Hawaii football: Kaimana Padello gets a rush heading into Oregon State game
Unlike a typical play in an opponent’s backfield, Kaimana Padello never had a chance.
He never had a chance to watch his alma mater, Mililani High School, live in the stands at a football game in the time since he graduated in 2016.
Until, that is, Hawaii’s bye on its schedule last week. The senior rush end took full advantage to go watch his Trojans take on Liberty High of Las Vegas last Friday while much of the rest of the team was consumed with the Saint Louis-Bishop Gorman affair that same night.
Mililani came back from a 16-point hole to open the game and a 12-point deficit at halftime to win 34-22.
“It was really awesome,” Padello said. “I remember playing Liberty my senior year and we lost (76-53 on Sept. 4, 2015). To see Mililani come back and beat them in the fashion they did, I mean, they showed a lot of heart. Especially when they were down early. They didn’t falter. They kept getting better.
“The crowd was there. Always, Mililani side, it’s going to be packed. They have good fan support. Everybody’s families always comes. And to get back there and just be in the stands was a little bit weird. It was very different. But I enjoyed it. I got to sit with my family. We got to just be spectators. I’m not on the field getting yelled at, yelling at people. I mean, it was a great experience.”
He was hoping the Trojans would pay Liberty back in kind for the 2015 loss, in which McKenzie Milton threw for 431 yards.
“They really did a number on us that game,” he said. “Definitely (still on my mind). … But they won, and I’m just happy.”
Padello, UH’s most prolific backfield tackler, will try to make that rush of emotions translate into his play in Saturday’s contest against Oregon State at Aloha Stadium, as the Rainbow Warriors look to make it 2-for-2 against Pac-12 teams this season.
Rush end Kaimana Padello talks about #HawaiiFB’s readiness for Oregon State coming off a bye week and how youngsters like linebacker Darius Muasau are filling in for sidelined Warriors. pic.twitter.com/Uth7akNdtE
— Hawaii Warrior World (@hawaiiwworld) September 5, 2019
Padello notched three tackles in UH’s 45-38 win over Arizona to open the season, but none for a loss. He led the team with 13.5 tackles for loss (including 8.5 sacks) en route to Mountain West second-team honors as a junior.
The former walk-on and team’s Most Inspirational Player knows he won’t take anyone by surprise anymore, and will have a tougher time beating people with straight speed off the edge.
“I mean yeah, definitely leverage. Being able to go from power to speed, trying to work more hands,” Padello said. “Not giving up if I get ridden out, trying to spin back. Not just getting over the top. Last year, I was a lot of just speed. A lot of one-moves. But this year I’ve been adding in, if my first move doesn’t work, being able to go to my second one.”
On the final play against Arizona, he tried a spin move to get to mobile quarterback Khalil Tate, unsuccessfully, then saw Tate turn up the field for 30 yards and a “hauling” Pumba Williams come out of Padello’s peripheral vision to speed down and get in on the game-saving tackle at the 1-yard line. (Padello is No. 96 and Williams No. 49.)
“For him to make that play was just crazy,” Padello said.
Padello, a tri-captain, is cognizant of the fact that the position group directly behind him is already hard-hit by injuries. Linebacker Penei Pavihi is missing the season with a knee injury and Jeremiah Pritchard was knocked out of the Arizona game and on crutches by its end.
“I mean, hat’s off to the coaching staff. Coach (Mark) Banker,” Padello said. “Even though we’re down some guys, he knows how to coach up our dudes. Even though we have young guys like Darius Muasau, fresh guys like Tauivi (Ho Ching), I mean, they’re dialed in. They understand what they need to look for on the field, in the film room. Of course, you’re going to always have to make corrections of mistakes. But it’s just us showing we have confidence in them. Us not yelling at them, making that pressure of, ‘you gotta get this down.’ Even though time’s coming up where we gotta play, us just being confident in them, you feel that it just helps them to learn the defense and be ready to play.”
UH coach Nick Rolovich said Tuesday the team was fortunate to have its most depth at linebacker of any position group and the timing of the bye week was fortuitous to bring the reserves up to speed.
He also said that Oregon State (which put up 36 points in a Week One loss at Oklahoma State) presents myriad problems for his defense.
“They’re going to be as challenging as we could’ve asked for,” Rolovich said. “They’re extremely efficient offensively. They put you in a lot of binds. They’re smart coaches. They set you up. Good receivers, with speed and height. And the running back committee they got, they can put in three or four guys and not miss a beat. So it’s going to be a big challenge.”
You can bet that Kaimana Padello — Trojan roots fresh in his mind — intends to tackle it head on.
Why so slow with the game only a couple of days from now? I brought the stuff below from a post I wrote on Brian’s first blog post on Cole. Kekoa is firm on UH 56 vs. OSU 13 😁.bg
It’s Wednesday and time to stir the pot a bit. I’ll follow up A-House and my reasons why the Warriors will win on Sat.
1. OSU has only a week to prepare while UH has 2. The RnS may look like Oklahoma State’s spread, but that’s only cosmetic. ‘Zona had the summer to prepare and they still got burned. Same-o, same-o goes for OSU.
2. History can indeed be a teacher. After the 1qtr, ‘Zona was trying everything to slow the Bows. They switched from their 4-man rush to a 3-man. They dropped 8 and changed up to blitz from time to time. Not bad, they did get 4 int’s. For OSU, they were blitzing their linebackers often and got penetration and tackles for losses. Oklahoma State countered with bubble screens and quick passes and scored with their first 6? possessions. Cole learns from his mistakes and shreds the OSU defense. AND, the Warrior running attack gets revved up starting in the 2qtr. OSU can try to blitz but Cole gets the ball out quicker and more accurately than the freshman QB at Oklahoma State.
3. The UH defense will have an early prayer of thanksgiving that they don’t have to contain Khalil Tate this week. They’ll be able to get after the qb. Luton, the OSU qb, received good grades after the game, but I don’t believe Oklahoma State’s defense was very good. Makes a big difference if I’m wrong, but that’s why I don’t do this for a living 🙂 OSU is supposed to have a good running game, but so did ‘Zona (even better). I like the way the Warrior D is shaping up. Do need to clean up the miscommunications in the back end. OSU surely saw what happened and will try the same. That’s OK, we’ve had 2 weeks to work on it.
Still working on the reasons we will lose. I’ll check back after the game…or not.
Does anyone know:
1. The latest status for Eletise?
2. Or Lavao?
Mahalo!
Sorry, meant Levao, not Lavao.
ST blog – starting line ups; Levao and Tu’ulima listed at center. I think Levao will start, with Ta’aga coming in on relief. Beavers’ O-line is huge. We’ll see if they manage to handle Warriors’ defense, especially if Brandon Kipper can contain Padello. Should be fun.
I put my money on Padello and others!!!
BG,
From practice media scrum on Tuesday, Nick Rolovich was asked about those two guys and said, “I haven’t heard on Mike (Eletise). I would think we would hear pretty soon. Kohl’s getting better, probably not this week, I don’t see him going this week, but he won’t be much longer.”