Lavasier T. Tuinei (born September 29, 1990) 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 ...

wide receiver. 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 ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

College career

Tuinei played college football as a wide receiver at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

from 2009 to 2011. During his career he had 108 receptions for 1,212 yards and 12

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether Rush (gridiron football), running, Forward pass, passing, returning a Kickoff (gridiron football), kickoff or Punt (gridiron football), punt, or recovering a Turno ...

. He was the Offensive Player of the Game in the 2012 Rose Bowl after recording eight receptions for 158 yards and two

. Tuinei played only 9 games in his first season, adding 24 receptions for 217 yards and no

. In Lavasiers second season, he played 10 games, finishing the season with 36 receptions for 396 yards and 2

. In his final season, Tuinei played all 14 games. He went on to catch 48 passes for 599 yards and 10

. Tuinei played a critical role in the

Oregon Ducks The Oregon Ducks are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Oregon, located in Eugene. The Ducks compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Pac-12 Conferenc ...

win over the Wisconsin Badgers in the 2012 Rose Bowl.

Professional career

After going undrafted in the

2012 NFL Draft The 2012 NFL draft was the 77th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players for their rosters. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held ...

, Tuinei spent time with the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

and

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

without playing in any games. Tuinei signed with the

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions played their first season ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

in July 2014. Tuinei was selected by the

Guangzhou Power The Guangzhou Power was a professional arena football team based in Guangzhou, Guangdong. They were members of the China Arena Football League The China Arena Football League (), often abbreviated as the CAFL, was a professional arena football ...

of the

China Arena Football League The China Arena Football League (), often abbreviated as the CAFL, was a professional arena football league that played its games in the China, People's Republic of China. It featured players from the now-defunct Arena Football League (AFL) and ...

(CAFL) in the tenth round of the 2016 CAFL Draft. He caught 21 passes for 337 yards and 11 touchdowns during the 2016 season.

Personal

His father,

Van Tuinei Vaega Van Tuinei (born February 16, 1971 in Garden Grove, California is a former professional American football player who played defensive end for four seasons for the San Diego Chargers, Indianapolis Colts, and Chicago Bears. He is of Samoan Am ...

, played in the NFL from 1997 to 2000.

References

External links

BC Lions bio

Seattle Seahawks bioOregon Ducks bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tuinei, Lavasier 1990 births Living people People from Hamilton County, Indiana Players of American football from Indiana American football wide receivers Canadian football wide receivers Oregon Ducks football players Seattle Seahawks players Cincinnati Bengals players Dallas Cowboys players New England Patriots players BC Lions players Winnipeg Blue Bombers players Guangzhou Power players Baltimore Brigade players Golden West Rustlers football players American sportspeople of Samoan descent