Fresno State linebacker Tyson Maeva, once Bulldogs’ biggest rival, finds a home in Valley

It hit him, not a little and not a lot, but “right here,” Fresno State linebacker Tyson Maeva said, tapping at his chest five, six, seven times in rapid succession.

He was sitting in a team meeting as coach Kalen DeBoer was announcing the Bulldogs’ team captains for the season. The names flashed on a screen – Ronnie Rivers, Jake Haener, David Perales and then Tyson Maeva.

That last one a surprise, at least for Maeva, who had been in the Bulldogs’ program for less than a calendar year and started his college career at what assistant coaches and Boise State grads Lee Marks, Julius Brown and Kirby Moore, who went a combined 9-2 against the Bulldogs in their playing careers, now refer to as “That school up north.”

“It hit me in the heart, especially with the winding road I decided to choose,” Maeva said. “It meant a lot to me.”

That road started in Boise, where Maeva made an instant impact with the Broncos, playing in 13 games as a true freshman in 2016. He started 25 games over the 2017 and ‘18 seasons, racked up 145 total tackles. But skip ahead to a place called Tates Rents, where for 75 years the Boise area has rented or purchased power tools and air compressors and the like, generators on up to heavy equipment.

Maeva worked there, had a real 9 to 5, joining the workforce way before he ever really wanted to. But he had been suspended, for allegedly smoking marijuana in his hotel room a few days before the Broncos’ 2018 bowl game, it was reported, and then dismissed from the football team for a violation of team standards. He was off the team, without football and school, and after entering his name into the NCAA transfer portal needed to find work while he waited and waited, anxiously, for a second chance and so Tate’s Rents was it.

“I was just rolling the dice at that point,” he said. “It was a little stressful, a little nerve-wracking.”

A dismissal, and departure from Boise State

“Anybody out there can look up what I did,” he said. “I’m not going to hide from anything. But it took everything getting taken away form me and really having no path to realize what I had lost. Any Division I football program, not just Boise, is something special. I didn’t realize it at the time.

“Being dismissed from the team, my three years there I was really young and immature, not willing to take on the responsibilities that I should have, and making the mistakes that I did and doing my own things, that’s what caused me to get dismissed.

“It’s kind of dumb to say, reflecting back, but I was kind of surprised. I come from a good household. My parents raised me right. I don’t know why, I just went there with an entitled mindset. Getting that phone call from Coach (Bryan) Harsin, it was a shock. That’s really when it clicked, ‘OK. I can’t be messing around any more.’ If I get a second chance or even this third chance, I have to understand this is not something I can play around with.’”

Maeva tried to get into San Diego, a Division II school close to home, and that didn’t work out. There were not a lot of options, none, actually, before Florida International checked in.

Jeff Copp, the defensive coordinator there at the time, had recruited Maeva when he was coaching at UC Davis and also is a Boise State grad, so there was an in and an opportunity.

“I thought it was going to be over, until Coach Copp called,” Maeva said. “That’s was the only offer that I had.”

Maeva was in Miami for two seasons, sitting out in 2019 and playing four games with the Panthers last season, making 19 total tackles including 2.0 tackles for loss.

But that distance took a toll, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. He was far from home. He lost family members. When the season was over, he went back into the transfer portal, looking and hoping to get back to California, closer to home, for one final season of college football.

No hesitation for Bulldogs when recruiting Maeva

When his name popped up in the portal, Marks had one word for anyone who asked about Maeva, and whether he would fit at Fresno State. It was, “awesome.”

“He’s just a natural leader,” said Marks, who coaches the Bulldogs’ running backs. “That’s who he is. He’s an incredible young man … The defensive guys, they asked me right away. I told them, ‘I’m just going to tell you what happened and what I think about him.’ I love the kid. He’s always respectful, great to be around. He’s a great kid.

“I told (defensive coordinator William Inge), you’ve got to talk to him, but I promise you, you’re going to love him. He’s an unbelievable kid and he’s not going to shy away from anything. He was very apologetic. He owned it, and he feels very lucky to have an opportunity to be here.”

The last time any of the Bulldogs had seen Maeva was on the football field in the 2018 Mountain West Conference championship game, the fourth of four meetings between Fresno State and Boise State over two seasons.

The Bulldogs won that one 19-16, on a 1-yard run by Ronnie Rivers in overtime. But when Maeva showed up on campus in the spring, they didn’t have that play running on a continuous loop in the locker room and football offices. There was no wear your championship ring to school day – as Rivers pointed out, Maeva and the Broncos had beaten the Bulldogs in the 2017 title game.

“He just came in and instantly clicked with the team,” Rivers said. “He fits in real well. The guys love him. He came in and stepped up right way.”

Over the summer, the players went to coach Kalen DeBoer and asked that Maeva be added to the team’s unity council. In fall camp, he became a team captain.

“I got chills thinking about what he has brought to us and how the guys have received him,” DeBoer said, after the Bulldogs’ second fall camp scrimmage. “He understands it. He says this is a special place and I really feel he means it.

“It has been cool seeing him come in and still be himself, be accepted by the rest of the team and him just running with it. He knows what championships look like. He’s come in here, it’s his last hurrah, his senior year, and he wants it bad just like the rest of the guys.”

Bulldogs’ new linebacker fits ‘anybody, anywhere’ profile

On Saturday when the Bulldogs open the season against UConn, they will get to see what he will add on the field. But an old ‘Dog said Maeva will not have to learn any new tricks.

