[ HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL ]
Punahou’s Strickland
headed for KahukuThe All-State running back plans to
play for the defending state champions
Running back Micah Strickland has left Punahou and is enrolled in summer school at Kahuku.
A Star-Bulletin All-State first-team choice as a junior for the Buffanblu last season, Strickland plans to play for the defending state champion Red Raiders football team in the fall. He's in the final stages of registering at the North Shore school for the 2004-05 school year, according to athletic director Joe Whitford.
During its rise to the state title, Kahuku didn't have one featured back. Instead, the role of the workhorse ball carrier shifted from week to week among many capable players. Some had power, some had speed, some had shiftiness, some could catch out of the backfield and some had goal-line skills.
The speedy 5-foot-10, 190-pound Strickland is the type of player who could maintain a starting role throughout the season. He is one of the most elusive running backs in the state and extremely dangerous on short pass routes after the catch.
But Strickland's ability to earn a Red Raiders starting role remains to be seen. First, he has to become an official Kahuku student, then he has to impress coach Siuaki Livai, learn the system and beat out established backs who already know the offense.
"We have eight or nine guys who have the potential to start," Whitford said.
Livai won't talk about Strickland until he officially becomes a Red Raider. The coach, however, has said on many occasions that when solid players transfer to Kahuku, they do so on their own initiative. It irritates Livai when he is accused of recruiting. He believes players are naturally attracted to playing for the Red Raiders because they are successful.
"I've never seen him play and know nothing about him," said Livai, who has been in Utah coaching at football clinics for the past two weeks.
Strickland lives in Kaaawa (which is in the Kahuku school district) with his uncle.
"It's my decision that Micah is going to go to school at Kahuku and it has nothing to do with football," said Melvea Hardy, Strickland's mom. "It's for personal matters that we would rather not discuss."
A year ago, Strickland was a major factor in a balanced Buffanblu attack. He rushed for 788 yards and added 213 receiving yards with eight touchdowns during the Interscholastic League of Honolulu season. After a slow start, Punahou came on strong to finish 6-4 and was ranked among the state's top teams. A late-season upset of Kamehameha virtually knocked the Warriors out of contention for the league title.
Strickland ran 11.26 in the 100-meter dash, placing second last month in the Hawaii's Fastest Human race at the Punahou Relays. If he joins the Kahuku track team, it would certainly bolster the Red Raiders, who finished second to Pearl City at last month's state meet.
It's the second year in a row a high-profile football player has transferred to Kahuku. Last season, Tevita Finau, who started his high school athletic career at Lahainaluna before moving on to Maui High, made the switch from the Sabers to the Red Raiders and became a Star-Bulletin second-team tight end.
Finau's main reason for transferring to Kahuku -- where his uncle is a counselor -- was to improve academically, and he ultimately succeeded in doing so. He signed a national letter of intent to play for Oregon State, but will attend a junior college first.