Dolphins Sign G Ray Feinga

The Miami Dolphins have signed guard Ray Feinga. The 6-4, 337-pound Feinga finished the 2009 NFL season as a member of Miami’s practice squad and was re-signed on January 5, 2010.

He was released by the Dolphins on July 30, 2010, re-signed on August 12, 2010 and was waived again on September 4, 2010 before joining the team’s practice squad. A four-year letter winner at Brigham Young, Feinga started 35 games for the Cougars along the offensive line. Originally signed as an undrafted college free agent by the St. Louis Rams following the 2009 NFL Draft, he has also spent time in 2009 with the San Diego Chargers during training camp.

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Family Ties Bond Misi

Dolphins rookie and assistant strength coach Dave Puloka are third cousins

They had no idea of their connection. Not a single clue.

Not before the NFL Draft, when the Miami Dolphins were preparing to take Koa Misi in the second round as Jason Taylor's successor.

Not during rookie minicamp, when the Utah product showed up and began in earnest the process of reshaping his body to outside linebacker standards in a 3-4 NFL defense.

It was only after Misi returned from a celebratory dinner back in Utah with some distant relatives he'd barely even met that Dave Puloka connected the dots.
Puloka, in his third season as the Dolphins' assistant strength and conditioning coach, was working the rookie hard in the weight room during OTA's when Misi casually mentioned they were related.

"My family said they know you," Misi said.

"Oh, really," replied Puloka, also of Tongan extraction. "Who's your family?"

As soon as Misi said the name "Lavulo," Puloka knew. He checked out this unknown branch of the family tree with his cousin Lisa Lavulo, who confirmed it from Los Angeles.

"This is a couple of generations, so the exact connection, we're not entirely sure," Puloka says. "It's a little confusing."

Sione Misi, Koa's father, says they are basically third cousins.

As best they can establish, the connection dates back to Melenaite Misi, Koa's 67-year-old paternal grandmother, and Latu Puloka, the coach's late grandfather.

The Lavulo branch traces back to Ha'apai, one of the smaller islands in the South Pacific chain of 148 tiny land masses – "depending on high tide/low tide," Puloka says —that make up Tonga.

If there are 100,000 residents of Tonga as a whole, there might be no more than 5,000 on Ha'apai. And now two men with roots on that island are working for the same NFL team.

What are the odds?

"It's been weird to find that out," says Misi, who grew up in Santa Rosa, Calif., while Puloka, 31, spent part of his childhood on the island.

Not that it buys Misi any quarter when it comes to conditioning.

"I don't give him any special treatment or anything," Puloka says. "If anything I might be harder on him."

Their connection does lead to some zingers in between squats.

"I joke with him a little bit," says Puloka, who has worked under head strength coach Evan Marcus the past six years. "I'll say, 'If you slack off, I might call up your grandmother and tell on you.' "

Keeping weight on has been the issue for Misi, who was drafted at 244 pounds and has since packed on about 10 pounds of muscle with Puloka's help.

"He's good," Misi says. "Both the strength coaches will push you to your limits and make sure you're doing the right thing. I talk to Dave about eating right."

Seeing Misi now, Puloka can recognize the same family traits that helped him play defensive end at Holy Cross and attend Bengals training camp as an undrafted free agent in 2001.

"Certainly he's a high-motor guy," Puloka says. "His work ethic is tremendous. I'd like to think that runs in the family."

Misi isn't even the only Tongan on the Dolphins. Offensive guard Ray Feinga, on the practice squad, has Tongan roots as well. Fellow outside linebacker Ikaika Alama-Francis is Hawaiian, and nose tackle Paul Soliai is Samoan.

"We've got a Polynesian contingent here," Puloka says. "I kind of talk up the Tongans a little bit. I told Ray he's got some standards to live up to."

Misi, with a sack and a fumble recovery for a touchdown through his first two games, is certainly meeting those standards.

His third cousin couldn't be more proud. Same for the whole Lavulo wing of the family Misi never knew.

