Manase Tonga (born February 28, 1984) is a former

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

fullback. He was signed by the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Ra ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player 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 contract at present but who is a ...

in 2010, cut at the conclusion of the preseason, and subsequently signed to the practice squad. He played college football at

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

Early years

Tonga attended Aragon High School in

San Mateo, California San Mateo ( ; ) is a city in San Mateo County, California, on the San Francisco Peninsula. About 20 miles (32 km) south of San Francisco, the city borders Burlingame, California, Burlingame to the north, Hillsborough, California, Hillsboro ...

, 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, Tonga attended

and served as a lead blocker for all-time rusher Harvey Unga. 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 draft took place over three days, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, with the fir ...

. 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 Americans, Tongan–American American football, football coach and former player. He has been the head football coach at Brigham Young University (BYU) since December 2015, ...

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