Bruce Feldman on Francis Mauigoa: He has 270 pounds of pure, lean muscle mass
Francis Mauigoa, on top of being an offensive tackle of the future — and likely present — for Miami, is also one of the more absurd athletes in college football. As such, he landed on the annual “Freaks List” by The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman.
Despite being a true freshman with little time in a college weight program, Mauigoa already has the muscle mass of someone much more physically mature than most people his age. It earned him the No. 5 spot on the list, which Feldman broke down with On3’s Andy Staples on Wednesday.
“And just the idea: 6-[foot]-6, 341 [pounds], and I’m going to have to read this part to you, only 20.9% body fat, which as you know for an offensive lineman is pretty lean,” Feldman said. “So he has 270 pounds of pure, lean muscle mass. Again, he is young. He is a true freshman. It’s not like he’s had three years in a college weight program. He didn’t. And then the other parts of this: 1.72 10-yard split. The only 300 pound O lineman at the combine who ran faster than that was the aforementioned Blake Freeland from BYU. And Blake Freeland is 39 pounds less than this young kid.”
That split time is in reference to a 40-yard dash, meaning Mauigoa is not only a massive figure, but a mobile one.
Feldman also wrote about Mauigoa’s otherworldly ability to generate power.
From the story: “Mauigoa’s jump power registered at 9,274 watts — the highest Miami has on record. His ‘jump momentum’ is 462 kilogram-meter per second (kg.m/s) — also the highest Miami has on record. He bench pressed 425 pounds and front squatted 500, which is tops on the team.”
He’s such an impressive athlete that Miami head coach Mario Cristobal delivered “the most Mario Cristobal quote of all time,” Staples said.
“Yes. ‘Greatest muscle density in Miami history,'” Feldman said, reading the quote back.
He went to explain how Mauigoa is an interesting window into how someone who doesn’t necessarily jump the highest, run the fastest or lift the most weight can be near the top of this list.
“It’s a freak thing — there’s always ways, because we’re so used to qualifying these things with vertical jumps and 40s and bench press reps and whatnot. And then there’s this,” Feldman said, discussing Mauigoa’s lean build.
Staples had a final thought, pointing out a photo of Mauigoa and Miami’s defensive line coach, Joe Salave’a, from a recruiting trip.
“I don’t know if you saw the pictures we were rolling while you were talking. There’s a picture of him with Joe Salave’a, their defensive line coach. And if you’ve never seen Joe Salave’a he looks like he could play defensive line in the NFL today,” Staples said. “He looks very small compared to young Francis.”