2017 Football Roster
Roster
Vavae Malepeai
- Position:
- Tailback
- Height:
- 6-0
- Weight:
- 210
- Class:
- Redshirt Freshman
- Hometown:
- Aiea, HI
- High School:
- Mililani
CAREER: In his career, he has run for 2,005 yards (21st on USC’s all-time rushing ladder) on 415 carries (4.8 avg) with 23 TDs, caught 61 passes for 292 yards (4.8 avg) with 1 TD and made 6 tackles. He has a quartet of 100-yard rushing games in his career. He has appeared in 50 games in his career, with 15 starts.
2021: The hard-charging Malepeai continued to be a vital part of USC’s tailback corps as a senior in 2021. Overall in 2021 while appearing in all 12 games and starting 4 times (San Jose State, Washington State, BYU, California), he ran for 502 yards (second on USC) on 114 carries (4.4 avg) with a team-best 6 rushing TDs, had 12 receptions for 65 yards (5.4 avg) and made a tackle. He was named USC’s 2021 Most Inspirational Player and a team co-captain. He was a 2022 NFLPA Collegiate Bowl invitee.
He had 65 yards on 14 tries and 2 catches for 2 yards against San Jose State, then rushed for a team-best 94 yards on 15 carries and had an 8-yard reception against Stanford. He had 9 yards on 9 carries and 2 catches for 6 yards at Washington State, 12 yards on 4 carries and 2 catches for 17 yards versus Oregon State, 36 yards on 10 tries and a 1- yard catch at Colorado and 6 yards on 3 carries (with a short TD) against Utah. He had 17 yards on 6 tries against Arizona, 8 yards on 5 carries at Arizona State and 49 yards on 10 carries with 3 short TDs (a career best), a 14-yard reception and a tackle against UCLA. He had a season-best 99 yards on 20 carries with a short TD and caught 2 passes for 9 yards against BYU, then had a game-best 107 yards on 18 carries (pushing him over the 2,000 career rushing yardage barrier) and caught an 8-yard pass at California.
2020: Malepeai was a key part of USC’s running attack as a senior tailback in 2020. Overall in 2020 while appearing in 5 games (all but Oregon) and starting 3 times (Utah, Washington State, Utah), he ran for a team-best 238 yards on 54 carries (4.4 avg) with 3 TDs and caught 16 passes for 64 yards (4.0 avg). He missed the Oregon game after spraining his knee late in the UCLA game.
He led USC with 60 yards on 8 carries and added 4 receptions for 23 yards against Arizona State. He had 7 yards on 6 carries with the game-winning 8-yard TD run with 25 seconds to play at Arizona and he also caught 5 passes for 20 yards. He had a game-high 62 yards on 20 carries with a short TD and caught 4 passes for 14 yards at Utah. He had 2 rushes for minus 2 yards and a catch for minus 5 yards against Washington State. He ran for 110 yards on 19 carries with a 10-yard TD and caught 2 passes for 12 yards at UCLA.
2019: Malepeai was a key part of the tailback rotation when healthy as a junior in 2019. Overall in 2019 while appearing in 8 games (Fresno State, Stanford, BYU, Utah, Washington, Notre Dame, UCLA, Iowa) and starting the first 6 and the finale, he ran for a team-high 503 yards on 105 carries (4.8 avg) with 6 TDs and caught 15 passes for 70 yards (4.7 avg) with 1 TD. A lingering knee injury sidelined him for 5 games (Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, Arizona State, California).
He ran for 134 yards on 23 carries (both career highs) with a short TD and caught 2 passes for 8 yards against Fresno State, then ran for 42 yards on 12 carries with 2 short TDs and caught 2 passes for 6 yards against Stanford. He had 96 yards on 23 carries with a short TD and also caught 3 passes for 28 yards at BYU, ran for 39 yards on 11 carries and had a catch for no yards against Utah, had 49 yards on 10 carries and caught 2 passes for 8 yards at Washington and ran for 46 yards on 8 rushes and caught a 9-yard pass at Notre Dame. He then had 60 carries on 10 rushes with 2 TDs (1 and 8 yards) against UCLA in his first action after missing the previous 5 games with a knee injury. He ran for 39 yards on 8 carries and caught 4 passes for 11 yards (with a 16-yard TD) against Iowa.
