Hawaii Grown

When Kainoa Wilson first stepped foot on campus at Washington State for his freshman year, he was surprised at the flat lands that seem to lead directly into Pullman, Wash. “I thought the whole state of Washington looked like Seattle,” he said. The 2015 Mililani alumnus said he took a leap of faith when he was accepted into the school and given an opportunity to walk-on by then-assistant coach Joe Salavea. He played in exactly three games in his first […]

Texas freshman Jhenna Gabriel, a 2018 Maryknoll alumna, was named the Big 12 rookie of the week on Monday. The 5-foot-8 libero-turned-setter averaged 10.86 assists per set and finished with 76 total assists in wins over Kansas State and Kansas. She also added 10 digs, three kills, three aces and two blocks for the fifth-ranked Longhorns, who are 17-4 overall and 12-1 in conference play. Gabriel had seen limited time this season until the last three games and earned her […]

It was hard to miss Hugh Hogland in the Stan Sheriff Center on Friday night. Besides his actual time on the court against Hawaii in his second official college basketball game — and first against a Division I opponent — the Portland Pilots big man and 2017 ‘Iolani graduate could be seen often behind the Diamond Head basket of the Stan Sheriff Center. That’s where giant Hogland head cutouts were waved enthusiastically by friends and family. Hogland’s final line read: 2 […]

Oregon senior linebacker Kaulana Apelu made four tackles in Saturday’s 42-21 win over UCLA before leaving the game with an injury. Ducks coach Mario Cristobal said Monday that Apelu suffered a small fracture to his lower leg, which will keep him out of Oregon’s final three games against Utah, Arizona State and Oregon State. It’s not as severe as the fractured ankle that caused him to miss the final eight games of his junior season, but the injury is in […]

After sitting out a game with an undisclosed injury, Central Florida quarterback McKenzie Milton returned to action Thursday night and led the Knights to their NCAA-best 21st consecutive win. Milton, a 2016 Mililani alumnus, finished 17-for-33 for 312 yards and three touchdowns and added a 1-yard TD run in a 52-40 win over Temple in a game broadcast by ESPN. He was considered day-to-day with an injury leading up to kickoff. “We’re a battle-tested team,” Milton said in an interview […]

UCF quarterback McKenzie Milton snapped a streak of 27 consecutive starts for the Knights when he was held out of Saturday’s 37-10 win over East Carolina. Milton’s absence was a shock to the ESPN crew televising the game as well as local media in Orlando. Knights coach Josh Heupel said after the game that the decision was made to rest the 2016 Mililani alumnus following pregame warmups for “overall health” reasons. On a Monday teleconference call, Heupel was asked if […]

Alabama quarterback and 2016 Honolulu Star-Advertiser All-State offensive player of the year Tua Tagovailoa sat down for an interview with ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt on Monday. Part of the interview was shown during halftime of ESPN’s Monday Night Football telecast. A longer version will be shown on SportsCenter after the game. Tagovailoa, who has been dealing with a strained right knee for the past two games, is expected to be a full participant in practice this week head coach Nick […]

There were 51 teams in the NCAA’s Football Bowl Subdivision that won games Saturday and, in a milestone spread across multiple time zones, four of them were guided by starting quarterbacks from Hawaii high schools. Saint Louis School graduate Chevon Cordeiro, making his first appearance for the University of Hawaii in place of the injured Cole McDonald, joined already established signal callers: Mililani’s McKenzie Milton (Central Florida), Pearl City’s Jordan Ta‘amu (Mississippi) and the Crusaders’ Tua Tagovailoa (Alabama) in delivering […]