CLEVELAND --- After his first practice with an NFL team, Kaluka Maiava said playing at Southern California made the transition to professional football at bit smoother.

In an interview on the Cleveland Browns' Web site, the 2005 Baldwin High School graduate was asked after minicamp work on Friday if the practices at USC were at times tougher than the games.

''I don't know about games, but they were very competitive and very up-tempo, so that helped me come from college to here, and definitely prepared me for it,'' said Maiava, selected by Cleveland in the fourth round of the draft on Sunday.

Maiava, the defensive MVP of the Trojans' victory over Penn State at the Rose Bowl in January, Maiava started all 13 games as a senior and ranked third on the team in tackles with 66, including 7 1/2 for loss. He was named to the Pac-10 second team.

In a news conference posted on clevelandbrowns.com, coach Eric Mangini had praise for another new linebacker, David Veikune, a second-round pick out of Hawaii who played defensive end with the Warriors.

''I've been really happy with what I've seen,'' Mangini said. ''He's fluid for someone his size, and someone who has limited exposure to standing up.''

In a separate story on the Browns' site, Mangini was quoted as saying: ''He looked more like a linebacker than a guy converting from defensive end.''

The Maui News sports department is at sports@mauinews.com