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Highly recruited offensive lineman Preston Taumua is transferring out of Aiea to Waipahu for the 2023 football season.
And Taumua, a senior who has 22 D-I FBS offers college including some from big-name schools like Alabama and Ohio State, is not the only one leaving Na Alii.
There are many more transferring out, including star senior linebacker Aizik Mahuka to Mililani and dynamic senior receiver Jayden Chanel to Waipahu.
Here are some of the others on the way out:
>> Senior running back Kaimana Lale-Saole to Mililani
>> Senior linebacker Kamaka Lale-Saole to Mililani
>> Senior defensive back Elijah Nahoopii-Makakona to Waipahu
>> Senior quarterback/wide receiver Noah Spencer to Farrington
>> Senior linebacker Teahiroa Fukumitsu to Kaiser
>> Junior two-way lineman Upu Howard to Waipahu
>> Junior offensive lineman Ripley Fautanu to Waipahu
>> Sophomore defensive lineman Ezra Nahoopii-Makakona to Waipahu
>> Sophomore quarterback Titan Figueroa to Waipahu
>> Sophomore linebacker Reise Hans Pickett to Campbell
>> Payton Taumua to Waipahu
>> Pierce Taumua to Waipahu
Wendell Say, the Aiea coach, wishes them all well on their new teams.
“This was supposed to be our year on paper,” he told Bedrock Sports Hawaii on Friday. “And it still can be. We have less players, so we’ll have to stay healthy and play ironman football. The kids that want to be here, we’ll coach ’em up. Times are changing. We’ll move on and do the best we can.
“All of the kids who are leaving are good kids.”
Aiea went 9-4 a year ago, losing to, believe it or not, Waipahu 38-30 in the OIA Division I (middle tier) state championship game. Na Alii led 24-7 at one point.
The Marauders went 11-2 and made it to the state D-I title game, where they lost to Konawaena 38-28.
Aiea, by the way, just missed out on making that state title game and getting a rematch with Waipahu. One week earlier, Na Alii lost 27-24 to Konawaena in the semifinals.
Say believes the reason for the player movement is parents wanting their players to go to certain programs.
“We teach character building, going from boys to men,” the coach said. “Maybe the parents don’t like our emphasis on that. This has happened before to other teams, like Saint Louis last year,” Say said. “And now it’s happening to us.”
Say also mentioned one other OIA team that is losing a lot of players via transfer this season. Bedrock hopes to follow up on that.
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ALSO AT BedrockSportsHawaii.com:
>> Darius Muasau: From Mililani To UH To Top Pac-12 Linebacker St UCLA
>> Kahuku Is No. 51 In The High School Football America Preseason Top 300
>> 2023 Hawaii High School Football Master Schedule
2 Comments
Hi Nick,
What kind of exemptions these kids getting to transfer? I thought the OIA made it difficult to transfer without sitting out a year. Seems like its easy to transfer out. Maybe recruiting is involved also. Why cant players be faithful to their schools anymore.If you good enough to play college fb they will find u
Hi Alvin,
The rules got more lax partly because of a suit that you can read about in this story: https://www.hawaiiprepworld.com/football/reading-between-the-lines-of-oia-transfer-rule/
I agree that it’s too easy to transfer.
Some people say there’s been recruiting going on for years — with public to private tuition waivers and such — and that may be so, but it’s hard to prove and I’ve never heard of an actual violation or punishment for a violation for “recruiting.” I think what happens nowadays is parents approach the coaches and ask if their kid would get playing time if they transferred to that school and then the parents get the exemption or try to set up legal residence with a relative. Players and parents in youth football get to know high school coaches at a young age, so conversations may start years before the player is in high school.
Also, there are many out there who say players should have the freedom to go to whatever school they want to. I understand that point of view, too.
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