Junior Achievement

After his first practice with the Seahawks, Junior Siavii was walking like he needed to sit down before he fell down.

“I tell you, they practice hard here,” said Siavii, who was added to the 53-man roster on Monday after being released over the weekend by the Dallas Cowboys. “We were really going out there.”

He huffed and puffed one more time before adding, “They practice harder here than in Dallas.”

But after plopping his 6-foot-5, 315-pound body into an overmatched chair just outside the locker room at Virginia Mason Athletic Center, the Samoa-born Siavii was all smiles. That’s because the physical toll of one practice was a drop of sweat in the bucket compared to the emotional exhaustion and soul searching he experienced after having microfracture surgery on his right knee in 2005.

“When I hurt my knee, to be honest, I thought I was done,” he said. “I kind of lost my faith.”
That’s when former Chiefs teammate Ronnie Cruz intervened. Cruz, a running back, also was coming off a knee surgery.

“I’ve never seen somebody who had so much faith when they’re hurt,” Siavii said. “He was starting at the time and then he buckled his knee. We hung out a couple times, and the only thing I heard from him was just the faith he had.

“I woke up the next morning and thought about giving it a go. It was kind of like a sign that God was telling me, ‘The only reason you’re not playing anymore is because you chose to.’ ”

That’s when Siavii decided he would chose to play again. The Cowboys gave him that chance in 2008, but he didn’t stick after spending the offseason and training camp in Dallas. Last season, when given another chance, he played in all 16 games for the Cowboys.

“When I came back and started practicing with the Cowboys, I knew I could play in the league,” he said.
How is it that a man his size goes by Junior? It’s a given, because his given name is Saousoalii Poe Siavii, Jr.
Born and raised in Pago Pago American Samoa, Siavii (SEE-uh-vee-ee) came to the United States in 1997 and lived a nomadic life in Salt Lake City until he was talked into giving the sport of football a try. That led to him ending up at Dixie State Junior College in St. George, Utah; then Butte Community College near Chico, Calif.; and finally the University of Oregon for two years.

That stint with the Ducks led to Siavii being selected in the second round of the NFL draft by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2004. Then came the knee problems that led to the microfracture surgery, which left Siavii spiritually bankrupt.

“When my knee went, I blamed God,” Siavii said. “But I found God after a year of agony with the knee and doubting myself. When I found Him again, I found out that the knee wasn’t really anything. Everything that happens in the world has nothing to do with God punishing anybody. It’s all our fault.

“So for me, instead of blaming him for what happened, it was be a man. Stand back up. Go out there. Give it another shot. Stop whining. Stop complaining. Just go out there, give it your best and see if they like you or not. Sell what you’ve got and see if anybody likes it. If nobody likes it, at least you gave it your all.”

The Seahawks liked what he was selling, which was a true nose tackle who also has some athletic ability. The club released Kevin Vickerson, a 333-pounder, to add Siavii.

 “Vick was a big, strong man; he did some good things for us,” Schneider said. “But in terms of pure players, they’re both strong point-of-attack players. They’re both big men.”

Siavii also packs a bit of a nasty streak. Asked during an interview with Cowboys.com what he liked about playing nose tackle, he offered, “I like being close to the ball. I get to hit that dude quick.”

But in the same interview, he also flashed his softer side, admitting that he watches the occasional kids’ movie. “I like the ‘Kung Fu Panda’ movie,” he said. “I’m a big dude but I’m a kid at heart.”

So here Siavii is – a 31-year-old kid at heart – trying to continue his career in the Pacific Northwest, where it first blossomed at Oregon.

“I’m ready to do whatever they tell me to do,” he said. “It’s kind of like a family team. Everybody is kind of helping everybody else out. It’s kind of like Oregon. Everybody loves everybody. When we’re on the field, everybody is trying to push each other. Everybody is playing hard.

“It’s a good thing.”

Full Article

Alaska Standout Junior Aumavae Headed to The Dallas Cowboys

Former Palmer football standout Junior Aumavae is headed to the Dallas Cowboys after agreeing to a three-year deal.

Aumavae is a 6-foot-2, 330-pound defensive tackle who garnered first-team all-conference honors for a pair of Division II programs during a stellar college football career. He was seen as an "under the radar" prospect by NFL scouts and a potential pick during the 2010 NFL Draft.

Aumavae was not selected during the NFL's three-day, seven-round selection ceremony. But just minutes after the final player was selected on Saturday, Aumavae's phone started to ring.

Dallas signed Aumavae as a priority rookie free agent. He will report to the team's rookie minicamp starting next week.

The Indianapolis Colts, New England Patriots, Cleveland Browns and Dallas Cowboys were all interested in signing Aumavae. Then Aumavae's agent called with news that Dallas was ready to make an offer.

Shortly after committing to the team, Aumavae also received a call from a Dallas scout.

"He said I have a real good chance to anchor their nose position," Aumavae said. "They were very excited and they welcomed me to the team."

