Kapolei’s Kalani Vakameilalo has gotten the letters and phone calls.
He’s nearly an NCAA Clearinghouse qualifier, which is good news for more than 10 colleges that want his services as a football player. The 6-foot-4, 290-pound defensive tackle is on the board as a target at schools in the Mountain West and all the way to the East Coast.
Among the scholarship offers: Arizona State, Boise State, Kansas, Nevada, Pitt, San Diego State, Washington State and Wyoming. There’s more; that’s just what Kapolei coach Darren Hernandez can remember off the top of his head.
The interest began to grow after Vakameilalo competed at the All-Poly and University of Michigan summer camps. Michigan, Hernandez added, is showing interest.
It would surely be great if our good local athletes would stay at home and play for Hawaii helping make UH a true Hawaii team and maybe then the stands will be filled and perhaps win some football games, even the championship,
Chow is not interested in local talent; instead, he is going the JUCO route for quick results.
If I were a top local recruit, I would not commit to Hawaii based upon how the program is going. If the program was showing signs of being successful and being on the rise I would encourage local recruits to give Hawaii serious consideration. But the program is going down, at least for now while chow is head coach. If chow is going to bypass local players and go only for JC recruits he is making a mistake, you don’t build a program long term like that.