Hawaii lands Hawaii lost to Brigham Young in a football game last fall, but it looks like UH has come up with a significant victory against BYU in the recruiting wars.
Kahuku safety Nauahi
The Red Raider star shuns
Brigham Young to stay at homeBy Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.comThe Warriors and Cougars -- longtime rivals in the living rooms of prospects as well as on the playing field -- went to battle over safety Viliami Nauahi of Kahuku High School. And UH's home-field advantage appears to have made the difference, as Nauahi made an oral commitment to the Warriors yesterday.
Next Wednesday is the first day high school players can make their commitments binding, and the Warriors now have promises from eight of the Star-Bulletin's top 13 prospects in the state.
Nauahi, the No. 3 prospect, was also sought by Penn State and Utah. He only visited BYU and UH.
Nauahi's commitment is a huge boost to the Warriors' recruiting class -- especially since this was a game BYU had seemingly won before Hawaii even got the ball; Nauahi was reported to have committed to BYU while on his visit to Provo two weeks ago.
But Nauahi had a good visit to Manoa last weekend. That, and another successful one to Nauahi's North Shore home this week by UH head coach June Jones and assistant Rich Miano, seems to have swayed the gifted 6-foot-2, 200-pounder.
"He decided to stay home for Hawaii," Kahuku coach Siuaki Livai said. "That's great for Hawaii. Now they have the second (Saint Louis receiver Jason Rivers) and third top prospects.
"He's a lot like (former Kahuku and current BYU safety) Aaron Francisco," Livai said. "He can help Hawaii a lot."
It's been a pretty good week for the Warriors; they've also received commitments from one of the fastest players in California (cornerback Ray Bass), as well as one of the Golden State's toughest defenders (lineman and linebacker-to-be Chris Cole), and a potential big playmaker (slotback Jason Ferguson, who will arrive in 2004). Closer to home, Hawaii also got a pledge from Kailua offensive lineman Xavier Ho'olulu (No. 12).
Offensive lineman Hercules Satele of Long Beach Poly visits this weekend, and says he's itching to commit; all he needs is a solid offer from the Warriors. They might have a scholarship available for him since Aiea lineman Brandon Rodd (No. 6) opted for Arizona State and Saint Louis defensive lineman Wilson Afoa (No. 7) chose Washington.
While a few of the prime players from the islands have selected mainland schools, the good news for Hawaii is that no other school has received more than one commitment -- that's a sign that no outside schools have strong footholds here. That wasn't always true in the past, when Utah, BYU and Washington often came out of Hawaii with more than one top prospect.
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