'09 CA LB Taniela Maka (UCLA Verbal)

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Long Beach (CA) Jordan High School

Ht: 6-foot-1
Wt: 220 lbs
Class: 2009 (High School)


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ESPN- College Football Recruiting On the Trail 2009

Arizona grabs sleeper outside linebacker Taniela Maka
Taniela Maka committed to sign with the Wildcats over a scholarship offer from New Mexico Thursday night, according to ESPN affiliate Web site WildcatSportsReport.com.
Maka stated that Arizona was his "dream school" and that he was "thrilled with the decision."

ESPN's Billy Tucker said of the pledge, "Maka is a solid pickup for Arizona and may be a better football player at this point than a true positional prospect. Zona's sixth commit of 2009 is a bit undersized but on film is productive at both fullback and outside linebacker. Sounds like he will be playing OLB for the Wildcats and has a chance to develop into consistent performerwith added size."
"Maka plays with good leverage and consistently keeps his shoulder pads square attacking downhill. He slips blocks extremely well pursuing in space and shows great quickness covering his underneath zone in coverage. His motor and toughness has helped mask his lack of size at the high school level and the real question will be if he can continue to do the same in college. Maka's continued physical develop should dictate his success at the next level."

The 6-foot-1, 217-pounder registered 133 tackles, two sacks and one interception during his junior campaign.
On offense, he carried 21 times for 143 yards and caught 15 balls for 219 yards.

[GoRU]

West Recruiting Blog - ESPN

Linebacker Taniela Maka (Long Beach Jordan, Calif.) gave an early commitment to Arizona. The talented athlete is solid on the Cats but will take a handful of official visits before ending the recruiting process.

Maka is one of the elite linebackers in the West and was a big early pickup for the Cats. Although lacking a lot of the fanfare of some of the other players in the state, there is no doubt Maka is a big time talent and reminds me a lot of USC freshman 'backer Uona Kaveinga.

Maka has had some bad luck with injuries the last few years and missed half the season with a broken arm this past year.

"It all started last spring when he broke his wrist," Jordan coach Thomas Barnes said. "So he couldn't lift and lost a lot of strength. We told him to take it easy but you know how he plays. He's a wild man out there and always goes 100 mph and I think that led to his arm getting broken in week four of our season.

"He only got to play in two league games and but was still voted second team all-league. He's a great player and his film from his junior year is as good as just about any I've seen."

Maka has already visited Arizona and will trip to UCLA this coming weekend. Arizona State and Washington will get visits later this month.

"His parents are pushing UCLA hard," Barnes said. "It's the local school, they love the academics and the prestige of the university. They're going with him on the visit this weekend and that's really where they want him to go.

"Maka is solid with Arizona though. All he wears is Arizona gear and I just talked to him this morning and he said that's where he wants to go but he just wants to take these visits to see what else is out there."

[GoRU]

Linebacker backs away from UA commitment, chooses UCLA instead | www.azstarnet.com ®

The Arizona Wildcats have lost a football recruit to a Pac-10 Conference rival.

Taniela Maka, a three-star linebacker from Long Beach, Calif., decommitted from the UA over the weekend and will sign with UCLA. The Rivals.com recruiting service and the Los Angeles Times both reported Maka's decision Sunday.

Maka led Jordan High School with 52 tackles and four sacks as a senior; he also recovered a fumble.
Maka's decision to sign with UCLA isn't particularly shocking. The linebacker continued to schedule recruiting trips, even after verbally committing to the UA last fall.

Maka visited UCLA over the weekend, and had trips to Hawaii, Washington and Arizona State planned. It's unknown whether Maka will follow through on those trips; he did not reply to phone and text messages left by the Star on Sunday.

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By B Huffman. Maka says he is 100% with UCLA and will sign with them. The main reason he made the change from Arizona was that UCLA was closer to home, so his parents could see him more.

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VIDEO: Highlights of UCLA Commit Maka By Tracy Pierson

Posted Jan 20, 2009



Taniela Maka, the 6-1, 225-pound linebacker prospect from Long Beach (Calif.) Jordan who verbally committed to UCLA, is seen here in video from his junior season...