Michael Fafaul (born November 24, 1992) is an American former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

. 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 ...

for the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Big Ten Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF ...

. Professionally, he was a member of the Albany Empire of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...

(AFL), and the

Jacksonville Sharks The Jacksonville Sharks are a professional indoor football team based in Jacksonville, Florida, that competes in the Indoor Football League (IFL). The team plays its home games at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. They were members of the Are ...

and Albany Empire of the

National Arena League The National Arena League (NAL) is a professional indoor football league that began play in 2017. As of the end of the 2024 season, the league consisted of five teams. A team's typical payroll budget is $600,000 per season, but as of the 2022 ...

(NAL).

Early life

Michael Fafaul was born on November 24, 1992. He played

high school football High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...

Loyola Blakefield Loyola Blakefield is a private Catholic, college preparatory school run by the USA East Province of the Society of Jesus in Towson, Maryland and within the Archdiocese of Baltimore. It was established in 1852 by the Jesuits as an all-boys scho ...

Towson, Maryland Towson () is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 59,533 in the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Baltimore County and the second-most populous unincorpo ...

. He was not a starter until his senior year in 2010. He completed 121 of 202 passes (60%) for 1,803 yards, 22 touchdowns, and seven interceptions during the 2010 season, earning Big School All-State honorable mention honors. Fafaul played in the

Maryland Crab Bowl The Maryland Crab Bowl is an annual Middle school and high school postseason all-star game that features some of the most outstanding players in the state of Maryland. The game is played at McDaniel College, between a team composed of players fr ...

all-star game after his senior season. He played for

Fork Union Military Academy Fork Union Military Academy (abbreviated as FUMA) is a private school, private, all-male, college preparatory Christian school, Christian Military school, military boarding school located in Fork Union, Virginia. Founded in 1898, Fork Union is co ...

in 2011 to increase his college football recruiting options, leading Fork Union to an 8–1 record while throwing 14 touchdowns.

College career

Fafaul played

for the

of the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

. He joined the Bruins in 2012 as a

walk-on Walk On may refer to: Music Albums * ''Walk On'' (Boston album) or the title song, 1994 * ''Walk On'' (John Hiatt album) or the title song, 1995 * ''Walk On'' (Randy Johnston album) or the title song, 1992 *''Walk On'', by Kellie Coffey, 200 ...

and did not play in any games that year. In 2013, he completed four of four passes for 42 yards. Fafaul served as the

scout team The following terms are used in American football, both conventional and indoor. Some of these terms are also in use in Canadian football Canadian football, or simply football, is a Sports in Canada, sport in Canada in which two teams of ...

quarterback during the 2014 season and did not appear in any games. In 2015, he completed two of two passes for 21 yards. He began his senior year in 2016 as the holder but ended up starting the final six games at quarterback after

Josh Rosen Joshua Ballinger Lippincott Rosen (born February 10, 1997) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for four seasons. Rosen played college football for the UCLA Bruins, receiving ...

suffered an injury. Overall in 2016, Fafaul completed 135 of 259 passes (52.1%) for 1,602 yards, 12 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions. He was the sixth Bruin to throw for at least 400 yards in a game, joining Rosen,

Cade McNown Cade Brem McNown (born January 12, 1977) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for four seasons. He played college football for the UCLA Bruins, winning the Johnny Unitas Award ...

Drew Olson Drew Martin Olson (born April 6, 1983) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) and NFL Europe. He played college football for the UCLA Bruins. Olson was signed by the Balti ...

Brett Hundley Brett Alan Hundley Jr. (born June 15, 1993) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback. He played college football for the UCLA Bruins football, UCLA Bruins, where he was the school's career leader in both total of ...

and

Tommy Maddox Thomas Alfred Maddox (born September 2, 1971) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for nine seasons in the National Football League (NFL), most notably with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He also played one seaso ...

. Fafaul and Rosen were also the first UCLA quarterback duo to throw for at least 1,000 yards each in the same season.

Professional career

After going undrafted in the

2017 NFL draft The 2017 NFL draft was the 82nd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. It was held in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art on April 27–29, returning to Philadelphia f ...

, Fafaul attended rookie

minicamp A mini-camp, also spelled minicamp, is a short camp held by National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL) teams usually in spring of each year. The camp usually only lasts 3 days, but the length varies by a day or two depending ...

on a tryout basis with the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

. He was assigned to the Albany Empire of the

on March 20, 2018. He was placed on recallable reassignment on May 29, but assigned to the Empire again two days later. He completed three of nine passes for 18 yards and one interception for the Empire during the 2018 season while also rushing three times for negative five yards. Fafaul played for the

of the

(NAL) in 2019, completing 148 of 218 passes for 1,594 yards and 41 touchdowns while helping the Sharks win the NAL championship. He re-signed with the Sharks for the 2020 season but it was later cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. On January 10, 2022, it was announced that Fafaul had signed with the Albany Empire of the NAL. He started for the Empire in Week 1 of the 2022 season but was then traded to the Jacksonville Sharks for quarterback Warren Smith. Fafaul was a backup with the Sharks in 2022.

Personal life

Fafaul's cousin, Kirk Maggio, was a punter at UCLA and in the

World League of American Football NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa) was a professional American football league that functioned as the List of developmental and minor sports leagues, developmental minor league of the Nati ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fafaul, First Living people 1992 births American football quarterbacks UCLA Bruins football players Fork Union Military Academy alumni Albany Empire (AFL) players Jacksonville Sharks players Albany Empire (NAL) players Players of American football from Maryland