Homegrown Report
Football pipeline from Isles helps 7-4 Utes to bowl game

By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer

Led by NFL prospect Cliff Russell and four other starters, players from Hawai'i once again played a major role for the University of Utah football team.

Utah's Cliff Russell, a Campbell High graduate, had a career-high 157 yards receiving against Wyoming this season. University of Utah

Utah had 11 players from Hawai'i on its roster, down from 20 two years ago but still more than any other NCAA Division I team on the Mainland.

Russell, a 1997 Campbell High graduate from Wai'anae, was rated as the third best senior wide receiver in the nation in ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper's midseason report.

Kiper called Russell a potential high draft choice with "electrifying" speed.

Utah sports information director Liz Abel says Russell is the fastest Ute ever with a 40-yard dash time of 4.27 seconds, complementing a team-best 41-inch vertical jump.

Russell will get to show off his skills to nationwide audiences in the Las Vegas Bowl (10:30 a.m. Dec. 25 on KITV) and when he comes home for the Hula Bowl on Maui Feb. 2 (ESPN).

In his first injury-free season, Russell caught 53 passes for 744 yards and four touchdowns this year, averaging 14 yards per catch. He had three seven-catch games and a career-high 157 yards receiving against Wyoming.

"I've always had confidence in my game," Russell said. "I knew wherever I'd go I'd be successful because I'm a hard worker."

But recognition was slow to come because of injuries: a broken collar bone in 1998, sprained knee in '99 and fractured arm last season. Also, Russell said, the conversion to receiver from his high-school position of running back was "a tough adjustment."

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Hawai'i's own Hawai'i Homegrown Report, published today as a special "Sunday bonus," appears every Wednesday in the Advertiser sports section. Homegrown Report tracks more than 800 student-athletes from Hawai'i high schools at Mainland colleges so their families and friends can share in their accomplishments. Want us to check on someone? Give us his or her name, high school, college and sport. E-mail: dennis@lava.net Phone: 236-3654, or toll free off O'ahu: (888) 236-3654 Fax: 236-4195.

Russell and 1998 Leilehua grad Lauvale Sape were second-team All-Mountain West selections of league coaches.

Both of Utah's starting offensive guards are from Hawai'i: senior Ed Ta'amu (Iolani '97) of Honolulu and sophomore Sean Souza (St. Louis '99) of Kane'ohe.

Ta'amu did not qualify academically out of Iolani to play his freshman year at Utah. But he earned his bachelor's degree in four years so the NCAA restored his fourth year of eligibility.

His explosive speed and strength (school record 625 pounds in the back squat, 425-pound bench press) helped the 6-3, 320-pound former state discus champion earn all-conference honorable mention this year.

In 2000, Ta'amu had 124 pancake blocks (knocking opponents off their feet), nearly double any of his teammates.

Souza has overcome weight problems to join Ta'amu on an offensive line that gave up five sacks this season, second fewest in NCAA Division I-A to Miami's four. He played every offensive down of every game.

"We lost three conference games by a total of six points," Souza said. "The bowl game against USC is a way for us to show everybody what we're made of."

Souza, who is 6 feet 5, arrived at Salt Lake City in 1999 weighing 335. He lost 55 pounds to 280 during his red-shirt year, then yo-yoed to 305, 260 and his current playing weight of 290. "Protein shakes got me where I needed to be," he said.

Senior Ma'ake Kemoeatu (Kahuku '97) used his 6-5, 309-pound mass to anchor Utah's defense at nose tackle and earn honorable mention all-conference the past two seasons. He made 30 tackles this year.

Kemoeatu is another academic success story. He was an NCAA nonqualifier, based on his SAT scores, who earned a 3.34 grade-point average in his very first semester at Utah.

The Las Vegas Bowl will be Kemoeatu's 35th straight start for the Utes.

Senior Ryan Kaneshiro (Iolani '97) of Honolulu decided to walk on in 1998 and has been Utah's No. 1 placekicker three of his four seasons.

He is 8 of 13 this year and 22 of 34 in his career on field-goal attempts, with a long of 47 yards. On points-after-touchdowns, Kaneshiro is 39 of 41 this season and 101 of 105 in his career. He hit 22 in a row in 2000.

Other Utes from Hawai 'i are Kawika Casco (Lahainaluna '00), a red-shirt freshman wide receiver playing special teams; freshman defensive lineman Chris Kemoeatu (Kahuku '01), Ma'ake's "little" (6-4, 315) brother; senior defensive end Stan Moleni (Kahuku '96) of La'ie; junior defensive lineman Elia Laeli (Roosevelt '99), who redshirted this year for knee surgery after a Junior College All-America career at Santa Ana (Calif.); and senior wide receiver LeRoy Shelton (Waiakea '97)

Moleni missed the last pwo seasons, 1999 under NCAA rules after he transferred from rival Brigham Young, and 2000 after Achilles surgery. Shelton transferred from Iowa Wesleyan.

Since Ron McBride became head coach there in 1990, Utah has had a strong Polynesian flavor on its roster, with as many as 20 players from Hawai'i, in 1999.

"I love our Hawaiian guys," Abel said. "Growing up in paradise seems to make for some nice guys."