“I’m trying to be a vocal leader as well as leading by example,” Maualuga said in a recent interview. “I want to go out there, make plays and get the tempo going because that’s what I do best. I want to make it seem like I’m having a good time out there. You need two or three guys on the defensive side of the ball to step up and everyone can feed off that. I think I can do that.”
According to the linebacker, training camp helped him progress and was everything he envisioned. Maualuga said when he saw the speed of the game in the first preseason game he knew there was no room for error.
Maualuga missed that game and a week of practice due to a hamstring injury. Despite that, he showed enough playmaking ability to unseat Jeanty, who probably knew his days in the starting lineup were numbered once Maualuga arrived.
Everything didn’t always come easy for Maualuga. Before becoming the fierce linebacker and competitor he’s known as today, Maualuga was faced with adversity at a young age.
“I would see kids playing Pop Warner football and going to camps,” Maualuga recalled. “We never had the funds to buy my equipment or to pay league fees. It was like $125 for a season. So we sold candy to get that done.”
Times were tough. The Maualuga family sought refuge in the attic of a church for nearly seven months after losing their apartment.
Rey’s father, Talatonu, was a Pentecostal minister and a strong disciplinarian. The father did everything in his power to keep his son on the straight and narrow including delivering some “hard knocks” of his own.
“With my dad being a pastor, I had to go to church three times a week,” Maualuga said. “We were brought up with morals like don’t speak unless you’re spoken too. I had to have a clean cut Christian haircut and couldn’t wear earrings. If my father saw our underwear with our pants sagging he would hit us upside the head.
“I learned a lot from him and think I’m the same person today other than the earrings and hair. I still treat people with the same respect. I owe a lot to my father.”
Talatonu died just before the 2006 Rose Bowl BCS Championship Game featuring Rey and USC.
“My father forced me to play football when I was in the seventh grade,” Maualuga said. “I really didn’t know what I was doing. I just lined up and ‘see ball, get ball.’ I played fullback too so I would block a lot. My eighth grade year is when I knew I had something going for myself. I was bigger and faster than most of the kids and something clicked.”
Maualuga was a standout player at St. Bonaventure High School in Ventura, Calif., which is known for its football program. He was a little upset about going to a private school, but decided to make the most of his opportunity.
“I knew if I pushed myself I could become one of the top players in the country in high school,” he said. “Each year, I went to camp and tried to show off my skills against the others. It was the same thing at USC and starting from scratch.
“I made my way up and one of my goals was to be an All-American. I didn’t get the national championship I wanted, but did accomplish some other goals while in college.”
Maualuga was the 2008 recipient of the Chuck Bednarik Award, which is given annually to the nation’s best defensive player. He earned Pac-10 defensive player of the year after leading the Trojans with 79 tackles.
As for his persona of being some kind of wild man character or Mowgli from The Jungle Book, Maualuga will let fans decide for themselves.
“I’m the kindest, coolest, guy off the field,” he said. “But on the field it’s time to flip that switch and get things going. I’m starting from scratch with the Bengals and looking to make impact. I’ll leave it up to people to decide how crazy I am and if I’m that wild man people talk about.”
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