"You have to understand the cultural aspects of it," Puloka says. "Even in Tonga, there's no distinction between brother and cousin. It's one and the same. You take care of everybody."

Especially the rookies.

"You hear about the expression, 'You're raised by the town' or 'It takes a village,' well, it really does,." Puloka says. "It's a huge community. If you're related, whether you're second cousin, third cousin, it really doesn't matter. In that culture you're considered brother, sister, very close sibling."
 
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Alama-Francis Embraces Position Change, Weight Loss

As a basketball player at the University of Hawaii, Ikaika Alama-Francis packed on pounds just to be a football walk-on. So when the Dolphins told him to lighten up to move from defensive end to outside linebacker, Alama-Francis responded predictably.

``'Whatever I can do to help the team -- you want me to go free safety, strong safety, what do you want?'' Alama-Francis said, a laugh running through his recollection.

There's a reason he was so willing and is relentlessly buoyant about his position change, which has seen him taking some snaps with the first and second teams early in training camp. Actually, three reasons. One is perspective.

Detroit made Alama-Francis a second-round draft pick in 2007, and he was there a year later, in 13 games with two starts, for the NFL's first 0-16 season. Then, a week before the 2009 season opener, he was cut by a team that had managed only one victory in its previous 24 games.

Think about being a part of the worst fiscal year by a franchise in the past 31 years of your business, then being judged not good enough to help even that franchise. That usually sends people into career transitional periods.

``All of it is tough,'' Alama-Francis said. ``Oh-and-16, nobody wants to do that. You're the only team to go 0-16 in the history of the league. I'm not proud to say that, but it happened. You've got to move forward. And when I was released -- you never want to get released by a team. But I stayed positive, kept in good shape and I'm just glad the Miami Dolphins gave me a chance to come here.''

Two months passed before the Dolphins signed Alama-Francis as a free agent, five days after nose guard Jason Ferguson's season-ending quadriceps injury necessitated some shifting along the defensive line.

``It's very tough,'' Alama-Francis said of that period. ``There's a lot of things playing on your mind. You're thinking this, you're thinking that. But you've got to stay focused on what your main goal was and my main goal was to be on a team and help a team win a Super Bowl. That's always been my goal.''

Reason No. 2 for being willing to change is he has done it before: the aforementioned basketball-to-football change. At 6-6, he was a rangy 190-pound shooting guard. The son of former Green Bay quarterback Joe Francis, he put on 70 pounds to play defensive line at Hawaii and put on another 30 by the time he got to the NFL.

But Alama-Francis retained his basketball feet despite the bulk (and he insists it's not even a question who's the best hoopster on the Dolphins). Behind insistent linebackers coach Bill Sheridan -- ``he's the guy who kind of jammed it down my throat'' Dolphins coach Tony Sparano said -- the Dolphins got an idea that might give them a big, strong side linebacker who could stop the run and do an adequate job in coverage.

``So, we saw [Alama-Francis] move and thought the way this guy moves, you know he's a strong player,'' Sparano said. ``We wanted to take a good, long look at it and the more we got him involved in coverage things, the more fluid we kind of saw him move out there. Now, he's not a finished project by any stretch of the imagination, but I think the guy's getting better and he really works at it. He's a conscientious kid.''

So when the Dolphins late in the last minicamp asked him to drop from the high 280s to 275, Alama-Francis changed his diet. ``Not so much of that Hawaiian food, more egg white omelets and all that stuff,'' he said.

Linemen who make this conversion, such as Matt Roth with the Dolphins in 2008, usually feel at ease when they have to drop into coverage against running backs.

``[It] Feels good,'' Alama-Francis bubbled. ``They're a little bit faster. I'm light on my feet now. I'm 275 now.

I can dance a little bit with them. But I can't run down the field with them. That's a little different story.''
Sparano insists this isn't an experiment.

