Josiah Tauaefa (born March 5, 1997) is a former

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

at UTSA.

Early life and high school

Tauaefa grew up in

Corinth, Texas Corinth ( ) is a city in Denton County, Texas, United States; it is a part of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Its population was 22,634 at the 2020 census. Geography Corinth is located at (33.143952, –97.072194). According to the United S ...

and attended Lake Dallas High School, where he played fullback, linebacker and tight end on the football team. He was named the District 6-4A Defensive Most Valuable Player as a junior and named the District 6-5A Defensive Most Valuable Player and first-team all-district on offense as a senior.

College career

Tauaefa spent four seasons as a member of the

UTSA Roadrunners The UTSA Roadrunners is a collegiate athletic program that represents the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). The UTSA Roadrunners are also commonly referred to as "UTSA", "Roadrunners", or "Runners", and are represented by the mascot Ro ...

, redshirting his freshman year. In his redshirt freshman season, Tauaefa recorded a school-record 115 tackles (nine for loss), six sacks and an interception and was named first-team All-

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

, the conference Freshman of the Year, and became the first UTSA player to be named a Freshman All-American. As a redshirt junior, Tauaefa made a team-leading 113 total tackles and also led the Roadrunners with 11.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks and was named honorable mention All-Conference USA. Tauaefa declared for the NFL draft following his redshirt junior season, forgoing his final year of eligibility and graduating from UTSA in 2018 with a degree in communications.

Professional career

Tauaefa signed with the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

on April 27, 2019. He was cut by the Giants at the end of training camp but was re-signed to the team's practice squad on September 1, 2019. Tauaefa was promoted to the Giants' active roster on October 1, 2019. Tauaefa made his NFL debut on October 6, 2019 against the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

, making three tackles (two for a loss). Tauaefa was placed on the reserve/

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list by the Giants on August 4, 2020, but was activated the next day. He was waived on September 5, 2020.

References

External links

UTSA Roadrunners bioNew York Giants bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tauaefa, Josiah 1997 births Living people UTSA Roadrunners football players New York Giants players Players of American football from Denton County, Texas