Manase Tonga (born February 28, 1984) 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 ...

fullback. He was signed by the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...

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 ...

in 2010, cut at the conclusion of the preseason, and subsequently signed to the

practice squad In gridiron football, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. They serve as extra players during the team's practices, often as part of the scou ...

. 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 ...

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

Early years

Tonga attended

Aragon High School Aragon High School is a public co-educational high school in San Mateo, California. It is part of the San Mateo Union High School District (SMUHSD). It is located in San Mateo County, a large suburb just outside San Francisco. The school is a ...

San Mateo, California San Mateo ( ) is the most populous city in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula. It is part of the San Francisco Bay Area metropolitan region, and is located about south of San Francisco. San Mateo border ...

, where he was an All-County and All-League selection he also had his jersey retired. He also holds several rushing records there, including yards in a season and yards in a game.

College career

After graduating from high school and serving a LDS church mission to

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

, Tonga attended

and served as a lead blocker for all-time rusher

Harvey Unga William Harvey Unga (born January 18, 1987) is an American former professional football fullback and the current running backs coach for the BYU Cougars. He was selected by the Chicago Bears with a seventh round pick in the 2010 NFL supplementa ...

. Tonga scored 22 touchdowns both rushing and receiving.

Professional career

Tonga was signed by the

in April 2010 after going undrafted in the

2010 NFL draft The 2010 NFL draft was the 75th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The 2010 NFL draft, draft took place over three days, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, with the first ...

. He was cut by the Oakland Raiders in September 2010 when teams were required to get rosters down to 53 players, but then was re-signed to the practice squad. In 2011, Tonga was released during final cuts by the Raiders, but later was re-signed to the practice squad the next day. Tonga was signed to the active roster on October 8, 2011. Tonga was released from the Raiders on August 29, 2012.

BYU Cougars

Tonga is currently working as a graduate assistant coach at BYU under head coach

Kalani Sitake Kelaokalani Fifita "Kalani" Sitake (born October 10, 1975) is a Tongan–American American football, football coach and former player. He has been the head football coach at Brigham Young University (BYU) since 2015, and is the first Demographic ...

References

Oakland Raiders bioBYU Cougars bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tonga, Manase 1984 births Living people American football fullbacks BYU Cougars football players Oakland Raiders players Players of American football from San Mateo, California Latter Day Saints from California American Mormon missionaries in Honduras American people of Tongan descent 21st-century Mormon missionaries