``I don't think right now we're putting our toe in the water on this,'' he said. ``We're kind of saying, `Hey, we really want to see this guy and give him the opportunity to play this position.' ''

Oh, and Alama-Francis' explanation for his sunny disposition goes back to his sunny native Hawaii.

``That's the Polynesian attitude,'' he laughed. ``You've always got to keep it up.''

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Miami Dolphins' Koa Misi Has No Identity Crisis

Since the moment Miami devoted a second-round pick to him on April 23, rookie linebacker Koa Misi almost immediately was linked to one of the most popular and talented defensive players in Dolphins history.

Fair or not, this was the player charged with the task of replacing Jason Taylor as the team's outside linebacker -- an assumption based purely on the position he plays, the early pick used to land him and the timing of his arrival.

But before anyone gets too caught up in such comparisons, perhaps it is time to first take a lesson from Misi himself. Hop into his mellow mind for a few moments and you will realize such stresses almost seem silly.

``I'm just my own guy,'' Misi said, not a drop of irritability in his voice. ``Growing up, I never really watched football. I never really watched any sports. I still don't. I just go out there and play.''

As he said Sunday, while wearing the same jersey number as ousted defensive captain Joey Porter, it's almost as if he also doesn't realize why it's ironic that a quiet, mild-mannered linebacker has inherited No. 55.
Then, it becomes clear:

``Did you ever watch the guy play who wore that number before you?'' Misi was asked.


Replied Misi: ``No, not really,'' followed by a polite shrug.

If you're still missing the point, it's simple. The Dolphins' devotion to the future and their dismissal of the past often has been viewed as harsh and cold. But Misi, with his ferocity on the field and his placidness away from it, might be the ideal remedy.

On the field, Misi will have every chance to fill the vacancy as the team's starting strong-side linebacker, which opened up by Taylor's departure. But it might not be in the natural sense many assume.

STRONG COVERAGE SKILLS

Miami particularly was impressed with Misi's coverage skills when the team coached against him in the Senior Bowl. His ability to be so disruptive as a coverage linebacker is rare, and his desire to devote himself to such responsibilities is even more rare.

Porter and Taylor often dreaded playing in coverage, instead wishing to stick to their primary duties as sackmasters. Although Misi will see his share of edge rushing, the pressure on the quarterback will mainly come from different areas.

``This kid was out in one-on-one drills, creating interceptions at the Senior Bowl, those type of things,'' coach Tony Sparano said. ``I liked what he did with his movement, his range and his coverage skills.''

So whereas Misi will play the same position as Taylor, his skill set offers yet another reason why comparisons to one of the NFL's best all-time pass rushers are not all that relevant.

Don't mistake Misi's attitude toward Taylor and Porter as disrespectful, either. You get a sense that's not the case just from hearing him speak. He tried to make that clear on the first day of rookie minicamp, which concluded Sunday.

``I do look up to those guys [Porter and Taylor],'' Misi said. ``Those guys are good players, and they have earned their spots in the NFL, and that's something that I want to do. Hopefully, I can get to where they were one day.''

So, sure, Misi does accept some of the expectations placed on him as a result of the timing of his arrival. But it's in the same type of way, with the same type of refreshing reasons, that he cites Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis as his idol.

``I've seen him in some magazines, looking all pumped up and pumping everybody else up,'' Misi said of Lewis. ``I liked that.''

FORMATIVE YEARS

From an early age, Misi found himself sitting in front of a TV watching football, because his father, former Hawaii offensive lineman Sione Misi, wanted him to pick up on the game. At first, it didn't seem to work.

``My dad always used to make me watch,'' Misi said. ``He'd sit me down and make me look at what each guy was doing. I just got sick of it. It made me not want to watch it anymore. I just couldn't get into it.''

Instead, it wasn't until high school when he started to play the game and develop a deep passion for it. Then, Misi said, he only would watch football to pick up on the tendencies of other players.

To this day, he has trouble getting engulfed by football as a spectator, a quality that has allowed him to maintain his laid-back approach to the task he's about to face. Fortunately for the Dolphins, his passion to play the game has a far different tone to it.

