La‘akea Kaho‘ohanohano-Davis could hear teammate Akili Gray yelling from the sideline.
“Do this for your family. Do this for Hawaii,” Kaho‘ohanohano-Davis remembers hearing.
Standing on the field at Rice-Eccles Stadium as an 18-year-old freshman, the 2016 Baldwin alumnus lined up at gunner for his first collegiate play.
With 46,000 fans cheering on the hometown Utah Utes, Kaho‘ohanohano-Davis was dressed in his visiting Southern Utah uniform, waiting for the ball to be snapped.
It’s the moment he’ll remember for his entire life.
“I go to take off and the defender just turned his hips and let me run,” Kaho‘ohanohano-Davis said in a phone interview Tuesday. “I took off as fast as I could, and that returner, once he caught the ball, I just grabbed him and flung him to the ground. I started going crazy. Everybody came up and was hitting my helmet. That was the play.”
Five years, three knee surgeries and a pandemic later, Kaho‘ohanohano-Davis is still wearing that Thunderbirds jersey.
The team’s leading tackler by a wide margin, the 6-foot-1, 215-pound redshirt junior still has a year of eligibility remaining, but his mind is already made up for the future.
“I’m already planning on going to the (NFL) Draft,” he said.
Kaho‘ohanohano-Davis is one of six Thunderbirds who graduated from high school in Hawaii.
Senior receiver Judd Cockett always dreamed of playing at a Division I school. Coming out of high school at Punahou in 2017, Cockett was planning to attend Chapman, a Division III school, when Gray, a Kamehameha graduate, made him the recruiting pitch he couldn’t pass up.
“He said, ‘Bro, you’re deciding between a Division III college and playing (a road game) at Oregon next year?’ ” Cockett said. “We actually had a good amount of dudes from Hawaii here, so it was kind of a no-brainer.”
Four months after graduating from high school, Cockett was on the field at Autzen Stadium, catching his first two collegiate passes.
“It really was a dream come true,” Cockett said.
Gray, Kaho‘ohanohano-Davis and Cockett all had a successful six-game pandemic-shortened season in the spring and came back for a full load this fall ready to lead the Thunderbirds.
After losing to FBS members San Jose State and Arizona State on the road to open the season, the Thunderbirds won their first game and then had a big game against perennial FCS contender Eastern Washington, which advanced to the national title game as recently as 2018.
Cockett had seven receptions for 70 yards and Kaho‘ohanohano-Davis had a team-high 11 tackles and a sack against the Eagles.
Unfortunately, they both ran into each other in the wrong place the next day.
“I went to the doctor’s office and found Judd in the waiting room. We were both waiting for X-rays,” Kaho‘ohanohano-Davis said.
Kaho‘ohanohano-Davis broke his wrist but is able to put a club on it and hasn’t missed a game.
Cockett broke his hand in multiple places, ending his season less than four full games in.
“We had no idea really what it was because my forearm went numb and I was having all the pain in my forearm, so they checked that out and everything was OK,” Cockett said. “It wasn’t until the next morning that my hand was a balloon and we knew something was up.”
By playing in only four games, Cockett has a redshirt year remaining if he wants to return for one more season.
He says he hasn’t made a decision.
That isn’t the case for Kaho‘ohanohano-Davis, who ranks 13th in total tackles in the FCS with 63 in seven games.
His focus now is on gaining weight, which is the big issue NFL scouts have raised with him about his draft possibilities.
“They want to see me heavier, but that’s pretty much the only issue,” he said.
When asked how fast he can run the 40-yard dash?
“I bet you right now I can run a 4.4,” he said.
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Six players from Hawaii high schools are on the Southern Utah roster:
>> Akili Gray, Kamehameha (2016), 5-11, 195, Senior, Safety
>> La’akea Kaho’ohanohano-Davis, Baldwin (2016), 6-1, 215, Junior, Linebacker
>> Kotoni Sekona, Punahou (2014), 6-1, 250, Junior, Tight end
>> Austin Ewing, Konawaena (2018), 6-1, 185, Sophomore, Quarterback
>> Judd Cockett, Punahou (2017), 5-10, 180, Senior, Wide receiver
>> Noah Alejado, Saint Louis (2017), 5-10, Senior, Kicker/Punter
