Bay Area beast Bucs’ Vea has been a terror on the field since high school
By Jon Becker
Tom Brady may be the greatest quarterback in NFL history, but he still won’t be the biggest name from the Bay Area participating in Super Bowl LV Sunday. That honor goes to his teammate, Tevita Tuli’aki’ono Tuipulotu Mosese Va’hae Fehoko Faletau Vea, more commonly known as Buccaneers nose tackle Vita Vea.
If you think Vea’s given name is a handful, you should have seen the problems his game gave Milpitas High’s opponents from 2009-12. Especially when Trojans coach Kelly King used the 6-foot-4, 315-pound Vea at running back, or when he had him playing quarterback in the wildcat formation as a freshman.
“Here, we’re not trying to put kids in a box or at a certain position just because of their size,” said King, who has built a dominant program at Milpitas that’s delivered two state championships in the past three years. “Vita’s a great athlete and he could do it.”
Could he ever. The tape from Vea’s senior season, when he ran for 578 yards and averaged 12.3 yards per carry while sharing duties with BYU-bound Squally Canada, is legendary. Even Tampa Bay coach Bruce Arians admitted he’s enjoyed watching footage of Vea abusing overmatched defenders in high school.
“It’s pretty impressive,” said Arians, who last year used the 347-pound Vea at fullback, where he caught a 1-yard pass against Atlanta to become the heaviest player in NFL history to score a touchdown.
While recalling Vea’s time running the ball at Milpitas, longtime Trojans assistant coach Vito Cangemi sympathized with those teenagers asked to stop a speedy, nimble and powerful 315-pound manchild.
“He’s a beast. He’s a monster. Some of those kids were making business decisions while trying to tackle him. I mean, holy (expletive), what would you do?” Cangemi said.
For sheer dominance, King likes talking about the night Vea destroyed Homestead as a senior. That’s when he rushed for 244 yards and five touchdowns to go with 12 tackles, two sacks, an interception, a fumble recovery and a blocked kick.
“He went into a mode and was just tearing it up,” King said.
Vea continued his domination at the University of Washington, where he was the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year in 2017. That helped convince Tampa Bay to take Vea with the 12th overall pick in the 2018 draft.
Now in his third year with the Buccaneers, Vea is still overpowering opponents in the NFL. In a star-studded Super Bowl, Pro Football Focus has rated Vea as the seventh-best player on the field Sunday.
The fact he’s even playing Sunday is a testament to Vea’s unrelenting determination after he was assumed out for the season when he broke his ankle against the Bears in Week 5.
A run-stuffing ace with an uncanny ability to push the pocket as a pass-rusher, Vea was enjoying his best season. According to Pro Football Focus, among those with at least 100 pass-rushing snaps only Vea and Rams star Aaron Donald had recorded pass rush win rates of 20 percent or higher.
Vea, though, wasn’t ready to listen to those who said his season was over.
“Obviously, I was down and out that night, but
I think that night I told myself, ‘If you just push through this, push through rehab, you might have a chance,’ “Vea told reporters on a video conference last week. “They told me I might have a small chance of making it, so I took those chances of what they said, and I really took it to heart. That’s what I stuck with.”
Vea also received support from his high school coaches as both King and Cangemi exchanged text messages with him right after he got injured.
King, who tried to boost Vea’s spirits, long ago learned not to doubt anything his former star player puts his mind to.
“I wished him the best. He’s always pretty much in good spirits and he’s a hard worker, but he really worked hard in rehab and it’s still kind of amazing,” King said. “He just gets it. I’ve always said he’s a better person than he is a football player. And he’s a great football player.”
Vea’s work finally paid off when he returned to the field two weeks ago in the NFC Championship against the Packers. He looked nearly as good as usual while playing 33 snaps in the Bucs’ 31-26 victory.
And that has the Chiefs and their MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes more than a bit concerned.
“He’s a guy that you gotta know where he’s at on every single play,” Mahomes said of Vea this week. “He’s obviously super disruptive in the run game but he’s just as good as a pass rusher. You don’t see guys like that playing that position that can rush the passer that much.
“He’s a special talent. I have to know where he is every single play in order to not let him disrupt the entire game.”
On the other hand, there’s a legion of Vea’s friends and family, former teammates and even current Trojans players back home in Milpitas who can’t wait to see him unleashed on Sunday.
“Our program is like a family and we’re all proud of him and we’re all rooting hard for him,” said King, who notes Vea frequently comes back to visit and work with Milpitas’ players. “I’m excited for him and his opportunity to play in a Super Bowl. It’s a dream come true for anyone who’s played football and now he gets his opportunity.”
“I just can’t say enough about him ... I love him to death,” Cangemi said. “I almost want to shed a tear sometimes I’m just so happy and proud of him.”
If Kilgore’s test result on Saturday comes back clean, he’ll likely be cleared to play.