Kicker commits to UH football

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

With an assist from former player Eric Hannum, the University of Hawai'i football team secured a commitment from a placekicker from Temecula, Calif.

Aaron Barret, who played baseball at Masters College last season, will join the Warriors for this month's training camp as a freshman. Because Masters is an NAIA school and Barret played another sport, he will be immediately eligible to play football at UH.

Barret had a cumulative grade-point average of 4.0 in high school and scored 1,350 on the SAT.

Without a tee, Barret can consistently convert field goals from between 50 and 55 yards, said Hannum, who met Barret at a football camp three years ago. A videotape shows Barret launching a kickoff from his 35 through the uprights.

"He has a cannon of a leg," Hannum said.

Barret suffered a broken right kneecap in his kicking leg as a sophomore in high school, yet played football and baseball as a junior. He finally underwent surgery as a senior.

Barret enrolled at Masters, but decided he wanted to resume his football career. His father, a high school baseball coach, contacted Hannum's father, who moonlights as an umpire. "He handed me videotapes of his son during games," Tom Hannum said, laughing. Eric Hannum then contacted the UH coaches.

"He's excited to be going to Hawai'i," said his mother, Pam Barret.