Aumavae is the first former Palmer football player to get the chance to play in the NFL.

He was named Alaska's top large-schools lineman after his senior year at Palmer High. He was a first-team All-Railbelt Conference and All-State selection on both offense and defense as a junior and a senior, even though his football career didn't begin until his sophomore season.

As a college player, Aumavae earned first-team all-conference honors at Western Washington and Minnesota State-Mankato.

Longtime Palmer head coach Rod Christiansen was elated when Aumavae told him he'd agreed to a deal with Dallas.

"He's a real deserving guy," Christiansen said. "He had the desire to stick with it. His focus was on wanting to see if he can make it."

Full Article

3 Years Gone, Siavii Takes Last Shot

In microfracture knee surgery, the doctor essentially creates a break himself, using a drill to make tiny holes in the underlying bone, hoping to spur the growth of new cartilage.

It's a fairly newish technique, and a rather serious one. But when arthroscopic surgery reveals there is no cartilage at all, bone rubbing against bone, it's the next step for an orthopedic surgeon. It takes three months after surgery before any weight can be put on the knee, and there's really no way to predict exactly how long a complete recovery will take. It's a big deal, particularly if your livelihood depends on the outcome.

Junior Siavii had his microfracture done after training camp in 2006 season, his third as a pro and his last with the Kansas City Chiefs, who released him Sept. 2 of that year. Pain from a high right ankle sprain crept northward, and morphed into trouble with his knee, the complete deterioration of the cartilage. It takes roughly three months for those tiny holes to fill, athletic trainers say, and by that time physical decline sets in. Different people take different periods of time to heal.

It took Siavii a little longer than others, causing him to miss two seasons in what should have been his prime.

"After rehab it wasn't the same," Siavii said. "I wasn't the same athlete I was before surgery. I thought I was going to come out of it quicker than I did. It took a while."

Siavii finally signed with the Cowboys as a street free agent in 2008. Though he entered camp with little chance to make the team behind nose tackles Jay Ratliff and Tank Johnson, it was an invitation for him to at least give it a shot, and the first good news on the professional front in nearly three years for Siavii, who went to high school in Pago Pago, American Samoa, then played college ball at Oregon before being picked No. 36 overall by the Chiefs in 2004.

It is that draft status Siavii has been trying to live up to ever since. Upon the retirement of coach Dick Vermeil, who drafted Siavii, Kansas City handed the job to Herm Edwards, who had no connection to the 6-5, 318-pounder. Next came the knee injury, and then the label of "draft bust," which Siavii isn't afraid to utter himself.

Bust or not, someone somewhere along the way thought Siavii could play. The Cowboys scouting department saw enough of it once upon a time to give him a shot years later. Even after what Siavii admits was a tough camp for him last summer, the Cowboys were tempted. Roster numbers and their financial obligation to Johnson forced the team to part ways with him, however.

"We really thought about keeping him," Wade Phillips said. "I was wrong, but I felt like somebody would pick him up, cause he played so well last year in training camp. We were glad to get him back."

In January the Cowboys signed Siavii to another futures contract. With Johnson moving on to Cincinnati, he now has an even better chance to make the team despite being a year older (Siavii's 30 now), and yet another year removed from his last football game of consequence. Throughout OTAs, mini-camp and training camp Siavii has worked as the first backup to Ratliff.

And to think, he almost retired after being cut last year.

"I took it like a bullet in the heart," Siavii said. "I told myself that if I came in and didn't get the job I'd retire. Last year was going to be my last tryout. But I came in and did my thing, and I don't think I got beat out. That was the whole thing - if the guys in front of me let me know I didn't belong, that was going to set me toward retirement.

"But the only thing that killed me was me. I tried to use only my ability that I already had and tried to get through it, but there's more to it than that. So this year I said 'OK, let's make another run.'"

This training camp Siavii attempted to set his instincts and physical gifts aside, instead taking full advantage of line coach Todd Grantham and the experience of the players around him, his comfort with them among the main reasons he decided to return to the Cowboys, spurning offers from three other teams.

After practice at the Alamodome it was normal to see Siavii and his fellow linemen remain on the field to go over techniques and schemes with one another. He says Ratliff and Grantham together have made him a better player.

"Junior's going to be a great player for us," Ratliff said. "He's a strong, strong guy. A heck of a lot stronger than I am. He's got a big frame and I think he's going to do some good things there. As long as he's here he's got my support; I'm definitely here for him."

Grantham says Siavii or whoever makes the team as the backup nose tackle can expect to be on the field just as much as Johnson was last year, probably 20-25 snaps a game to keep Ratliff fresh for the fourth quarter and pass rushing situations. Siavii is well suited to play the run because of his size and strength, something that Ratliff has to overcome since a nose tackle's job often involves holding up a double team so linebackers can get to the football.

