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Kentucky was an
easy choice for Blanchard

The Kahuku graduate felt
right at home after he visited
the facilities at Lexington

Kalavi Blanchard: "The people were great, the academic facilities are wonderful."

In the matter of Kahuku alumnus Kalavi Blanchard, who signed with Kentucky yesterday, it was a case of who was recruiting whom?

Blanchard, an all-conference guard the past two seasons for Fresno City College football, listened to offers from other teams, but it was clear from the day he visited Lexington that his heart was in Kentucky.

"It reminded me of home," Blanchard told Hawaii Grown yesterday.

"It's real country. I like that."

In addition, Blanchard said, "The people were great, the academic facilities are wonderful (he plans to major in computer science) and the conference (Southeastern) is great."

Blanchard told his family he wanted to go to Kentucky, and when Kentucky coach Rich Brooks scheduled a home visit with the Blanchards in Kualoa in December, they decided to go all out to seal the deal.

"We made a Tongan feast for him," said Blanchard's sister, Loseli.

The Blanchards prepared lupulu, a Tongan style lau lau with corned beef and coconut milk. They roasted a pig on a spit outdoors and cooked sweet potato in the ground in an umu. They made chop suey Polynesian style.

"We adapted it and made it our own ... more of the fattening stuff," Loseli explained.

They served taro, breadfruit, raw fish in cubes like ahi poke and fresh coconut milk. And they flavored the food with onions, tomatoes and sesame seed oil.

Brooks obviously was impressed.

He made Kentucky's scholarship offer official and Blanchard -- who was in Fresno and not present for the Kualoa feast -- accepted.

Blanchard was impressed that Brooks would fly to Hawaii for a one-day visit to meet his mother, Pamela, on the eve of her 47th birthday, and the family.

"That was really nice on his part," Blanchard told a reporter in Kentucky. "It was just one day, so that showed a lot of commitment on his part. That's a long trip for one day, and my mom said he looked pretty exhausted when he got there. ... It showed a lot of respect."

Two of Blanchard's Hawaii teammates at Fresno, Palauni MaSun (Kahuku '03 of Laie) and Pat So'oalo (Kailua '03) signed with Oregon yesterday and a third, Tolifili Liufau (Saint Louis '03) signed with Utah, Blanchard said.

Extra points: Playing in the SEC means Blanchard, who is 6-foot-5, 310 pounds, might get to block 6-2, 295-pound Tennessee all-star tackle Jesse Mahelona (Kealakehe '01 of Kailua-Kona) next season and Blanchard's high school teammate, J.T. Mapu (Kahuku '02) when Mapu returns from his Mormon church mission in 2006.

Blanchard originally signed with Hawaii but did not qualify academically when he graduated from Kahuku in 2002. His family said he has not had any contact from UH since then.

He was also recruited this time by Oregon State and UNLV.

Fresno City College, which has lost six games in the past six years under coach Tony Caviglia, had nine players from Hawaii in 2004.

Palauni MaSun was a two-year starter at right guard (Blanchard played left guard) and was All-Central Valley Conference. So'oalo started two years at left tackle and was an all-conference defensive lineman.

"We have done good with all our kids from Hawaii," Caviglia said. "They have all been good here. I love players from the Hawaiian Islands, especially the offensive and defensive linemen," Caviglia said.

So much so that he spends part of every offseason in Hawaii.