Junior Gafa

Photo by: David Silverman Photography

Class:
Junior
Position:
OLB
Height:
5-10
Weight:
200
Hometown:
San Pedro, Calif.
High School:
St. John Bosco
Concentration:
History

2022: Fourth Team Phil Steele All-Ivy selection…Winner of the program's Frederick "Fritz" Pollard '19 Award...Appeared in seven games…Ranked fifth on the team with 35 tackles (24 solo)…Added one sack, one QB hit, one fumble recovery and forced one fumble…Recovered a fumble at URI (10/1)…Had four tackles, including a sack and added a QB hit in a win over Penn (10/29)…Had a season-high nine tackles against Columbia (11/12).

2021: Appeared in all 10 games…Second Team All-Ivy League selection…Phil Steele FCS All-Ivy Fourth Team selection…Winner of Brown Football’s Kilgore MacFarlane Western States Football Award…Led the team with 61.0 tackles and 9.5 tackles for loss…Led the team with 40 solo tackles…Recorded at least six tackles in eight games during the season…Had 2.0 tackles for loss on three occasions…Had a season-high 8.0 tackles with one sack in back-to-back games at Penn (10/30) and vs. Yale (11/6).

2020: Season canceled due to COVID-19.

2019: Registered tackles in all 10 games as a first-year player … Finished the season with 20 total tackles … Made a season-high three total tackles vs. Princeton (Oct. 19) and Columbia (Nov. 16).

Before Brown: First Team All-League Defense … Captains Award … Marine League Championship … Coaches Award … League Rookie of the Year … High Honor Roll every semester of high school … President Pro-Tempore of the Senate in Youth and Government … President’s Award … Also played rugby for the Back-Bay Sharks Rugby Club.

Personal: The son of Luulau and Nuuausala Gafa … Has six siblings, Malua Si’itia, Gafatasi Gafa, Talalelei Gafa, Tioatamanino Gafa, Ruta Tuigaleava and Sohl Gafa … Born in Apia, Samoa.

Why Brown? “Brown was an obvious choice for me. The athletic excellence that Coach Perry is bringing to the program excites me. He takes pride in what he does and is truly in love with the game. Besides coach Perry’s energy and presence, the academic aspects of Brown University are what drove it home for me. The idea of an open curriculum and also the university’s commitment to the undergraduate student body is what sealed my decision in where to commit. Brown brought forth a passion of ball that I so ever desired to pursue and is also willing to provide a prestigious academic education while doing it. Something that I could not ask any more from a school for.”