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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, September 14, 2004

Ex-Saint lends Iolani a helping (left) hand

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

Iolani School's football team has a saint on its sideline this season.

Former Saint Louis All-State quarterback Joel Lane, left, is working with Iolani junior Kiran Kepo'o. "Because I'm left-handed (like him), he can just mirror what I do when we go through drills," Lane says.

Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser

After tormenting the Raiders during the early '90s with his prolific passing, Saint Louis graduate Joel Lane finds himself in new territory. The two-time Advertiser All-State quarterback is the new quarterbacks coach for Iolani.

"It's different," Lane said. "It's a change for me because I still am a Crusader. But it's nice to be here and the coaching staff really treats me good and the administration treats me good."

The Raiders sort of lucked out landing Lane, who had coached at Saint Louis for about four years, helping the intermediate and varsity teams after playing at Foothill JC in Los Altos, Calif. He had been out of coaching for about the last four years when Darnell Arceneaux asked him to join his staff at Saint Louis. After Arceneaux resigned after one season, word got out that Lane still wanted to coach.

"It was through friends and it was kind of at the last-minute," Iolani coach Wendell Look said.

The late addition to the Iolani staff is timely, coming when the Raiders are grooming a young quarterback in Kiran Kepo'o. The 6-foot-2, 220-pound junior passed for 909 yards and seven touchdowns last season. In three nonleague games this season, he has passed for 756 yards and three TDs. Look said the experience Lane brings is invaluable.

"His knowledge and his experience has really helped Kiran," Look said. "Not only Kiran. He's helped the receivers, too. Overall for our passing game, he's been a great addition."

While Look knew of Lane's history, Kepo'o did not. But it didn't take long for him to realize what Lane had to offer.

"When I first saw him and he started teaching me, I could tell he had a lot of knowledge about being a quarterback," Kepo'o said.

Kepo'o said Lane has helped him learn to read coverages and worked on his mechanics, such as footwork and developing a quick release.

"I see lots of potential," Lane said of Kepo'o. "He's got good size, he has good feet, good arm strength. His reads get better every day. He's self-motivated to get better. I think that's his best quality. He's going to be successful because he wants to be successful. His potential's unlimited."

Mirror images

The added bonus of having Lane as his quarterbacks coach is that Kepo'o, like Lane, is a left-hander. Demonstrations are more comfortable and natural for teacher and student.

"Because I'm left-handed, he can just mirror what I do when we go through drills," Lane said. "And I have a better idea when looking at him, looking at what he's doing and having a better feel for what I want him to do or how he's doing it or how he has to get adjusted."

That doesn't mean Lane can't help right-handers, such as backup Kai Iwasaki. Lane said he demonstrates right-handed for the right-handers. He said when he was at Saint Louis, quarterbacks coach Vince Passas did the same.

"Vinny was good," Lane said. "He did things left-handed for me and right-handed for the other guys. Not necessarily the throwing, but footwork. So I try and do that, too, for our other quarterback."

Look said Lane's experience of playing in a successful pass-oriented offense will help improve the Raiders' passing game. Lane said he will pass on what he learned from Passas and former Saint Louis offensive coordinator Ron Lee, now the receivers coach at the University of Hawai'i.

"I believe in Vinny and Coach Ron and all those guys who coached me, that what they do with quarterbacks works," Lane said. "So I'll do the exact same things I did over there. I'm going to do it here, same type of drills, same type of foot-work drills, same type of arm-angle drills. I know that it works."

Of course, there is the moment of truth coming Oct. 16. That's when Iolani plays Saint Louis.

"It will be very odd, seeing them on the other sideline," Lane said. "That's going to be the strangest thing. This is going to be the first time I have to sit down and figure out what they do, where do they bring pressure. It's a whole, brand new thing for me."

For the Raiders, too.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8042.