``In general, I'm a little low-key,'' Misi said. ``Not too hyper. When I get on the football field, it changes. The aggression comes out. I'm ready to go when I play football. I'm ready to hit somebody.''

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Koa Misi Memories Gush From Viking Teammates & Coaches

We are going back now, going back six, seven years, when Koa Misi wasn’t a second-round NFL draft choice, when he was a high school football player. We are going back in time for glimpses of that talent which made Misi the 40th pick in the recent draft, images that will make you wish you were there to see him. Like the pinwheel moment.

About five football players, Misi among them, were in the Montgomery weight room, horsing around. As what happens sometimes when teenage testosterone rubs up against another kid who has a strong case of it, things got a little rough.

“Koa sent four kids flying out of the weight room, one right after another, fast, like a pinwheel was turning, spitting them out,” said Jason Franci, Montgomery’s head coach.

With ease, by the way. Franci didn’t hear any grunting from Misi, only from the teammates who landed.

“With ease”, now that’s the phrase I found to be used most commonly about Misi by his ex-teammates and ex-coaches at Montgomery. “With ease.” It wasn’t just what Misi did that was superior, it was how he did it. He did it with ease.

“After a game,” said Todd Vehmeyer, Montgomery’s defensive coordinator, “I’m standing with my back to the locker room door. And remember, I weigh 260 pounds. I’m not small. Koa comes up behind me, picks me up and gives me a bear hug that knocks the wind out of me. Koa? He’s not even breathing hard. You probably heard of someone being ‘country strong’. Well, Koa is island strong.”

Misi, of Tongan descent, created memories of his strength not by walking around and flexing his biceps. To the contrary, he was, still is, modest by nature. Oh yes, those memories came naturally.

“His dad, Sione, was in the tree business,” said Frank Scalercio, Montgomery’s assistant coach, “and one day I was out with Koa and Sione helping them. The back of the end of the truck got stuck in the mud. Koa and Sione lifted up the back end of the truck so I could slide a piece of wood underneath for traction. I remember thinking to myself, ‘Are you kidding me?’”

The truly gifted athlete — this is true of any sport but especially in football — forms the appearance of being twice as big, twice as fast, twice as strong. His very presence creates that enlarged bubble of awe around him.

It happened on the football fields of Sonoma County. The opposition was aware of Misi. Offenses constantly tracked him when he played defensive end. There would be times when a running back or a receiver or a quarterback would see Misi coming.

“And they would freeze, like a deer in the headlights,” Scalercio said. “It might be only for a second but it would be a mistake. Koa won’t slow down. He would just go through you.”

The results would be predictable because the results would be painful.

“On two consecutive plays against Casa,” said Jeremy Avilla, then a Montgomery safety, “Koa knocked players out of the game. One had a broken arm and missed most of the season.”

Nearly every person I interviewed about Misi remembered at least one game in which a player had to leave after a Misi tackle. He did it not to cripple but just to answer that need he had inside him — to play hard and fast on every play. Misi was developing a legend of awe, borne not only of what he did on the field but what he did off it.

Franci has a wooden platform. It’s three-feet high, two-feet wide. At the beginning of each season Franci asks his players to jump on it. He wants to see athletic ability.

“Each season I have four of five players who can land on the platform,” Franci said. “Koa is the only player I ever coached who jumped OVER it.”

Jumping is an important skill not just for a basketball player. It reveals flexibility, or a lack of it.

“Koa’s dad had this monster truck, with its flatbed maybe four feet off the ground,” Scalercio said. 

“We had to go somewhere one day and his dad said, ‘Koa, get in the back.’ Because the tailgate was so high, people hoisted themselves up. Koa? He jumped from a standing position and landed in the back. Like it was no big deal. Like he did it all the time. He looked like a gazelle. I mean it. And what I remember most, his landing was soft. I just shook my head. Couldn’t believe it.”

So he was a teenager, 6-foot-2, 225 pounds, island strong, a gazelle-type leaper, lover of contact. What else?

