Renewing the Hawai'ian Pipeline

[Husker_Power]

DUANE ROSSITER

 

At one time the Nebraska Cornhuskers had a pipeline running from Hawaii to Lincoln, but that ended a few years back. Could that steady flow of top-notch players be renewed? The current staff has made a bid for Manti Te'o, the Rivals.com No. 6-ranked player in the nation, so they are attempting it.

 

The 6-foot-2, 230-pound linebacker from Punahou High School in Honolulu will not be an easy one to get for any school.

 

His official scholarship offer list has now hit the 25 mark and counting. With that many offers, do the Huskers have any chance at all?

 

"Oh yeah, I used to watch Nebraska all the time because they ran the option," the first-team all-state performer said. "But I haven't had any calls from any Nebraska coaches."

 

Te'o has a mature feeling and understanding on how the whole recruiting process works.

 

"It is early in the process and I'm fully aware of sometimes some coaches get fired and they are reforming the whole coaching staff," he said. "It is understandable. I'm not really picky on the whole process. Some schools are going through the whole change."

 

Te'o is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and he has made it clear that his religion will come first for a two-year period.

 

"I think the main thing in this whole thing is that I'm a Mormon and I want to serve a Mormon mission. The mission is two years long and it starts when I turn 19. I will play football my freshman year and then I leave right after my football season and go on my mission and come back.

 

"That is the whole blueprint of everything. If the colleges that support that . . . hey, that is my college. I have been blessed that a lot of colleges - more than I thought - have supported me going on a mission. It has been great."

 

Te'o said he has received the most correspondence from "USC, Colorado, BYU, UCLA, Stanford, Cal and recently Auburn."

 

Distance from Hawaii is not an issue with him at all, but one important factor will come into play on the team that he ultimately chooses.

 

"I will go wherever a team gives me the best opportunity to play or showcase my talent," he said.

 

Another top candidate who could get an offer from Nebraska is from the same school. The talented 6-foot, 187-pound Dalton Hilliard has already received formal offers from an impressive group of Division-I schools - Colorado, Arizona, San Diego State, Notre Dame, Utah and Stanford.

 

"I have not gotten an offer from Nebraska yet," Hilliard said. "I have been getting mail from them, though. I haven't talked with them much. I haven't heard much from them really."

 

Hilliard has had the chance to spend some time with Nebraska's new head coach, though, and the encounter left a lasting impression on him.

 

"I met (Bo Pelini) and I got a chance to play against him in the camp (at LSU)," said Hilliard, a second-team all-state player as junior. "He joined in on one of the games and it was pretty cool. He is a great guy. I would be open to (Nebraska)."

 

Hilliard, who is already academically qualified and has received multiple accolades for the past few years, is pleased with what he has accomplished over the past two seasons.

 

"As a sophomore, I was first-team all-conference and second-team all-state," Hilliard said. "As a junior, I was first-team in both of them and I was offensive MVP for my team.

 

"I think I had around 1,500 all-purpose yards (last year). They use me at slot, too. I think I had 17 touchdowns. I'm glad my coaches used me on the offensive side of the ball. This upcoming year, they are going to be playing me on the defensive side of the ball also and try to go both ways."

 

Hilliard has a good idea why he is an outstanding running back at Punahou and he has an opinion on what he might have to work on for the next level of play.

 

"I think my ability to make people miss. That is one thing the coach always says," he said first about what makes him standout. "If I get the ball I'll make that first person miss and if everyone does their assignment, it goes for a big run or a touchdown."

 

His father is in the military, so leaving the islands won't be a problem for him or his parents, but does he have any current favorites on the mainland?

 

"I'm just keeping my options open right now," he said. "I want to make sure I pick the right school and keep an open mind."

 

LSU and Florida have just started to show serious interest in him, so the recruiting picture is looking bright for Hilliard, but will the Nebraska coaching staff pull the trigger with an offer? I would venture to guess they will when they find out that Te'o and Hilliard are close friends. Plus, Hilliard is obviously a solid prospect.

 

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[husker249]

landing both of them would be sweet.

[BigWillie]

Without more Poly players on our team, it just makes it so dang hard to get others in here.

 

If we had landed Kuli, it would have paid huge dividends in possibly getting Te'o. Not only for the Poly connection, but I am pretty sure they are related as well.

 

Besides Helu and Toailoa, we just don't have any Poly kids on our team. Poly kids just feel more comfortable around each other rather than anyone else, for whatever reason.

 

In all honesty, we need to get a few Poly players each year. Not only because they are huge, hardworking and strong as bulls for the most part, but also for players like Te'o, Kuli, Ngata, Maualuga, etc., that we have missed on or will likely miss on, it would have paid huge dividends.

[DeathCultArmaggedon]

Willie, any insight as to why the Hawaii recruits stopped coming in the first place?

 

We used to have so many solid Hawaiian players (Raoila, Fonoti, etc.), and they just seemed to stop coming during the Solich/Callahan eras.

[Street Novelist]

If USC is recruiting him, he must be damn good.

[BigWillie]

Willie, any insight as to why the Hawaii recruits stopped coming in the first place?

 

We used to have so many solid Hawaiian players (Raoila, Fonoti, etc.), and they just seemed to stop coming during the Solich/Callahan eras.

 

To be honest, I have no idea why Solich stopped recruiting them. However, quite a few guys on Solich's staff were lazy recruiters. Recruiting guys from Hawai'i not only takes alot of resources, but quite a bit of time. If I had to guess, this is probably a reason why.

 

Under Callahan, we always recruited top Polynesian players. However, with no other Polynesian players on this team you realistically cannot even get them to give you a look for the most part.

 

Look at places like Arizona, Oregon State, Arizona State who all have HUGE Polynesian numbers on their teams. You wonder why they can get some of these players to even consider them and this is why.

 

With a Polynesian influence on our team, I have no doubt we would have hung onto Kuli or landed the likes of Maualuga and Ngata in the past.

 

Guys like Helu and Toailoa give us a start, but we definitely need more recruits to tap into that area we have not in quite a while.

[DeathCultArmaggedon]

We just offered Hilliard, so perhaps Bo is looking to make inroads in Hawai'i again.

[BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA]

Busch was supposed to have had connections to recruit Hawaii but obviously nothing became of it.