2018: Malepeai saw lots of playing time at tailback and on special teams as a sophomore in 2018. Overall in 2018 while appearing in all 12 games and starting once (California), he ran for 501 yards on 93 rushes (5.4 avg) with 8 TDs, caught 15 passes for 88 yards (5.9 avg) and made a tackle. He won USC’s Bob Chandler Award.
He had 47 yards on 8 rushes with his first 2 career touchdowns (2 and 20 yards) and caught 2 passes for 6 yards against UNLV. He had 18 yards on 3 rushes and caught a 10-yard pass at Stanford. He had 3 yards on 2 carries with a 3-yard TD run at Texas. He ran for a game-high 78 yards on 13 carries with a pair of short TDs against Washington State. He had 8 yards on 3 carries (with a 1-yard TD) and caught 2 passes for 14 yards at Arizona. He had 6 yards on 2 rushes and added a tackle against Colorado. He had 44 yards on 10 carries with a 12-yard TD and also caught a 12-yard pass at Utah. He had 51 yards on 5 carries and had 2 receptions for 15 yards against Arizona State. He had a career-best 101 yards on 15 carries and had a 6-yard reception at Oregon State. He had 47 yards on 13 rushes and also caught a pass for no yards against California while starting. He had a team-best 77 yards on 15 carries and added 3 catches for 26 yards at UCLA. He had 21 yards on 4 carries (with a 14-yard TD) and had added a 1-yard catch before being sidelined with a knee sprain against Notre Dame.
2017: Malepeai saw key action as a backup tailback and on special teams as a redshirt freshman in 2017. Overall in 2017 while appearing in 13 games (all but Arizona), he had 49 carries for 261 yards (5.3 avg), 3 receptions for 5 yards (1.7 avg) and 4 tackles. He sprained his knee late at Arizona State and was sidelined against Arizona.
He had 14 yards on 2 carries and a tackle against Western Michigan, 49 yards on 6 carries against Stanford, 8 yards on 4 rushes and caught a pass for minus 4 yards against Texas and 17 yards on 4 carries at California. He had 32 yards on 8 carries and had a tackle against Oregon State, 42 yards on 4 carries against Utah, 12 yards on 4 attempts and also had a tackle at Notre Dame and 68 yards on 11 rushes, a 6-yard reception and a tackle at Arizona State. He had 10 yards on 3 carries at Colorado, 7 yards on 2 attempts against UCLA and a 2-yard run and a 3-yard catch against Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl.
2016: Malepeai redshirted as a first-year freshman tailback in 2016. He was sidelined for the first 6 games of 2016 after suffering a broken left shoulder blade in 2016 fall camp.
HIGH SCHOOL: He made 2015 Prep Star All-West Region, Tacoma News Tribune Western 100, Gatorade Hawaii Player of the Year, KHON2/Cover2 Hawaii High School Weekly Marcus Mariota Award State Player of the Year, USA Today All-Hawaii Offensive Player of the Year and All-Oahu Interscholastic Association Blue Offensive Player of the Year as a senior running back at Mililani (Hi.) High. He ran for 1,952 yards on 234 carries (8.3 avg) with 29 TDs in 2015.
As a junior in 2014, he made USA Today All-Hawaii first team as he ran for 1,337 yards on 227 carries (5.9 avg) with 24 TDs. Mililani won the state championship in 2014 after being the runnerup in 2013.
He set state career records with his 4,556 rushing yards and 71 rushing TDs.
PERSONAL: He received his bachelor’s degree in communication at USC in the fall of 2019 and a master’s in project management from USC in the spring of 2021 and is now working on a master’s in non-governmental organizations and social change with a 3.49 GPA. He made the 2020 Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll. His uncles, Silila (1990-94), Pulou (1993-95) and Tasi (1994-96), played football at Oregon. His cousin, Bernard Schirmer, was an offensive lineman at USC in 2018 and 2019.
