Hawaii Grown

With the exception of a Panda Express near the campus of Pima Community College, there isn’t much that reminds Leonard Lee of home in Arizona. But he’s on the mainland for a reason, and that’s to play college football. And the first two years of that will be for Pima, where he and a handful of other Hawaii products will ply their trades and hope to move up to a four-year college. For Lee, who graduated from Kapolei just a […]

Oregon linebacker Kaulana Apelu, a walk-on from Kamehameha who tore his ACL in both his junior and senior seasons of high school, had years of hard work pay off Sunday when he was rewarded with an athletic scholarship from the Ducks. The 5-foot-11, 200-pound junior was surprised before Sunday’s practice with a video that featured his mother telling him he was on scholarship. Here is video of the moment from the @OregonFootball Twitter account. "If you have a dream, never […]

Central Florida’s McKenzie Milton, a 2016 Mililani alumnus who has been competing with two freshmen for the starting quarterback job in camp, appears to have won it. UCF coach Scott Frost held a press conference after practice on Wednesday and while he stopped short of saying Milton would definitely start the first game of the season against FIU on Aug. 31, he made it pretty clear Milton is the leader moving forward. “Through the course of practice, McKenzie has clearly […]

Defensive tackle Jeremiah Taleni, a 2013 Kailua High graduate who was in on two sacks of Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson in Pittsburgh’s upset win over the Tigers last season, was kicked off the team in April for disciplinary reasons. Taleni, who is 6-foot-2 and 290 pounds, had three sacks in seven games last year, including 1.5 sacks in the win over the Tigers, who went on to beat Alabama for the national title. According to online reports, Taleni was expected […]

It is looking less and less likely that reigning Honolulu Star-Advertiser offensive player of the year Tua Tagovailoa will redshirt his freshman season at Alabama. In an appearance last week on ESPN’s “The Paul Finebaum Show,” Alabama coach Nick Saban reiterated what he has said before — that sophomore Jalen Hurts will be the starting quarterback but they hope to find a way to get Tagovailoa on the field. “I think Tua has to play,” Saban said. “I think we need […]