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American football player (born 1999) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Viliami Taopa Fehoko Jr. (born December 16, 1999) is an American professional football defensive tackle for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the San Jose State Spartans and was named the 2022 Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year prior to being selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the fourth round of the 2023 NFL draft.
Fehoko with the San Jose State Spartans in 2019 | |
| No. 72 – Washington Commanders | |
|---|---|
| Position: | Defensive tackle |
| Personal information | |
| Born: | December 16, 1999 Stanford, California, U.S. |
| Height: | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) |
| Weight: | 267 lb (121 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school: | Saint Francis (Mountain View, California) |
| College: | San Jose State (2018–2022) |
| NFL draft: | 2023 / round: 4 / pick: 129 |
| Career history | |
| |
| * Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |
| Roster status: | Practice squad |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
| Stats at Pro Football Reference | |
Fehoko was born on December 16, 1999, in Stanford, California, and raised in East Palo Alto, California. He attended Saint Francis High School, where he played as a tight end for their football team. As a senior, he received All-West Coast Athletic League, Bay Area News Group first-team All-Bay Area and San Francisco Chronicle honorable-mention All-Metro honors.[1]
He also was part of the East Palo Alto Razorbacks rugby club. On February 3, 2018, Fehoko committed to San Jose State University.[2]
As a true freshman in 2018, he was converted from a tight end into a defensive end. He appeared in 4 conference games, before being redshirted. He tallied 5 tackles, with three coming against the University of Wyoming.[3]
As a redshirt freshman in 2019, he was named the starter at left defensive end, recording 44 tackles (3 for loss), one sack, and 4 pass deflections (tied for second on the team).[4]
As a sophomore in 2020, the season was reduced to 8 games because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He started all 8 games, collecting 36 tackles (fifth on the team), 12.5 tackles for loss (led the conference), 6 sacks (second on the team), one pass deflection, and one fumble recovered. He had 6 tackles (2 for loss) and one sack against the University of New Mexico. He was named first-team All-Mountain West for the first time in his career.[5][6]
As a junior in 2021, he started all 12 games, registering 37 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss (led the team), 6 sacks (led the team), 3 forced fumbles (led the team), and deflected six passes. He had 7 tackles against the University of Wyoming. He was named first-team All-Mountain West for the second time.[7][8]
As a senior in 2022, he started in all 12 games, posting a career-high 69 tackles (third on the team), 19 tackles for loss (fifth in the nation), 9 sacks (led the team), two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, and one deflected pass.[9][10] He had 7 tackles (3 for loss), one sack, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery against Fresno State University. He made 12 tackles (4.5 for loss), 2 sacks and one forced fumble against the University of Nevada. He had 5 tackles (3 for loss) and two sacks against Colorado State University. He was named the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year and first-team All-Mountain West for the third straight year.[11][12][13]
He finished his career with 191 tackles, 46 tackles for loss (second in school history), 23 sacks (fifth in school history), 14 pass deflections, 5 forced fumbles and 2 fumble recoveries in 48 games played.
| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | 20-yard shuttle | Three-cone drill | Vertical jump | Broad jump | Bench press | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft 3+3⁄4 in (1.92 m) |
276 lb (125 kg) |
33 in (0.84 m) |
9 in (0.23 m) | 4.77 s | 1.68 s | 2.75 s | 4.73 s | 7.32 s | 30.0 in (0.76 m) | 8 ft 4 in (2.54 m) | 24 reps | |
| Sources:[14][15] | ||||||||||||
Fehoko was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the fourth round (129th overall) of the 2023 NFL draft.[16] In training camp, he was tried at defensive tackle, but struggled with a shoulder injury that forced him to miss the preseason opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars. He was placed on injured reserve with a knee injury on November 18, 2023. He was activated on January 3, 2024.[17][18] He didn't play a single snap in the regular season, spending 10 games on the inactive list and 7 on injured reserve.
In 2024, he began training camp at defensive tackle, but was switched back to defensive end before the start of the preseason games. He couldn't move up on the depth chart despite the fact that the Cowboys lost defensive ends Dorance Armstrong and Dante Fowler Jr. in free agency. Fehoko was waived by the Cowboys with an injury designation on August 26, 2024.[19] He was waived from the injured reserve on September 3, 2024.[20]
Fehoko signed with the practice squad of the Washington Commanders on November 26, 2024.[21] He reunited with head coach Dan Quinn, who was his defensive coordinator with the Cowboys.
Fehoko is a second cousin of Vita Vea.[22] He speaks Tongan and can communicate in sign language.[23]
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