Sep. 11, 2008

Hey, Buckeyes: Trojans' Rey stings like you better believe

By Dennis Dodd | CBSSports.com Senior Writer
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Every so often one of them comes along, one of the really crazy ones who scare the spit out of you.

Saturday is every so often and Rey Maualuga is the one.

"If I can put fear into the opponent, I feel I've done my job. I've done my work," USC's senior linebacker said. "It feels great."

For him. For the rest of the world, it puts that feeling in the pit of your stomach that something bad is about to happen. Arizona State quarterback Rudy Carpenter called Maualuga the most feared linebacker in the Pac-10. The scope of that label might spread Saturday night when the No. 1 Trojans play Ohio State in college football's game of the year.

Call it Cape Fear. The game is all about it. There's the fear that the loser might be out of the national championship race in September. Certainly the No. 5 Buckeyes can't afford another embarrassing loss on the national stage. Already pollsters have dropped them from No. 2 after the team won its first two games by a combined 55 points.

There is the fear that Ohio State tailback Beanie Wells, while back after a foot injury, won't be 100 percent. There's the fear USC might lose another home game. Gosh, the Trojans have lost all of three going into the second game of Pete Carroll's eighth season.

None of that, though, intimidates like Maualuga. Below that frizzed-out hair, beneath the tats, behind those steely eyes, malice is percolating. He has been blowing opponents up for so long that Maualuga has his little part of YouTube all to himself.

If you're going to chat him up, please get his weight right, too. It is listed at 260, which is insane for a linebacker with his speed and skill. Maualuga wants you to know that, in reality, it is 246. That's more linebacker-like and sets the record straight with NFL scouts. And please don't remind him that he played in the Rose Bowl at a more insane 273.

"It makes me feel fat," he said. "Everybody will say, 'Daaamn Ray.'"

Yeah, damn. How many All-American linebackers have been able to dominate at 260? At 273? The kid was so fat that Maualuga had three sacks, an interception and a forced fumble against Illinois in becoming the Rose Bowl defensive MVP.

"Rey is like a machine," Trojans receiver Patrick Turner said. "He doesn't stop, he keeps coming every play."

Nothing gets in his way, especially something as trivial as a broken finger. Maualuga took the field against Virginia with his broken digit barely wrapped. To counteract the pain, our hero took an injection from doctors and topped it off with a rather stout pain killer.

"Being retarded as I am, I took some Vicodin pills an hour before the game," Maualuga said. "I figured it was just going to get me riled up. It was just the opposite."

Warning: Maualuga can be hazardous to your health. (Getty Images)

Off the field, the linebacker's violent conduct isn't allowed. As a freshman in 2005, he was arrested for misdemeanor battery after punching a student at a Halloween party. A year later, Maualuga was reportedly disciplined by coach Pete Carroll for his behavior at a party.

Back then, his play could be reckless, too. Maualuga could mix in a spectacular play by overrunning a play.

"At times I tend to zone out and play 'Rey Football,'" he said.

Mostly, we're getting the mature senior who has stuck to the straight and narrow as he got older. Maualuga was born in Oklahoma, the son of an Army veteran from American Samoa. The family quickly moved around from Hawaii to Oxnard, Calif. to Eureka, Calif.

It was there where his father Talatonu's illness played out in 2005. As his dad was wasting away from cancer and after the punching incident, Maualuga continued to play. The player was honoring his father by staying on the field. Carroll was criticized for playing him. The coach thought the best thing for his player was to be within the cocoon of the program.

It was that father who got his seventh-grade son up one morning and told him they were registering for youth football. Rey didn't want to play. By the end of seventh grade he caught the bug. That's why you'll see the word "DAD" printed on his eye black patches. Talatonu Maualuga died without ever seeing his son play a college football game in person.

"When you have someone who teaches you everything you need to know about something, you've got to respect that," Maualuga said. "You've got to honor that. My dad pushed me to play football when I didn't want to. He made me the person that I am."

There is another kind of hero worship. Think of big hitters at USC, and you think of current Steelers All-Pro Troy Polamalu.

"He could change the game how he'd fly around into every play," Maualuga said. "I wanted to imitate him. He was at the Virginia game. I saw him out of the corner of my eye. I shook his hand saying, 'It's so great to meet you.' He said, 'Just go play football.'"

It is Carroll who has coached this generation of warriors at USC. Only nine runners have surpassed 100 yards in the last 74 games (paging Beanie Wells!). The defense has not allowed a pass completion of more than 45 yards in four years. Five out of the last six years the Trojans have finished in the top 10 in rush defense. This defense might be Carroll's best, sporting multiple pro prospects.

"Maybe Dick Butkus or Ray Nitschke, those kinds of guys," Carroll said, naming a pair of NFL legends when asked about the intimidation factor. "I don't think our guys have enough time to establish that kind of level of response from opponents. I don't know if there is a fear factor involved."

We know this on Saturday night: Maualuga is part of the greatest collection of linebacking talent seen on a field this season. They deal out their own type of fear. Maualuga and his Buckeyes counterpart, James Laurinaitis, could be top five draft choices in the spring after returning for their senior seasons.

The two best linebackers in the country won't be facing each other. In fact, they have become friends from the Playboy All-America photo shoot. They talked about the game. They talked about why each returned for their senior seasons. They texted back and forth on Fridays before games.

"It's a journey we wanted to be a part of for the last time," Laurinaitis said. "I'm sure Rey felt the same way, how blessed you are to be in the position you're in."

For Maualuga on Saturday it is the position of cold-blooded assassin.