The University of Hawaii football team appears to have 2020 vision.
The Rainbow Warriors recently offered a football scholarship to Noah Sewell, an eighth-grader at Desert Hills High in St. George, Utah. His high school graduation is set for June 2020.
“We feel blessed,” said his father, Gabe Sewell Sr., although “I’ve never heard of an eighth-grader getting offered before.”
UH coach Nick Rolovich has long ties to the Sewell family. As Nevada’s offensive coordinator, Rolovich was the point recruiter when linebacker Gabe Sewell Jr. committed to the Wolf Pack. The elder Sewell said his namesake son “started crying” when he learned, through a tweet, that Rolovich was leaving Nevada to become UH’s head coach.
Sewell Sr. said Rolovich also has recruited another son, Penei Sewell, a junior-to-be offensive tackle who also has received offers from Michigan, Tennessee, Oklahoma, UCLA, Utah and Brigham Young.
Sewell Sr. said his family first met Rolovich at an All-Poly Camp in Utah several years ago. “We fell in love with him the first time we met him,” Sewell Sr. said.
He said he eventually told Rolovich: “Even without football, you’re welcome to come to our house anytime.”
Sewell Sr.; his wife, Arlene; and their five children have lived in American Samoa, San Diego and Laie. They moved to Utah four years ago. Sewell Sr. is an assistant coach at Desert Hills.
“My kids have been around the game,” Sewell Sr. said. “They picked it up real well. They’ve excelled in their own right. I think that’s their ticket to college. Anything after that is a bonus, but we’re chasing that degree.”
Their eldest daughter, Gabriella, is serving a church mission in South Korea. Nephi Sewell, who will be a senior in the fall, is expected to return after missing last season because of an injury. Penei Sewell is one of the state’s top prospects. Then there is Noah Sewell, 14, who excelled as a quarterback in a spring football league.
Sewell Sr. posted videos of his youngest son’s spring-league debut. Soon after, Rolovich made the scholarship offer to Noah Sewell.
Desert Hills Middle School consists of eighth and ninth grades. Noah Sewell, as a freshman in the fall, is projected to be a starting linebacker for Desert Hills High’s varsity football team, which can take ninth-graders from the middle school. He is 6 feet and 230 pounds.
“He’s only in the eighth grade,” Sewell Sr. said, “and he might not know what he’s talking about, but he said: ‘I might get offers from Ohio (State), Michigan or whatever. I’ll still play in Hawaii as long as Rolo’s there.’ We love him.”
Sewell Sr. said his son probably could study public relations in college.
“My man knows everyone and everybody, from little kids to senior citizens, in the community,” Sewell Sr. said. “I don’t know how that happened, but he’s Mr. Social Butterfly.”
