He played college football for the San Diego State Aztecs, setting the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) season record for average punt yardage as a junior.
Araiza grew up in San Diego, California, and attended Rancho Bernardo High School, where he played football and soccer, and was a hurdler on the track and field team.
[4] Araiza became the team's placekicker as a redshirt freshman and made a school-record 22 field goals on 26 attempts and was named honorable mention All-Mountain West.
[11] Araiza won the Ray Guy Award as the top punter in the nation,[12] and he became the second player in Aztecs history to be named a unanimous All-American.
[20] Araiza did not dress for the Bills' final preseason game on August 26, 2022, one day after a lawsuit accusing him and two former SDSU teammates of rape became public.
[29] In 2022, Araiza was named as a defendant in a civil case in which two SDSU teammates and he were accused of gang raping a then-17-year-old girl, who was under the age of consent in California, at an off-campus party in 2021.
[36] Based on a witness and other information, the district attorney's office stated that Araiza could not have been involved as he had "left the party at 12:30 [am]",[37][38] about 30 minutes before the first of about nine short videos of sex acts of the alleged encounter.
[41] On December 12, 2023, Araiza and his accuser mutually agreed to drop their respective lawsuits against each other with neither party admitting any wrongdoing and no money changing hands.
Araiza retained the right to sue his accuser's lawyer, Dan Gilleon,[42] after a one-year cooling off period, a favorable ruling for a potential malicious prosecution claim.