Islanders’ Arceneaux
hoping for new arena
Darnell Arceneaux can sense the end of his playing days like he feels a blitzing linebacker steaming in on his blind side. So he's already started the new beginning.
The Hawaiian Islanders quarterback has arrived at the realization many other athletes don't before it's too late. At age 25, he's heeding the little voice telling him all his childhood dreams might not come true, that he might not make it to the NFL.
Gameday
Who: Stealth vs. Islanders
What: arenafootball2
When: 7:30 tonight
Where: Blaisdell Arena
Records: Both teams are 4-2
Last meeting: Stealth 36, Islanders 29, at Wichita on May 3
If he doesn't get promoted after this, his second season of arenafootball2, it will be his last as a player, Arceneaux said yesterday.
"I hate saying it and I'm still giving it my all, I don't want to look back and say woulda, coulda, shoulda. But this is the year for me ... hang it up or continue on if I get a shot with Arena 1, Canada, or NFL Europe. But if I have to play Arena 2 again, I can't because my body has taken too much of a beating."
Arceneaux, a two-time Star-Bulletin all-stater at Saint Louis School, endured an injury-plagued college career at Utah. He played brilliantly when not sidelined by a sore back, lacerated hand, foot sprain, flu, strep throat or concussion -- and that was just his junior year in 1999. Before and after there were shin splints, broken fingers, a dislocated shoulder and a sprained right foot.
It's amazing he can still play. But his speed, arm and athleticism -- and leadership skills -- are big reasons why the Islanders are 4-2 going into tonight's game against the Wichita Stealth.
He said the compactness of the arena game has made him a more accurate passer.
"You and your receivers really have to be together. So many of the passes are thrown before they even break," he said. "That was a weakness of mine, accuracy. Now when I go back on a big field, like when I'm working out at Saint Louis, I notice the ball coming out of my hand much quicker, without even thinking about it. I think it's from playing on the small field, where everything happens so much faster."
Islanders coach Cal Lee also coached Arceneaux at Saint Louis. He said Arceneaux's travails have made him a better player.
"He's been humbled and realizes he has weaknesses and found positive ways to improve," Lee said. "It's part of that maturing process we all go through."
Partly in preparation for his post-playing days, partly because of his energetic nature, Arceneaux has dived into the periphery of the game. He recently became an assistant coach at McKinley High School, and tomorrow, he joins several of his Islanders teammates and a dozen college coaches in putting on a combine for local high school players.
In his day job, Arceneaux helps prep athletes find college scholarships as an employee of the Hawaii Sports Network's nonprofit Athletic Prep Academy. Doris Sullivan, who runs the program, said Arceneaux's credibility and straightforwardness help on both ends of matching student-athletes with colleges.
"His reputation and his honesty really goes a long way. He's the type of guy everybody watched," Sullivan said. "Kids here saw him in high school and college and expected to see him in the NFL. Every kid wants the pros, but Darnell can give them the reality that they should go and get a good education because the NFL might not be in the future."
Arceneaux tries to give starry-eyed young athletes an idea of reality without killing their dreams.
"I tell them it's not even about playing Division I, it's about playing the game you love. Go across America to play if you love it," he said. "You have to sacrifice no matter what you want. If you want to be a doctor, you go to school and hit the books 12 hours a day instead of partying with friends or doing whatever."
He knows that level of commitment, whether through countless injuries and rehabs, lifting weights with his teammate Kawika Ordenstein in high school, or throwing 300 passes a day with fellow Saint Louis alums Jason Gesser and Tim Chang in the college offseason.
It's not that Arceneaux is giving up now; he's hedging his bets. If he doesn't get promoted after this season his ultimate goal changes to becoming an NFL head coach rather than quarterback. Today Arceneaux soaks up as much knowledge as he can from Bill Walsh at the Hall of Fame coach's "power lunch" sponsored by the Islanders.
"Right now, I'm trying to adjust. There's so much on my plate, it's overwhelming sometimes," Arceneaux said. "But I try to think about it as all being fun and for my future benefit. I've been lucky to be around a bunch of guys on the Islanders, other people I work with, coaches, all kinds of people who have helped me. People like the doctors who did my surgeries.
"I'm preparing myself because it's a big transition. Football is something that's been part of my life every day for 20 years, training, running, thinking about it. It's going to hurt a little bit," he added. "I see those guys always coming back play semipro. I'd rather make a clean break and try to give back to football and give to the community. I don't want to be in the game for the wrong reasons."
