Warrior Beat

Kelii “KK” Padello, the state’s top defensive player as a Mililani High senior in 2013, has joined the Warriors. Padello is reunited with his younger brother, Kaimana Padello, as a rush end. Both are walk-ons. KK, who earned the nickname because his older brother could not pronounce Kelii as a child, amassed 26 sacks in 12 games in 2013. He went to Southern Oregon for a year before enlisting in the Army Reserve. He has three years of eligibility remaining. […]

The baseball ‘Bows open the season against nationally ranked North Carolina State tonight. First pitch is at 6:35 p.m. at Murakami Stadium. It’s quite a bargain — most inexpensive regular ticket is $10 — and you get to see A-Rod’s nephew, plus a couple future major leaguers. We’ve got previews galore in this morning’s Star-Advertiser. * * * * * The Warriors, meanwhile, concluded offseason training with a beach day. They ran, then had competitions in four-corner, one-handed tag; knee-tag; […]

The Warriors are hopeful of addressing the placekicker position during next week’s tryout for quarterbacks and kickers. Alex Trifonovitch is the only kicker on the spring roster following walk-on Stephen Yaffe’s amicable departure. Yaffe said he left the team on good terms for non-football reasons. “I’m still rooting for their MWC Trophy next season” Yaffe said. The Warriors have roster flexibility to add a kicker or two before training camp this summer. Two years ago, kickers Rigo Sanchez and Mauro […]

The top running back from the 2015 national champions has joined the Warriors. Elijah Dale will participate in spring practice, which opens on Monday. Dale, who is 5-10 and 210 pounds, was City College of San Francisco’s featured back in 2015. An injury limited him to one carry in the 2015 title game. Dale was named to the All-City first team as a senior at San Francisco’s Saint Ignatius School.

To spice the offseason workouts, the Warriors played a game of “tails.” Each player had a rolled-up shirt hanging from the rear waist, like a tail. If a player’s tail gets pulled out, that player is out. Last player with his tail intact is the winner. Strength/conditioning coordinator Bubba Reynolds came up with the clever idea. While the Warriors were playing a childhood game, in fact, they were working on speed, cutting, fitness and strategy. Nose tackle Kiko Faalologo won […]

During last night’s Grand Slam event in the Stan Sheriff Center, baseball coach Mike Trapasso announced that Kolten Wong’s jersey No. 14 would be retired. It was an appropriate and well-deserved tribute to one of the program’s best hitters and most decorated alumni. Wong could not attend the event because he is training with the St. Louis Cardinals, but a video of his heart-felt acceptance was shown on the arena scoreboard. Dot and Les Murakami attended, with Trapasso giving special […]

This weekend in American Samoa, head coach Nick Rolovich and defensive coordinator Legi Suiaunoa are meeting with 2017 signees Blessman Ta‘ala and Penei Pavihi. This is the NCAA’s quiet period, which allows coaches to have off-campus meetings with 2017 prospects who already signed letters of intent. The Warriors have strengthened the Samoa-Hawaii pipeline. This coming season, there will be eight players on the roster — 8.2 percent of the scholarship players — who attended high schools in American Samoa. Scheyenne […]

The root of new defensive coordinator Legi Suiaunoa’s promotion goes to a football camp in Seattle in 2014. Nick Rolovich, who was Nevada’s offensive coordinator at the time, and Suiaunoa, who was a Montana assistant, met while working with the same group. They talked about football, family, and former Nevada coach Chris Ault. (Rolovich coached under Ault in 2012; Suiaunoa is a Nevada alumnus.) After that day, Rolovich came away feeling he’d like to coach with Suiaunoa one day. Suiaunoa […]