Tuesday, September 15, 1998
Fuamatu-Ma‘afala
By Pat Bigold
a role-player
Star-BulletinHawaii's two NFL running backs are playing very different roles for their teams so far this season.
Former St. Louis School star Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala (Utah) has been getting on the field plenty for the Pittsburgh Steelers but he's hardly registering in the stat column.
"He's playing third down when we go with the four wide receivers," said Steelers running backs coach Dick Hoak.
The 5-foot-11, 250-pound rookie hasn't had a single carry in Pittsburgh's regular season games against Baltimore and Chicago. But he has two receptions. One was for 17 yards against the Ravens and Sunday's catch against the Bears went for 5 yards.
Though Fuamatu-Ma'afala is known as a bullish ground gainer, Hoak said he has complete confidence in him to catch the ball.
"He has great hands," said Hoak. "And he's big enough to pick up the blitz on third down. We gave him that role. He proved in training camp he can handle it and that's why we're using him.
"His role will be as a third-down back, unless something should happen to Jerome. And every now and then, he will spell Jerome."
Hoak said to forget about any notion that Fuamatu-Ma'afala might be traded.
"No one has ever said anything like that to me, and, look, he'll probably get work at the regular tailback position eventually. But right now he's playing behind a guy who has made All-Pro for five of the last six years. So, it's a little hard to get playing time."
The Steelers won't call Fuamatu-Ma'afala second or third string. He and veteran Richard Huntley both won jobs behind Bettis.
But Hoak said that Fuamatu-Ma'afala has been seeing more time on the field than Huntley.
"Playing in third down situations, Chris had 10 or 11 plays while Huntley had only about seven on Sunday," he said.
Leilehua product Adrian Murrell (W. Virginia) made up for a dismal opening day performance by scoring a 4-yard touchdown and carrying 20 times for 79 yards in a 33-14 Arizona Cardinals loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
OTHER LOCAL NFL PLAYERS: Former St. Louis star Viliami Maumau (Colorado), who failed to make the final NFL cut, was signed to the Carolina Panthers' practice squad . . . Former Pac-Five star Ink Aleaga (Washington) had his first NFL start for New Orleans on opening day against the St. Louis Rams. Aleaga, who was signed as a free agent last year, did not start in Sunday's 19-14 Saints victory over Carolina . . . Mililani's Maa Tanuvasa (Hawaii) had two solo tackles and an assist in the Denver Broncos' 42-23 wipeout of the Dallas Cowboys . . . For the second week, St. Louis School alumnus Olin Kreutz (Washington) was listed as "not active" for the Chicago Bears.
