Sidelines
Hunter buys into concept
of getting paidTHIS is what happens when you tell football players that they can play in the pros.
They believe you.
I'm sure many of us had the same reaction when we heard Hawaii's rangy, raw, athletic left tackle Wayne Hunter was leaving the team a year early to make himself eligible for the NFL draft:
What?
But now that I've had a day or two to think about it, to take a second, analytical look, to let the news sink in:
Huh?
Nobody knows if Hunter will make it in the pros or not. I certainly don't, not without a crystal ball or hair like Mel "Mousse" Kiper.
Hunter has the body for it. He has the potential for it. He's had some good games and some great plays and he probably had a great future ahead of him under the excited tutelage of UH offensive line maniac Mike Cavanaugh.
You can kind of see what Hunter was thinking. And yet, it's one of those handful of early-outs that we see every year, in which all you can do is cringe and hope and wish him the best.
There are names that don't shock you when they take that leap. Ashley Lelie, for one. And to a lesser extent Pisa Tinoisamoa, thanks to his "tweener" status and the fact that after a great year and a 19-tackle performance against Alabama his stock may never get any higher.
But Hunter, now he was a big surprise.
But then, this is the great Hawaii hype machine. Every player is the greatest ever. Everyone will play on Sundays.
A lot of athletes don't need too much convincing to begin with. Every third-string kicker on a bad JV team thinks he's going to the NFL. Why shouldn't Wayne Hunter? He's got good feet and quick hands and a sharp mind and just enough of a temper, all on a long, lean perfect frame that's 300 pounds without even looking big.
That's what NFL tackles are made of.
Yeah, the UH coaches were right. If anyone were to make it, it would be a guy like this.
But he's a long, long way from being where he could be, where he should be. In a perfect world, this isn't giving himself his best chance. Another year of polishing, in the position, under June Jones and Cavanaugh, and Hunter could have gone from risk-taker to potential top prospect.
This is a gamble. A big one.
In the pros, everyone is 6-6 and athletic and it's easy to fall through the cracks.
There's more that went into this than we know, undoubtedly more than just football. It's his decision, his business, his life. Hunter has decided the timing is right. No turning back. This is what he has to do.
It couldn't have been easy.
The pros will see a guy with unlimited physical potential and a lot of smarts, a guy who could be great, but isn't yet. A guy who played a year at Cal, a year on defense, and at last a year on offense, where he really started to get it.
And then was held out of his final game.
They pay attention to things like that. They pay attention to everything, and you'd better be perfect. Hunter was still working on perfect. Another year to work on it would have been nice.
Right now, Hunter hopes to get into the combine.
He'd better get into the combine.
Good luck, Wayne Hunter. Good luck.
THERE IS a lot of emphasis on the NFL in this Hawaii program, on where Jones has been, on where these players can go.
We're always hearing about another player that has the potential to get paid to play.
I don't care about that, not much. What interests me, and what should interest you, is winning football games, here, now.
Alums in the NFL give you exposure and help woo recruits and make everyone swell with pride. But it doesn't matter how many draft picks you've had when it's third-and-five and the game is on the line. Three early departures in two years add up on you in a hurry, especially with the schedule Hawaii has next year.
Losing Hunter hurts. Especially for as good as he was going to be. Especially for as good as Hawaii was going to be. Especially now.
Especially since it's so early for him, too.
But then this is what happens when you tell football players they can play in the pros.
They believe you.
Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com