He played college football for the Hawaii Warriors and was selected by the Detroit Lions in the second round of the 2007 NFL draft.

[citation needed] His much older brother is Jon Francis, who played running back for the Los Angeles Rams.

The elder Francis was a bit skeptical due to Alama-Francis relatively small size and lack of experience with football physicality as a basketball player.

He also worked on building his strength and football defensive end knowledge to become a starter his junior and senior year.

At the beginning of Alama-Francis' senior year, he was chosen by Coach Jones to represent the University of Hawaii at media day for the Western Athletic Conference at the start of the 2006 season.

[9] During the 2007 mini-camp, Alama-Francis could not participate in team organized activities due to a pectoral muscle tear suffered during the Hula Bowl.