Spencer Sione Folau (born April 5, 1973) 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 wi ...

offensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numb ...

who played in the NFL for the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its ...

1997-2000,

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

2001,

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

2002-2004, and

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) ...

2005. He was a member of the 2000 Ravens team that won

Super Bowl XXXV Super Bowl XXXV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Baltimore Ravens and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for ...

. He is currently the offensive line and strength and conditioning coach at McDonogh (High) School, in Owings Mills, Maryland.

Early life and high school career

Folau was born in Tonga but grew up in

Redwood City, California Redwood City is a city on the San Francisco Peninsula in Northern California's Bay Area, approximately south of San Francisco, and northwest of San Jose. Redwood City's history spans its earliest inhabitation by the Ohlone people to being a ...

. He attended Sequoia High School in

College career

Folau attended the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho. It is the state's land-grant and primary research university,, and the lead university in the Idaho Space Grant Consortium. The Universit ...

and as a senior in 1995, was an honorable mention All-Big Sky Conference selection at offensive tackle. Started all 23 games of his senior and junior years at defensive tackle and recorded 70 tackles, seven for losses, a forced fumble, three pass deflections, and three sacks as a sophomore in 1993. Started three games at defensive tackle as a freshman in 1992 and Redshirted in 1991 due to a fractured ankle suffered in all-star game during the summer of 1991. Majored in General Studies.

Professional career

Folau joined the Baltimore Ravens in 1996 and spent three seasons with them, winning a Super Bowl in his final season with the team. Folau had to learn all positions on the offensive line due to players like Jonathan Ogden and Orlando Brown ahead of him at his natural positions. Folau then moved on and played one season for the

, he would get released by the team in early 2002. In 2002, Folau signed with the

where he played three seasons before retiring. Folau was signed by the

in 2005 but he was released due to injury.

Personal life

Folau is married to his wife Heather, and together they have three children.

References

Spencer Folau
databasefootball.com, 5 February 2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Folau, Spencer 1973 births Living people American football offensive linemen Baltimore Ravens players Miami Dolphins players New Orleans Saints players Idaho Vandals football players Tongan emigrants to the United States Sequoia High School (Redwood City, California) alumni Players of American football from California Tongan players of American football