USA TODAY analyzes the inside linebackers available in the April 25-26 NFL draft. Also in this article: Cream of the crop among inside linebackers and teams in need.
It has happened too many times for comfort.
Some people, Southern California's Rey Maualuga (pronounced Mah-wah-LOO-ga) says, have approached him in public thinking he's Troy Polamalu.
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Same school. Same Polynesian heritage. Similar long, soft hair flowing from the helmet (sometimes). And relentless motors that drive sideline-to-sideline presence.
"It offends me," Maualuga, the top-rated inside linebacker in the draft, says of being mistaken for the Pittsburgh Steelers' all-pro safety. "It's an honor for people to think that I'm Troy. He's a great guy, a phenomenal athlete, but I'm my own man."
NFL teams have a pretty good ID on the Trojans' tackling machine, projected to go in the middle of the first round. Maualuga won the Bednarik Award as the nation's top defensive player, another way to strike an identity.
Still, during the NFL combine someone asked Baltimore Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome if Maualuga (6-2, 254) compares to his Hall of Fame-credentialed linebacker, Ray Lewis.
Newsome laughed.
"They're both named Ray, that's the comparison," Newsome said. "Maualuga's a lot bigger. Ray was only 230 pounds when he came out. Maualuga's been as much as 270."
Maualuga grew up in Oahu, Hawaii, but his family moved to Oxnard, Calif., before high school. He embraces the notion of proving himself at every step. It plays into his ultra-competitive reputation. When he pulled a hamstring during the 40-yard dash (4.85) at the combine, it did not sit well. Unable to finish the workout, he packed his belongings and bolted to the hotel rather than watch other linebackers workout.
"I couldn't watch," he remembers. "It made me more upset. From then on, I wondered why it happened and at that time and place."
Despite a resume including Pac 10 Defensive Player of the Year, Rose Bowl Defensive MVP and Trojans' MVP awards, there was more to prove.
The hamstring improved, as well as his 40 time (4.65) for his pro day earlier last week. Now it's wait and see. Mock drafts have him going anywhere from 10th to 25th. Whatever happens, he'll celebrate with family and friends at a draft-day barbeque at his mother Tina's house in Eureka, Calif.
"As long as my mom is happy, I'm happy," he says.
He wishes his father were there as well. Talatonu Maualuga, a minister diagnosed with brain cancer before Rey's first college game, died two days before USC's national championship game in January 2006.
"I don't think you can ever get over losing a loved one," Rey says. "To never be able to see him again, it crosses my mind. But I've accepted the fact that he's in a better place. But he's still there, guiding me, helping me out."
Maualuga, who has five tattoos, looks at his left arm for another reminder of his dad. That's the first tattoo, a tribal mark that pays homage to his Samoan-American heritage.
"My parents were against tattoos," he says, "but as long as it was tribal, my dad was for it. …Now that my father's gone, every time I get a tattoo, my mom might get a little upset, but at the same time she accepts it."
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