“I know that he’s a good kid and I know that he’s a strong young man who will play like Fresno State likes to play ball, getting back to hitting people in the mouth and playing anybody, anywhere, anytime, whether that’s in the parking lot at Bulldog Stadium or down on the side of the freeway,” said former Bulldogs’ center Aaron Mitchell, who was a few years ahead of Maeva at Cathedral Catholic High in San Diego and when at Fresno State showed the then-prep recruit around campus on an unofficial visit.

“Fresno State football has a pride and tradition of playing hard and hitting people in the mouth,” Mitchell said. “Maeva “has the power to take that defense to the next level, with the level of intensity that it needs to be played at, the type of intensity that James Bailey, George Helmuth and Jeff Allison brought to the table every day.”

Mitchell said he put a full-court press on Maeva, but also that it’s tough to recruit a linebacker as an offensive lineman when you’re telling him you’re going to be hitting him in the mouth every single day.

“You win some and you lose some,” Mitchell said.

“It didn’t work out at the time, but the groundwork was laid and he’s in the right colors now. When I found out he was going there I sent him a text: “Glad to see you wised up and chose the right colors …”

“I couldn’t have asked for a better situation,” said Maeva, who will start at linebacker. “My last game could have been a loss to Fresno State. The bowl game (in Dallas) got canceled because of lightning strikes or something like that, but I was already gone before that. That could have been the last thing I remembered from football.

“Luckily, I got three more years after that, two years at FIU and thank you to them for giving me the shot, and now I’m back in the Mountain West playing for one of the teams I used to hate. But, now, it’s home.”

Fresno State vs. UConn

When: Saturday, 11 a.m.

Where: Bulldog Stadium

TV: CBS Sports Network (Rich Waltz, Aaron Taylor and Jenny Dell)

• Find it fast: AT&T (Channels 643, 1643), Comcast (418, 732), DirecTV (221), Dish Network (158)

Radio: Bulldog Sports Network (Paul Loeffler, Pat Hill, Cameron Worrell)

• Find it fast: Fresno (AM1340), Bakersfield (AM970), Visalia (AM1130), Modesto (FM92.9), Stockton (AM1280), Bulldogs App, iHeartMedia app

The coaches: Kalen DeBoer (3-3 entering second season at Fresno State), Randy Edsall (78-90 entering 16th season at UConn, 100-121 entering 21st season overall)

The records: Fresno State 3-3 in 2020, UConn 0-0 in 2020

The series: First meeting

Tickets: 559-278-DOGS or gobulldogs.com

About UConn: The Huskies have not played football since the 2019 season, but return a talented running back in Kevin Mensah, who rushed for 1,013 yards with nine touchdowns in 2019 and 1,045 yards and six touchdowns in 2018. Mensah enters the season 1,181 rushing yards shy of the school career rushing record. … UConn has never played a game in California, but has four players from the state including cornerback Tre Wortham from Stockton Bear Creek High and Delta College and linebacker D.J. Morgan from Norwalk. Morgan was a teammate of Bulldogs’ center Matt Smith at St. John Bosco High. The farthest west the Huskies have traveled for a game is Idaho, for a 2018 matchup at Boise State. … UConn was 2-10 in 2019 and was outscored over the season by a 486-227 margin. It scored less than 20 points in six of those games. … The Huskies have not had a winning season since 2010 and not been to a bowl game since 2015 when a loss to Marshall in the St. Petersburg Bowl left them 6-7.

If you’re going to the game …

Things to do

Bulldog Blvd., the new pregame fan fest located between Bulldog Stadium, the Soccer Stadium and Bob Bennett Stadium/Beiden Field, will open four hours before kickoff. This week will feature live music by Teezzy Radio and the band Hard Times, and with an 11 a.m. kickoff several food trucks will be serving brunch-type menu items including Bulldog Burger Bistro, Rolling Donut, Real Philly, Loving Seed and Taqueria Jaliscience.

The area also includes a family fun zone and a Fresno State students tailgate that includes an eSports trailer and giveaways.

On the west side of Bulldog Stadium in the White Lot there is the Nosotros Nook tequila tasting lounge where fans 21 and older can sample award-winning Blanco, Reposado and Mezcal and purchase crafted cocktails and other partner beverages. It also opens four hours before kickoff.

COVID-19 policy

In accordance with California Department of Public Health guidelines for mega outdoor events, Bulldog Stadium is open to its full capacity with no physical distancing requirements.

Those not vaccinated against the coronavirus are required to wear a face mask and everyone in attendance, whether vaccinated or not, is strongly encouraged to wear a face mask when in common areas of the stadium.

Masks also are required to ride gameday shuttle vans and carts.

Clear bag policy

Only clear bags of plastic, vinyl or PVC are allowed inside Bulldog Stadium and must not exceed 12 inches by 6 inches by 12 inches.

A small clutch bag may be taken inside the stadium in addition to one of the approved clear bags.

An exception will be made for any necessary medical items, subject to inspection prior to entry into the stadium.

Got tickets?

Mobile tickets and parking passes have been implemented to expedite delivery as well as reduce person-to-person contact points.

All fans are encouraged to download their game tickets and parking passes to their smartphones. Additional information on mobile tickets is available at gobulldogs.com/mobiletickets.

Parking, gameday shuttle service

The cost of general parking in the Green Lot located on Woodrow Avenue between Shaw and Barstow avenues is $15.

A free shuttle will run starting at 8 a.m. through the end of the first quarter with stops on Barstow, Woodrow and at the Maple Avenue Roundabout.

This story was originally published August 24, 2021 at 1:03 PM.