Oregon Offensive Lineman Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu Declares for 2022 NFL Draft
Oregon offensive lineman Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu has declared for the 2022 NFL Draft. He announced his decision on Twitter.
"Duck Nation, your fan Base is nothing short of amazing. I'm proud to have played in one of the greatest stadiums with the best fans," he said in his post.
"With that being that being said, the Alamo Bowl game will be the last time I will be playing as an Oregon Duck. I will be declaring for the 2022 NFL draft following the 2021 Alamo Bowl Game."
Auamavae-Laulu came came to Oregon as part of the highly-touted 2019 recruiting class after playing football at the JUCO level at Navarro College in Texas. He redshirted in that same season after seeing playing time in two games and playing snaps at right guard.
In 2020 he was a Coaches Pac-12 All-Conference honorable mention. During the this season he's been a mainstay on the right sight of the offensive line, swapping between guard and tackle alongside Steven Jones, Ryan Walk and at times Jackson Powers-Johnson.
This is the first notable player not named Kayvon Thibodeaux to announce his intentions to go to the NFL. Offensive tackle George Moore doesn't have any more college eligibility and will be moving on after this season.
Moving forward, Oregon's offensive line rotation will likely consist of the aforementioned names in addition to Alex Forysth, TJ Bass and Dawson Jaramillo.
Auamavae-Laulu's departure frees up some more snaps for younger offensive linemen to break into a rotation that got more solidified as the year went on, but that might be attributable to injuries.
The 6-foot-6, 315-pound Auamavae-Laulu will look to become the next solid offensive lineman developed under Mario Cristobal and Alex Mirabal to enjoy success in the NFL following Oregon's game against Oklahoma set for later this month in the Alamo Bowl.
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