NFL Draft: Arizona’s Aiulua Fanene perhaps an NFL Diamond in Rough

Continuing in our breakdown of the few Arizona Football players who may be drafted into the NFL this weekend, we now turn to defensive lineman, Aiulua Fanene.

Perhaps one of the less known names from Arizona in the 2017 NFL Draft, however, don’t let that fool you about Wildcat defensive lineman, Aiulua Fanene.

Easily one of the older players in this draft class, if you may recall, Fanene was actually a Mike Stoops recruit back in 2010. He committed to Arizona out of Tafuna High School (Pago Pago, AS), and red-shirted his freshman season.

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Fanene played just one season for the Wildcats in 2011, before leaving for two years to go on his mission. He would rejoin the team in 2014 alongside Sani Fuimaono.

Since rejoining the Cats, Fanene’s time can be remembered as being a bit inconsistent, and perhaps part of that is because he was away from the game for two years. However, this past season, Fanene did still account for 15 tackles (12 solo).

So what is there to know about Fanene? Well, first off he comes from good football lineage. His older brother Jonathan, was a standout at Utah, before becoming a savvy NFL veteran that played eight seasons professionally (seven with Cincinnati, one with New England).

Additionally, the younger Fanene is a good athlete. At Arizona’s recent pro day, he put up one of the best benching numbers next to Freddie Tagaloa, who put up 41 reps. Fanene completed 35.

As it stands, Fanene is ranked 75th out of 197 defensive tackles rated in the 2017 draft class according to NFLDraftScout.com. He is also not being projected right now to be taken in any of the mock drafts either.

Don’t let that fool you though, his older brother Jonathan wasn’t a high projection either, and ended up being a pretty good football player.

As for Aiulua, he’s just thankful for the opportunity. We reached out to Fanene via social media, and this is what he had to say:

“I am grateful for the University of Arizona, for providing the resources in allowing me to thrive during my senior year, and preparing for the draft.

I am especially thankful for My Defensive Coaches, Coach Vince and Coach Dave for giving me valuable insight into the game and life in general. Our strength coach, Chris, has also made sure we were pushed and ready for our senior season and continuing on. His faith and belief that we could go all the way helped both mentally and physically.”

Video interview a whiloe back with Aiulua care of Brad Allis:

Must Read: More on Arizona Football Draft Hopefuls

At Zona Zealots, we’re excited for the NFL Draft that is approaching and hope all our Wildcats get taken. Thank you to Aiulua for talking to us, and we wish you the best moving forward, Bear Down, Arizona!