You look at all 6 feet, 2 inches and 225 pounds of running back Hekili Keliiliki and wonder how he could have, in anybody’s words, “fallen through the cracks.”
You look at all 6 feet, 2 inches and 225 pounds of running back Hekili Keliiliki and wonder how he could have, in anybody’s words, “fallen through the cracks.”
To be sure the biggest running back on the University of Hawaii football team’s roster runs through cracks in the line with authority — or simply makes some of his own by barreling into people.
But, then, the around-about back story on how Keliiliki got here in the first place is part of what makes him one of the more intriguing freshmen in the Rainbow Warriors’ training camp.
Three years ago Keliiliki showed up on the radar of Brian Smith, who, at the time, was the offensive coordinator at Occidental College, an academically prestigious NCAA Division III school in California.
Born in Utah, Keliiliki assembled quite a resume after relocating to Bentonville, Ark., in his sophomore season of high school because of his father’s job with WalMart. As a large school all-state selection, a 4.0 student with a load of advance placement credits, the recipient of a national scholar athlete award and an eagle scout, Keliiliki also was being looked at by Ivy League schools. When Stanford and Vanderbilt entered the picture, Smith moved on to other prospects deemed more reachable.
A year or so later when Smith came to UH as offensive coordinator he got word that Keliiliki had not signed with any of those schools and, instead, was completing a church mission as a Mandarin-speaking proselytizer in the Chinese community in Brisbane, Australia.
“I replayed his film and got excited,” Smith said. That’s when UH, a school Keliiliki had not previously heard from, got active, sending emails and contacting his high school coaches. “I remembered him as the kind of power back that could help us,” Smith said.
Keliiliki said schools that had backed off him due to his mission eventually offered him an opportunity to come “as a preferred walk-on.” But a scholarship offer from sight unseen UH appealed to him “because of my Hawaiian heritage and the grandparents and family members here.”
Still, when Keliiliki was due to report to UH last month the Rainbow Warriors had little idea what they’d be getting. “You just don’t know what you’re going to find when they come off of a two-year mission,” head coach Nick Rolovich said. “Where will they be at mentally? Will they have lost weight or put more on? But Hekili is very mature and showed up pretty dialed in, ready to play.”
Smith said, “In his emails he said he was keeping up on the training and, because of the kind of person he is, I believed him.”
When Smith met Keliiliki and his family on campus, he said, “You could see he was as good as his word. He was ready to go. I was happy to see it, but I can’t say I was really surprised.”
In his allotted 30- to 45-minute daily (except Sunday) exercise period while on the mission, Keliiliki took UH’s training regimen to heart and even found some time for twice-a-week rugby with some other missionaries. “The scholarship was an opportunity for me so I had no trouble being disciplined in working out,” Keliiliki said.
For a team in search of a big back, a bruiser to provide some of the power running that Steven Lakalaka contributed, Keliiliki is opening eyes. Not only has he shown the capability to hit the hole with force, Keliiliki has demonstrated quickness and a speed burst in scrimmage situations.
“I think Hekili may end up having a role to play for us,” Rolovich said. “I think he can help make Warrior football better.”