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Lots of people are out there analyzing how well college football recruits perform at camps and in games.
Some opinions are worth more than others, and you never know who’s going to be correct on a particular player until the recruit gets to the next level or not.
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A catch-all place for the sights
and sounds, impressions and overheard
things out in the field while covering
the colorful world of high school football
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Sure, it’s well known in the 808 that Campbell’s Jaron-Keawa Sagapolutele is a high-achieving high school quarterback who’s got true potential at the college level. At last check, the colleges have taken notice of Sagapolutele, too, albeit in relatively slow fashion.
Getting ready to play in his junior season this fall, Sagapolutele has offers from Hawaii, San Diego State, San Jose State and Washington. The Huskies making their offer earlier this month was a real eye-opener because it’s the first offer from a Power-5 conference and it may signal that more high-profile offers are on the way.
For what it’s worth, one analyst gave a strong endorsement of Sagapolutele on Saturday. Here is what Alec Simpson, the scouting director for CatapultSports.com, wrote on Twitter about the Sabers’ QB during a Pylon 7-on-7 national tournament:
2025 QB @JaronKeawe out of Campbell HS (HI) having himself a day here @Pylon7on7. Great frame at all of 6-3 210, real smooth release and ball placement was impressive all afternoon. Huge upside. P5 talent. pic.twitter.com/JNsLV6WOfe
— Alec Simpson (@alecsimpson5) May 28, 2023
Lots of good stuff, right? Take extra note of: “HUGE UPSIDE” … “REAL SMOOTH RELEASE AND BALL PLACEMENT” … “GREAT FRAME.”
Another key part of Simpson’s post is the accompanying video on the right, which shows Sagapolutele throwing a pinpoint pass with Campbell coach Darren Johnson watching. Click on it and you will see (in 7 seconds) that real smooth release, ball placement and great frame.
Remember, though, that Sagapolutele only has two years of high school experience.
And those two seasons were more than solid. As a sophomore, he and the Sabers got into the state Open semifinals, where they lost 32-7 to eventual champion Kahuku.
Some of Sagapolutele’s sophomore stats that really stand out are:
>> 3,522 yards passing to lead the state in all divisions
>> 31 touchdowns and only 13 interceptions
>> 320.2 passing yards per game
As a freshman in 2021, playing for Saint Louis II (the school’s second varsity team), Sagapolutele played in five games, throwing for 1,730 yards with 21 TDs and only five interceptions.
With his tweet about Sagapolutele, Simpson is letting the world at large know about one of the 808’s best. Sure, it’s just one guy on the Internet, but he does have credentials as his scouting director title suggests. And he does have 12,000 followers.
And for those who are interested, according to Wikipedia, Catapult Sports is “a sports performance analytics company … that provides performance technology to 2,970 teams across 39 sports in 137 countries.”
It will certainly be interesting to see how much Sagapolutele’s Division I FBS offers increase over these next two years and to where all of that leads. And, of course, it’s important to point out that how Sagapolutele performs in the classroom will be a factor in all of this, too.
In the meantime, Hawaii fans will be able to enjoy the show that Sagapolutele and the Sabers intend to put on this fall and in 2024.
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ALSO AT BedrockSportsHawaii.com:
>> ICYMI: Milton To Tennessee; 2 Recruiting De-Commits; Texas Impressed With Lefau So Far
