Star-Advertiser and Hawaii Prep World reporter Paul Honda spent two days on the Saint Louis campus talking to different players on the three-time defending state champion Crusaders football team. Up first is a chat with linebacker Nick Herbig.
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Wisconsin. Washington. UCLA. Stanford. USC.
When Saint Louis two-sport athlete Nick Herbig lands on the continent this summer with his parents, the itinerary will keep them quite busy. His five probable choices for visits have, with little doubt, a Pac-12 Conference flair.
“That’s just the schools I want to see. A couple of them will be official. There’s a new rule where I can visit (officially) in the summer,” said Herbig, who was one of three defensive players selected to the Star-Advertiser All-State first team as a junior this past season.
Herbig spends afternoons working out on campus, both in the weight room and on the field. He also works out with Kenny Patton in the speed and quickness clinic, and the DB Tech Academy run by Asai Gilman. On a steaming-hot Wednesday afternoon at Kalaepohaku, there were more than two dozen football players ready to work out shortly after school let out. They get in all the work they can before getting into the weight room later, after the baseball team takes over the field.
“It’s a grind here. Everybody pushes each other to get better every day,” Herbig said.
He was a key part of the Team 808 Elite team that took third place out of 32 teams at the Adidas 7-on-7 National Championships in Tampa Bay, Fla., over the weekend.
“I like being the underdog. Nobody knew about us,” Herbig said. “They’re so fast. I had to be physical to slow them down. It’s a lot of technique you use, instead of just straight (coverage).”
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Awesome kid. Looks like the Crusaders are going to get their 4th Open Division State Title this year