Usually Ratliff does it with quickness. Siavii's got a little of that, too. Phillips was impressed by the way he got downfield to make a tackle on a screen pass in the preseason opener against the Raiders. While the past knee problems would suggest Siavii is somewhat stationary, that's not the case. The time out of football has had its obvious downside, but three years away from the game has avoided Siavii 48 Sundays' worth of cut blocks.

"He's athletic, he can run," Grantham said. "Plus he's still a relatively young guy. He hasn't played, which is good in one way, the wear and tear, but you also don't get the recognition and the pace of the game. It'll be real important during this training camp and the preseason games that he gets his timing down."

Siavii says he's starting to pick up the speed of the game. At the moment he seems to have a clear edge at winning a job over former Giants lineman Jonas Seawright, who was also out of football last year. But Siavii must impress coaches and scouts enough over these next few weeks to keep the Cowboys from bringing in someone else at the position, perhaps a player let go by another team on final cuts.

A few question marks went up when the Cowboys didn't address the middle of their 3-4 in the draft, but they said all along they liked the talent they already had, namely Siavii. Do they still like him enough to not bring in someone who has played recently? Or is this Siavii's year to get back on the field, at long last?

"Hopefully so," he said. "But at the same time I'm still fighting and I can't have that in my head. I'm the guy that's still trying to get a job. I'm not going to say that I'm sitting here comfortable about it, so I'm going to keep fighting."

The opinions of the coaching staff and the decisions reached by the front office when the Cowboys trim their roster to 53 on Sept. 5 are out of Siavii's control. His recent past has taught him there isn't much he can control, anyway. He said when he came into the league he thought he was Superman, that he could never be hurt. But he was hurt, and he did miss three years. And he was called a bust.

This is Siavii's shot at redemption. He says it's the last one he'll take.

"Tomorrow's another day to make up for all the other stuff," Siavii said. "If I don't make the team I'll walk away with my head up. I've done everything I can do. If they cut me and I have to wait until next year again, no, I'm not doing it. This is it. The final draw, the final bullet.

"This is it."

Full Article

Siavii happy Dallas Cowboys Gave him a Nose Job

Over the last two seasons, Jay Ratliff has developed into one of the better nose tackles in the NFL.

While not prototypical size for the position at 302 pounds, Ratliff relies more on speed, quickness and leverage to beat bigger offensive linemen. He was so good in 2008 – credited with 83 tackles and 7.5 sacks by the coaches – that he was voted to the Pro Bowl for the first time.

Ratliff's value to the Cowboys is even higher because of who is behind him on the depth chart.

The Cowboys knew they would not retain last year's backup, Tank Johnson. They addressed the depth issue by signing Junior Siavii, one of their final cuts in 2008, and Tim Anderson, who was also out of football last year and missed all of the organized team activities and mini-camp because of toe surgery.

The club didn't make a high-profile foray into free agency. It didn't use a draft pick on a potential nose tackle either.

Yet on the list of concerns as the Cowboys enter training camp next week in San Antonio, backup nose tackle is not very high.

Why?

The Cowboys never really wanted to let Siavii go in the first place. And they contemplated bringing him back last season. On Jan. 12, the Cowboys signed Siavii (pronounced SEE-ah-vee).

"I know he has the talent to play in this league," defensive line coach Todd Grantham said.

Siavii just hasn't played much.

Siavii's journey to the Cowboys began in America Samoa before coming to the United States in 1997. A year later, he was noticed playing in a Salt Lake City men's league, and that led him to two junior colleges and a two-year stint at Oregon, where he played 25 games.

At 6-5, 320 pounds, Kansas City was seduced by his size and strength and picked him in the second round of the 2004 draft, one selection after San Diego took his college and now current teammate Igor Olshansky.

In 26 games with the Chiefs, Siavii made 27 tackles. He has not made a tackle in a regular-season game since Jan. 1, 2006 against Cincinnati. He hasn't seen the field since.

"I miss being out there," said Siavii, who had three tackles in the 2008 preseason. "I just want to play football. That's all I want to do."

After Siavii, who turns 31 in November, was cut by the Cowboys, he said he had nine tryouts but none of the visits ended with a contract. He said he had other options before rejoining the Cowboys.

"I already knew the team, the camaraderie, the coaches," Siavii said. "If I went to a new team, I'd have to try and learn everybody, who's who, what kind of coach, what I've got to prove. Over here, it's the same as last year. I came back for a reason, because I feel comfortable here."

Full Article

Siavi'i Back & Running With The Cowboys

Junior Siavi'i last recorded a countable NFL statistic in 2005. 2005! With that said he is probably still the frontrunner to be Jay Ratliff’s backup at nose tackle. Siavii was the 36^th overall pick in the 2004 draft. You don’t get selected that high without talent. Siavii is the best athlete among the backup NT candidates but has never been able to put it together. Maybe being reunited with former University of Oregon teammate and friend Igor Olshansky will light a fire under Junior. This job is his for the taking. If Siavii can show the Cowboys that he can be even adequate, he would add a lot to the team from an standpoint of depth and flexibility.

Full Article