2015 NFL Draft Prospect Hau’oli Kikaha

Nov 22, 2014; Seattle, WA, USA; Washington Huskies linebacker Hau

Why You Haven’t Heard of Him

There is a legitimate reason why most of you haven’t heard much from him so I’m going to go ahead and tell you right now. Kikaha is from the state of Hawaii where he won the state’s defensive player of the year but that not like on the mainland. So since we don’t get to see a whole lot of high school action from Hawaii they’re not likely to be big names going into college.

Kikaha started his collegiate career playing in all 13 and starting in the last seven of his games as a true freshman in 2010. His freshman year was highlighted by four tackles with three for a loss and a sack against Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl. Then the next year, just as Kikaha was starting to make his name, he tore his ACL then did it again seven months later.

In 2013, Kikaha came back and made 1st-team Academic All-Pac 12 and 2nd-team All-Pac 12 on the strength of his 13 sacks. Scouts then started to take notice but had him in the middle rounds, not ready to anoint him after one good year. They obviously needed to see if he was a flash in the pan and what he would look like with a new head coach’s 3-4 scheme.