Vavae Malepeai

Senior running back for USC. 2021: 502 rushing yards, 6 rushing TD, 12 catches.

RB · USC · Sr. · #6

6′0″ · 220 lb · Aiea, HI

CFB Index 44 · #170 of 315 RBsHigh confidenceUSC 2021 alumnus

Recruiting

4★

RB recruit

No. 215 nationally · Signed with USC

No college snaps yet.

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 running back for USC. 2021: 502 rushing yards, 6 rushing TD, 12 catches.

Signed as a 4-star recruit to USC in 2016.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Five seasons at USC, 2,005 rushing yards — his college career is complete.

His career

He was on the field for 5 seasons. That is rarer than it sounds.

2016

Signed with USC4-star out of Mililani

Career arc

Recruit

★★★★

#215 national

CFB

College

USC

2017–2021

NFL

NFL Draft

—

Not drafted

Coaching lineage · 2017–2021

2 coaches

2017–2020

Clay Helton

USC

2021

Donte Williams

USC

era →

Coaching transition mid-career: Clay Helton → Donte Williams. Worth noting in scheme + development context.

2021 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2017USC11-3HC: Clay Helton · Balanced

2018USC5-7HC: Clay Helton · Balanced

2019USC8-5HC: Clay Helton · Pass-leaning

2020USC5-1HC: Clay Helton · Pass-leaning, fast tempo

2021USC4-8HC: Donte Williams · Balanced, fast tempo

Where this profile ranks vs the RB cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

44Rotational starter #170 of 315?

High confidence12 metrics · season cumulative

Concern: explosive rate (20th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

TD rate#157 / 409 · 61st pct

5.3%

EPA / carry#160 / 409 · 61st pct

0.22

Success rate#219 / 409 · 47th pct

44.7%

Yards / carry#301 / 409 · 27th pct

4.6

Explosive rate#329 / 409 · 20th pct

4.4%

Box-score rates (7)

Rush TDs#99 / 343 · 68th pct

Carries#135 / 343 · 60th pct

114

Receptions#139 / 331 · 56th pct

Rush yards#176 / 343 · 49th pct

502

Rec yards#191 / 331 · 42nd pct

Long run#219 / 343 · 36th pct

Yards / carry#238 / 343 · 29th pct

4.4

Season trend

EPA / carry— 2020 cohort too thin to compare (n=17)

Success rate— 2020 cohort too thin to compare (n=17)

Explosive rate— 2020 cohort too thin to compare (n=17)

Yards / carry— 2020 cohort too thin to compare (n=17)

TD rate— 2020 cohort too thin to compare (n=17)

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2021 season · 11 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	YDS/g	YPC	TD/g
Home7g	48.9	4.1	0.7
Road4g	40.0	3.0	0.2

First half vs Second half

	YDS/g	YPC	TD/g
Weeks 1-76g	37.0	3.4	0.3
Weeks 8+5g	56.0	4.0	0.8

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Lincoln Riley

Pass share

46.0%

97 pass / 114 run

Plays / game

70.3

3 games

Team sack rate

2.0%

102 dropbacks · PBP

Scheme: Run-leaning.

Awards

Player standing · 2021

Starter

A locked-in starting job.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

44 · #170 of 315 RBs

Former four-star. Now #170 at the position.

Career stats

Season	Team
2021	USC	114	502	4.4	6	--
2020	USC	54	238	4.4	3	--
2019	USC	105	503	4.8	6	--
2018	USC	93	501	5.4	8	--
2017	USC	49	261	5.3	0	--
Career		415	2,005	4.8	23	--

Season	Team
2021	USC	12	65	5.4	0	--
2020	USC	16	64	4.0	0	--
2019	USC	15	70	4.7	1	--
2018	USC	15	88	5.9	0	--
2017	USC	3	5	1.7	0	--
Career		61	292	4.8	1	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 3 · 2021

W 45–14

at Washington State

9 rush yds (9 car)

Dominant 31-point win on the road against Washington State.

With J. Dart — 391 yds · 4 TD · 2 INT · QBR 81.3 · 32 rush yds (6 car) · G. Bryant Jr. — 3 rush yds (1 car) · 1 TD

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 13 · BYU · 4&2 · Q3 · EPA +2.85Vavae Malepeai run for 2 yds for a TD, (Parker Lewis KICK)
Week 12 · UCLA · 2&5 · Q1 · EPA +2.46Vavae Malepeai run for 7 yds for a TD (Alex Stadthaus KICK)
Week 13 · BYU · 3&6 · Q4 · EPA +2.44Vavae Malepeai run for 10 yds to the BYU 44 for a 1ST down
Week 5 · Colorado · 2&2 · Q3 · EPA +2.07Vavae Malepeai 2 Yd Run (Parker Lewis Kick)
Week 6 · Utah · 2&2 · Q4 · EPA +2.07Vavae Malepeai 2 Yd Run (Kedon Slovis Pass to Tahj Washington for Two-Point Conversion)
Week 12 · UCLA · 3&7 · Q3 · EPA +1.97Vavae Malepeai run for 15 yds to the UCLA 25 for a 1ST down
Week 13 · BYU · 1&10 · Q3 · EPA +1.90Vavae Malepeai run for 35 yds to the BYU 23 for a 1ST down
Week 10 · Arizona State · 3&6 · Q3 · EPA +1.88Vavae Malepeai run for 7 yds to the ArzSt 37 for a 1ST down
Week 10 · Arizona State · 1&20 · Q3 · EPA -1.63Vavae Malepeai run for a loss of 4 yards to the USC 49
Week 1 · San José State · 3&4 · Q2 · EPA +1.49V.Malepeai rushed to SJS 9 for 27 yards. Tackled by T.Jenkins at SJS 9.

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2021 season · 11 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	W 30-7vs San José State	14	65	4.6	0	27
Wk 2	L 28-42vs Stanford	15	94	6.3	0	20
Wk 3	W 45-14@ Washington State	9	9	1.0	0	5
Wk 4	L 27-45vs Oregon State	4	12	3.0	0	5
Wk 5	W 37-14@ Colorado	10	36	3.6	1	9
Wk 6	L 26-42vs Utah	3	6	2.0	1	4
Wk 9	W 41-34vs Arizona	6	17	2.8	0	9
Wk 10	L 16-31@ Arizona State	5	8	1.6	0	7
Wk 12	L 33-62vs UCLA	10	49	4.9	3	15	3 rushing TDs
Wk 13	L 31-35vs BYU	20	99	5.0	1	35
Wk 14	L 14-24@ California	18	107	5.9	0	24	Season-high 107 yds
Total		114	502	3.7	6	35

Stats from CFBD · ESPN · fan discourse. Every figure computed from source tables — not invented. Methodology