Kamehameha senior defensive tackle Alema Kapoi will take his final recruiting trip of the season to Navy this weekend.
When he gets home Sunday, he wants to have a decision made by the time he goes to bed.
Kapoi, who is 6 feet and 265 pounds, will decide between three military schools: Army, Navy and Air Force. He said he talked to Hawaii coach Nick Rolovich on Monday but was not offered a scholarship, thus limiting his choices to the military schools.
“I wasn’t really thinking about going miliatry first but I’m excited for it now,” said Kapoi, who was named to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser all-state first team last month. “You probably have to work harder than most other schools, but they all have great football programs and good facilities.”
Kapoi has logged quite a few frequent flyer miles over the course of his three trips but expects the amount of local kids at Navy, like at West Point, to help make the distance from home not seem so far.
“Coach (Ken) Niumatalolo is from Hawaii and likes to get as many local kids up there as possible so I can still feel comfortable even though it’s far from home,” Kapoi said. “I knew a couple of kids at West Point so it was good to see them already and (both of) my trips have went well.”
Kapoi said he doesn’t want to go into signing day uncommitted and plans to attend the PIAA event at the Sheraton Waikiki.
Come on Billy Hull, tell us who those other local kids are at Navy and how they are doing. Yeah, life is hard at the academies, but if you stick it ou, you have a guaranteed good job waiting for you when you finish and you start out as boss. I seem to remember Kealoha Pilares starting out at a service academy then transferring back to UH.
With only 19 available scholarships this season, I think there just wasn’t room for Alema. It’s just too bad, any other year with the full 25, UH would have offered him a scholarship.
I hope something opens up for him at UH. I don’t know the details of their scouting on him, of course, but he IS a playmaker and he IS going to do well at the next level. If this is about prototype height and weight, etc., that’s probably a mistake. I’m not saying Alema is the next Aaron Donald, but AD was overlooked in the past because he isn’t 6-foot-5.
Very wise no rush commitment Alema yet do your pick militarily,..like professionally and the best pick is aeronautically like you will drive and fly;…best wishes and god bless.
My friend Mark Moody from Kam c/o 89 signed w/ AFA outta HS. Played for Fisher Deberry in the early 90’s, 2cnd team all-wac in 1992. Graduated there, moved to Los Angeles and calls there home now.
……. Air Force football guys can’t weigh over 270lbs, that’s regulations for fitting in the cockpit of their planes.