The Mauigoa Family: A Football Life
What is in the water in the Mauigoa household? The Mauigoa family is from Pago Pago, American Samoa. Fa’alialia and Telesia Mauigoa have three sons who are all Power 5 football players, two of which are now at the University of Miami. The oldest of the three brothers is not a Cane, however.
In the Mike Leach air raid offense, Frederick Mauigoa was a three-year starting center at Washington State. Frederick had a very successful college career and was signed as an undrafted free agent and had tryouts with the Carolina Panthers and Cincinnati Bengals. Thanks to Coach Mario Cristobal’s highly successful recruiting, Miami landed his two younger brothers Francisco Mauigoa and Francis Mauigoa.
Francisco's journey to The U began at the local Tafuna High School in American Samoa where he was a star quarterback and linebacker as a freshman, sophomore, and senior at Tafuna. However, he found his most success in his prime recruiting year as a junior at Aquinas High School in San Bernardino, California.
Francisco was named Ambassador League Offensive Player of The Year at quarterback, racking up 1,500 all purpose yards and 14 touchdowns. On defense he had tremendous success posting 46 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, and 1 interception. He was then rated a 3-star linebacker by 247 Sports.
Francisco signed on to play at Washington State, joining his brother Frederick, and had a significant special teams impact his first year recording a team high 10 special teams tackles. His grit in this phase of the game allowed him to earn his spot on the starting defense the next year. Francisco started 11 of 12 games and earned 60 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, and one 95 yard touchdown return from an interception.
Pro Football Focus graded him the second-best linebacker, the top cover linebacker and the 8th best defensive player in the country. He entered the Transfer Portal and selected Miami.
Francisco has brought production and versatility to Coral Gables. He will play with his younger brother Francis, thus giving him the unique opportunity to play with both of his brothers collegiately, albeit at different schools.
The youngest of the three brothers is the most highly touted. Francis has been compared to former Mario Cristobal recruit and NFL star right tackle Penei Sewell. Francis’s journey, however, began on the other side of the ball as a defensive tackle at Aquinas High School, where he accumulated 65 tackles, 3 sacks, and 1 forced fumble.
Talent evaluators believe he could play defensive tackle at an exceptionally high level as well. While at Aquinas he also played center and won the Rimington Award twice for the nation’s best center. Like his brother, he transferred to Tafuna High and then went undefeated and won a state championship his sophomore year in high school and was known for playing fearlessly as an underclassmen.
From there, Francis transferred to IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. IMG put him at right tackle his junior year where he found tremendous success blocking for other Power 5 players against the best competition in the country. IMG then switched him over to protect the blindside and play left tackle his senior year, as the Power 5 offers piled in for the nation's second best offensive tackle according to 247 sports.
247 also viewed the talented offensive tackle as the 8th best player in the country for the 2023 recruiting class. The youngest Mauigoa shows off his freaky ability in the weight room, squatting 705 pounds and being able to box jump on to two boxes while splitting his legs in mid air, just as Evan Neal did last year preparing for the NFL.
@ENeal73 WYA👀 pic.twitter.com/t66cu6x3k1
— Francis. Mauigoa (@FrancisMauigoa) May 14, 2022
Francis also showcased more remarkable athleticism at Tafuna High where he was a second team all-conference volleyball player. Francis of course ended up in the volleyball capital of America: Miami, Florida where he can continue to casually play volleyball year round or even on campus where there are multiple volleyball courts.
Overall, the Mauigoa family has three very talented sons that have been involved with football in American Samoa and in the United States. It’s a great story that continues with Frederick and Francis getting a chance to reunite at the University of Miami.
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