Ex-Crusader Arceneaux looking forward to playing again in Hawai'i
By Kyle Sakamoto
Advertiser Staff Writer
When quarterback Darnell Arceneaux signed a letter of intent with the University of Utah in February 1996, he looked forward to playing in Hawai'i as a visiting player.
But then something unexpected happened. In 1998, Utah and seven other schools announced they were breaking away from the Western Athletic Conference, leaving the University of Hawai'i, among others, behind. The breakaway eight later formed the Mountain West Conference.
So Arceneaux never had the opportunity to play in Hawai'i as a member of the Utes' football team.
Instead, he'll finally do so with the Hawaiian Islanders of Arena Football 2.
"It feels like going to college all over again, signing a letter of intent," said Arceneaux, who helped St. Louis School win three O'ahu Prep Bowls. "Actually, it's a little bit better. I'm coming home again."
Arceneaux became the first player in franchise history when he signed with the af2 expansion team last month. The Islanders' first game will be March 30.
"He gives us credibility right away," Islanders coach Guy Benjamin said. "Someone of his caliber is especially critical for us."
The Islanders are the fourth professional team to contact Arceneaux since he completed his eligibility at Utah in 2000.
Arceneaux, 24, first tried out for the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League last year, but injured his shin and was one of the final cuts.
"It was a new experience being on a pro team," he said. "It was kind of humbling to go to the CFL and being just a rookie. No one knows you; you're at the bottom; you're just another chump."
A week after he arrived back in Utah, Arceneaux was contacted by the coach of the Carolina Cobras of the Arena Football League. But the coach resigned shortly after and the new one didn't want to take him.
"I talked to the new coach, and he was like, 'we're going to play the rest of the season with these two guys and if something happens to them we'll call you back,' " Arceneaux said.
The call never came, so Arceneaux signed with the Nashville Thundercats of the National Indoor Football League, where he played the final six weeks of the season as a backup.
Shortly after being named Islanders coach last September, Benjamin knew he wanted Arceneaux as his starting quarterback.
"The first thing I thought about was quarterbacks, and he was the first one to come to mind," Benjamin said. "I was hoping he didn't sign with another team."
If everything goes well with the Islanders, Benjamin thinks Arceneaux has a good chance to graduate from af2 to a higher level.
"Our goal is to get Darnell into af1 or Canada," Benjamin said. "I'm sure it's his goal as well. Then we'll get the next Darnell Arceneaux."
But in order for Arceneaux to accomplish anything on the football field, he'll have to stay healthy, something he hasn't been able to do for an extended period of time.
He considers injuries to be the "storyline of my career."
"I've had surgery on my two shins, dislocated shoulder, broken ring finger, three concussions, broken nose, but those are the things you take with football and I would never trade those days back," Arceneaux said.
His first shin surgery was at Utah in 1996, an operation that inserted a metal rod and two screws to brace his left tibia. He had a similar operation this past August on his right shin. While at St. Louis, Arceneaux said he suffered three or four stress fractures in his shins.
Arceneaux, who is 6 feet 2 and 200 pounds, attended an open tryout for the Islanders shortly after signing, and said he expects the team to be competitive right away.
"You're going to see guys going out and competing," he said. "We're never going to be blown out, I'll tell you that right now. We'll be in every game until that last second on the clock."
Notes: Darnell Arceneaux played for Utah from 1997-2000 and passed for 4,020 yards and 36 touchdowns. ... He earned a sociology degree from Utah last May. ... The last time Utah played in Hawai'i was Nov. 6, 1993.
