Tuioti Reagan Maui'a (born July 6, 1984) is an American Samoan former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

fullback. He was selected by the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...

in the sixth round of the

2007 NFL draft The 2007 NFL draft was the 72nd annual meeting of National Football League franchises to select newly eligible American football players. It took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 28 and April 29, 2007. The draf ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. Maui'a also played for the

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 of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The ...

, and

San Jose SaberCats The San Jose SaberCats were a professional arena football team based in San Jose, California. The SaberCats had been members of the Arena Football League (AFL) since 1995 (the year in which the team was founded); and until 2015, they belonged to ...

Early life

Maui'a was born in American Samoa. He attended

Tokay High School Tokay High School is one of two high schools in Lodi, California, United States, the other being Lodi High School. Tokay High School is part of the Lodi Unified School District. The school's colors are purple and gold, and its mascot is the t ...

Lodi, California Lodi ( ) is a city in San Joaquin County, California, United States, in the center portion of California's Central Valley (California), Central Valley. The population was 66,348 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History When a gro ...

, and was a four-year letterman in football and

track and field athletics Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

. In football, he was an All-League and an All-Area selection. In track and field athletics, he broke the school record in the

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

with a throw of . Maui'a graduated from Tokay High School in 2002. At the University of Hawaii, Maui'a was originally a 351-pound defensive lineman. He was switched to fullback after Senior Adam Olis tore his ACL and played that position at 295 pounds. He subsequently dropped to 270 pounds before the NFL Draft.

Professional career

Miami Dolphins

Maui'a was selected by the Miami Dolphins in 2007. He took over the starting job in training camp when he beat out Cory Schlesinger for the starting job. In 2008, Maui'a lost a preseason competition with Boomer Grigsby for the team's starting fullback job and was released on August 30 during final cuts.

Cincinnati Bengals

On September 3, 2008, Maui'a was signed by the

after the team's starting fullback,

Jeremi Johnson Jeremi Ray Johnson (born September 4, 1980) is an American former professional American football, football Fullback (American football), fullback. He was selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the fourth round of the 2003 NFL draft. He played co ...

, was placed on

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in ...

. Maui'a played in two games for the Bengals before being waived on October 11 when the team signed

placekicker In gridiron football, the placekicker (PK), or simply kicker (K), is the player responsible for attempts at scoring Field goal (football), field goals and extra points. In most cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist ...

Dave Rayner Dave Rayner (born October 26, 1982) is an American former professional football placekicker in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Indianapolis Colts in the sixth round of the 2005 NFL draft. He played college football at ...

. Maui'a was re-signed on October 22 when Rayner was released. However, he was placed on season-ending

just two days later.

Arizona Cardinals

Maui'a was signed by the

on August 5, 2009, after fullback Justin Green was placed on

. He was waived on September 4. Maui'a was re-signed to a future contract on January 21, 2010, after spending the 2009 season out of football. He was released September 2, 2011, and then re-signed on November 2. He was waived again on November 29. He was re-signed again on August 11, 2012, and waived again on August 25. He re-signed with the team on September 28.

Personal life

Maui'a is a distant cousin of Samson Satele, who was also drafted by the Dolphins in the 2007 NFL Draft. He lived in Stockton. In 2010 he was awarded the ''matai'' title of Tuioti by his mother's village of Falelima, Savai'i, in

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

References

External links

Arizona Cardinals bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mauia, Reagan 1984 births Living people American sportspeople of Samoan descent Players of American football from Lodi, California American football defensive tackles American football fullbacks Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football players Miami Dolphins players Cincinnati Bengals players Arizona Cardinals players San Jose SaberCats players Players of American football from American Samoa Tokay High School alumni Pacific Islander American players of American football