Former Warrior aims for next goal
One of the good guys — Makani Kema-Kaleiwahea (who actually won a national award for being a good guy) — is back in Hawaii after spending the past six months playing in Germany and then Japan.
As a defensive end for the Warriors in 2016, Kema-Kaleiwahea had 45 tackles and two sacks in 14 starts.
“I needed a little more experience and a little more film,” said Kema-Kaleiwahea, a Kamehameha Schools graduate who was at Arizona for two years before moving back to Hawaii to raise his two adopted sons.
Kema-Kaleiwahea played professionally for the Cologne Crocodiles before receiving a can’t-refuse offer from the Asahi Challengers of Japan’s X League. In Japan, he connected with former UH players, such as Kobe offensive coordinator Inoke Funaki, helped at an elementary school, and terrorized quarterbacks as a weak-side rush end. Kema-Kaleiwahea had 10 sacks, numerous hurries and also blocked two kicks.
He also had a deepened appreciation for the Japanese work ethic.
“I knew they were hard-working people, but I could see it first hand,” he said. “It’s so awesome to see how hard working they were. Some of my teammates would work 20-hour shifts and then come to practice the next day.”
Kema-Kaleiwahea said he was offered a job to teach English at an international school in Japan next year. While mulling that offer, his immediate goal is to be invited to a Canadian Football League mini-camp in April.
Make that his second-item goal. His first preference? “I want to enjoy Christmas with my family,” he said.
GOOD MORNING, HAWAII!
Good morning, Mr. Mui.
It’s a lovely day
The blog posts are coming early nowadays.
Sounds like a good offer to teach English in Japan.
Cappie -previous blog post ….That transfer to HPU has not played since the 4th game of the season.
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Bobby said he was told that IF any coaching changes, they will come after the signing period in December.
Re: previous day’s blog posts about not caring about players that don’t choose UH. What about those that were not chosen by UH, somebody like Jordan Ta’amu ?
Or what about Herman Wedemeyer. UH had no football team 1942-45 but his last season at St Mary’s was 1946, i think.
Good Morning to all!
Ya just gotta hope that Kema-Kaleiwahea is successful at whatever he does. He is not just a good guy, he not afraid to think and work outside of the box. Goodluck to him in his CFL dreams!
Howzit Everybody,
Stephen, any update on the O-Line hire? Are we still expected to get someone in by the early signing period. Haven’t heard very much in terms of O-Line commits, so just wondering if not having a coach in place could be hampering the process.
Maybe Hawai’i already had a quarterback. Ole Miss was the other option. $20,000 per year to attend school there. How much of it is scholarship or free money? Title IX
Pearl City high school 2014 graduate. Sophomore year. MM was that way. But with MM his ties to UH was Cal Lee. Jordan has no ties to the Ole Miss, so they are on a two year ban of any bowl game appearances.
And as for the Hawai’i Bowl, Fresno state vs. Houston, the fans support may be there or not. Las Vegas Bowl, Oregon vs. Boise State, 16th Saturday. This will be an easy win for Oregon and the Pac 12. I’m guessing a 45-21 win over Boise State. MWC top team Wyoming may be the crowd pleaser. Vs. Central Michigan, next Friday 22nd. MST 2p.m. and 11 a.m. HT. Potato Bowl.
Potato Bowl is my pick out of the MWC.
Must watch.
Kolton Wong’s #14 is retired at UH. What about Johnny Matias #14? He had 30 career homeruns.
UH baseball Rainbow Warriors.
Mr. Tsai, were you offering free drugs this afternoon?
I guess everybody went Christmas shopping today.
Great Morning All!
Best of luck to Mr. Kema-Kaleiwahea in his endeavors.
Finish strong Seniors and all others in yer final Finals!
Das it…
Okay, Boise St – Oregon. Gotta stick with the Mountain West. Boise St’s strength is run defense. It’s going against Oregon’s strength – rushing offense. Oregon’s quarterback, Burmeister, is prone to interceptions. So, a close one – Boise St 31 Oregon 28.
7.
Taamu had no D1 offers coming out of high school. He went the JC route.
Burro Sabio-you nailed it! I no longer post on that other “bored” due to toxicity levels of some and downright chemical imbalance of some. There are some folks balanced and rational. Informed opinions are one thing, rants and lunacy are something else. We have some very good commits and look for several more. Just got a note from Coach Rolovich to contribute and support Na Koa. I’m in Coach! GoWarriors!!!
Morning Tsaikos!
H-Man: Oregon’s RB sitting out bowl game to avoid injury and protect his draft status.
DLM, thanks for update. More so Oregon’s rushing won’t be as effective. This works in Boise’s favor. Now folks don’t misunderstand, I am not a Bronco fan, Just supporting the MWC. Same reason I am going to the Hawaii Bowl – support the MWC and the Bulldogs of Fresno.
I am surprised that this wasn’t picked by the print media,
I believe it was Sam Spangler who twitted this locally
http://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2017/12/13/positive-athlete-khoury-bethley.cnn/video/playlists/cnn-positive-athlete/
H-Man same reason I’m going to Hawaii Bowl. Well that and I buy tickets anyway every year just in case the Warriors get in. Plus I’m just a huge college football fan. Have never missed a Hawaii or Aloha or Oahu Bowl. Even the old Hula Bowls. Pro Bowls not so much after the first 15 years or so when it basically became a farce like watching a touch football game. But hey I don’t blame them when their carreers are on the line. Really don’t expect Oregon to play with much passion with their coach moving on. Think the Oregon players will just be in it just to have a good time.
Thanks for the link Al. Touching story and can’t wait to see this guy on the field.
New post: http://www.hawaiiwarriorworld.com/?p=45174
Middle Tennessee made a bowl game again this year. They went 6-6 and 4-4 in Conference USA.
UMass won 4 of their last 6 games to end up at 4-8, after going 0-6. One of their wins was at BYU, 16-10, one week before BYU beat UH 30-20.