“Koa was so quick,” said Marcus Ezeff, a Montgomery teammate, now trying out with the New York Jets, “he’d catch people without them seeing him, and he’d cream them. He did it to this one kid at Casa and the kid just laid there the longest time. It was the kind of speed you see in college. I was always happy I never was on the opposite line of scrimmage.”

So what did Misi lack? Nothing.

“Koa reminded me a lot of Jerry Robinson,” Franci said of the ex-Cardinal Newman star who played 13 years in the NFL.

“Sure, yeah, we’d like to say the coaches made Koa a great player,” Vehmeyer said. “But that’s not true. Not with Koa. He was there already. And he was a great teammate.”

Misi never big-timed his high school buddies when he went to Utah or when the Dolphins drafted him last week. Fact is, he concealed his talent, his skills. He was, and is, the textbook definition of humble.

“That’s why when Koa was drafted,” Ezeff said, “it felt like I was drafted, too. We all root for Koa.”

Vehmeyer has a special rooting interest in Misi.

“I meet with my kids at the beginning of the year,” Vehmeyer said, “and I tell them, ‘You’re not going to play in the NFL but if by some chance you do, I want season tickets.’ I reminded Koa of that this week and all Koa said, ‘Coach, I don’t remember you saying that.’”

Vehmeyer laughed when he told the story. He doesn’t need the tickets. In fact, he could even say that Misi won’t show him anything in the NFL that he hasn’t seen already. Catch someone from behind like the guy was standing still? Drive through a ball carrier like he’s cotton candy? Run sideline-to-sideline like an obsessed border patrolman?

Yep, Vehmeyer’s been there. Seen that. Applauded. Gawked. Once, Koa Misi was a man among boys. Like Vehmeyer or Franci or Ezeff would say, you should have been there. A 225-pound blur of a hammer isn’t seen in these parts all that often.

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Miami Dolphins Select Koa Misi w/ The 40th Overall Pick

Koa Misi: Utah Utes' Highlights
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With the 40th pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, the Miami Dolphins have selected Utah outside linebacker Koa Misi.

Misi was a defensive end in Utah but will transition to linebacker in Miami's defense. Note that Mike Mayock does believe Misi could transition to inside linebacker as well as outside linebacker in this defense. More versatility for the Dolphins.

Solid pick. I like it.

Below is Koa Misi's scouting report from DraftCountdown.com:

Strengths:
Outstanding motor and gives excellent effort --- Very athletic --- Quick and agile with great balance --- Super explosive with a burst --- Terrific strength --- Uses his hands well --- Comfortable in space --- Appears to have fluid hips --- A hard worker --- Versatile --- Still has a lot of upside.

Weaknesses:
Just average size --- Questionable instincts --- Has trouble getting off blocks --- Not a great run defender --- Inconsistent --- Minor durability concerns --- Mediocre sack production --- May not have a  true position.

Dolphins DT Soliai Mourning Deaths in Samoas

Miami Dolphins defensive tackle Paul Soliai mourned the deaths of at least two relatives on the disaster-stricken Samoas, and fears the toll for his family could get worse.

The number of causalities among relatives of Soliai and his wife was unclear. He said virtually all of his family lives on the Pacific islands, where an earthquake and tsunami Tuesday killed at least 150 people.

"It's a pretty tough time," Soliai said Thursday. "I've been talking to some of my family members. They say there's too much damage. They're still finding more bodies.

"There are still people missing — cousins, relatives. They keep me updated."

Soliai said he has been able to reach his family by cell phone. He grew up in the hard-hit port of Pago Pago, and attended college there before being drafted by the Dolphins in 2007.

Soliai said he hasn't been home since the spring of 2008, when he visited American Samoa for four days for a football camp. A backup lineman, Soliai said the disaster will be on his mind Sunday when the winless Dolphins play the Buffalo Bills.

"This is going to motivate me," he said. "I'm going to play for my people back home and my family. It's going to be a special week for me."

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