and also played for the Buffalo Bills, Seattl ...

. The couple has a son, Jackson (born July 2010), and a daughter, Leila (born August 2011).

References

http://www.foxsports.com/florida/story/jaguars-sign-fb-harvey-unga-ot-cody-booth-081614

External links

BYU Cougars football bio

Chicago Bears bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Unga, Harvey 1987 births Living people Sportspeople from Provo, Utah Players of American football from Utah American football fullbacks BYU Cougars football players American people of Tongan descent Chicago Bears players Jacksonville Jaguars players Players of American football from Hawaii