Sualua didn't start playing football until his freshman year at Santiago High School, where he was a guard and defensive tackle.
The next year, he transferred to Mater Dei High School, where he played as a fullback and defensive end.
He declared as an early entrant to the NFL Draft, after being ruled academically ineligible to play in his senior season (1996).
[3] Sualua was selected in the fourth round (129th overall) of the 1997 NFL draft by the Dallas Cowboys, to develop as the eventual successor to Pro Bowl fullback Daryl Johnston.
On May 6, 1999, former Pro Bowl offensive tackle Mark Tuinei was found unconscious in his car after spending the previous evening with Sualua.
He was pronounced dead upon arrival at a hospital in the Dallas suburb of Plano, with the autopsy revealing that he died of a combination of heroin and a form of the drug ecstasy.