'12 HI RB Steven Lakalaka (Signed to Hawaii)

[Buffnik]

Rivals
Scout
ESPN
247 Sports

Punahou School (Honolulu, HI)

Ht: 5-foot-10
Wt: 200 lbs
40:

Rivals rating: 3*-5.7rr; #36 RB
Scout rating: 3*; #67 RB
ESPN rating: 3*-75 grade; #75 RB
247s rating: 3*-81 rating; #70 RB

Reported Offers: UCLA, Hawaii

 

[NBDefektor]

Please God let his middle name be Boomshaka.

 

[Buffnik]

Please God let his middle name be Boomshaka.

:lol:

Kid actually sounds like an impressive all-around athlete. As I was doing my web searches on him, he had articles on him for performances in basketball, wrestling and track in addition to football. Wouldn't surprise me if we ended up changing his designation to "ATH" in the next year.

 

[Highlander27]

2010 Highlights:

[video=youtube;uhMig8G3ucI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhMig8G3ucI[/video]

The kid has some great highlights and skills on the field. I agree on the athlete assessment. I saw numerous plays where he lined up at HB, WR, and QB (wildcat) in this video. I definitely think his future is at HB though. I think he has good speed, not great. He's not a homerun hitter but he can hit a crease and take it into the center of the defense 5, 10, 15 yds a pop. He's 5'10", almost 200 lbs, but he plays fairly low to the ground often falling forward on most plays. Guys know he can truck a little bit because they are constantly going low on him. Very good vision and understanding of where his holes are opening up. Patient runner. His running style reminds me of LT a little bit, especially with his trademarked stiff arm. Very soft hands catching the ball. He's a threat 1st-3rd down. He'd be a great fit in a pro-style offense like we're going to feature. He would be a good pickup for EB's offense. I'd put Tui/Cabral on this one and let them bring it home. We need to start consistently opening up the pipeline to the private schools in Hawaii (St. Louis, Punahou, Kamehameha) as most public schools are going to have trouble prepping the kids for the academic workload at Boulder. Punahou would be a good one to pick up and we already have Crabb from there.

 

[lawdogg]

Not that we'd really been on him that much, but he's a Bruin.

 

[absinthe]

Not that we'd really been on him that much, but he's a Bruin.

Did we chase this guy much? with our success in HI last signing day this should have been an easy one.

 

[Buffnik]

Did we chase this guy much? with our success in HI last signing day this should have been an easy one.

It's kind of a surprise that UCLA would accept a commitment from Lakalaka this early. With USC likely having reduced scholarships this cycle, they'd normally be killing it in SoCal. They're not, and they're taking players who should be "Plan B" for them. I think Lakalaka's a pretty good player, but I don't think he's the type of guy at Top 25 all-time program like UCLA takes from out-of-state in May unless the coach is on such a hot seat that recruiting is a struggle.

That said, watch him be All Pac-12 as a freshman. :smile2:

 

[absinthe]

That said, watch him be All Pac-12 as a freshman. :smile2:

Would UCLA then move him to guard, so he would transfer out?

 

[Duff Man]

I hope UCLA takes many more players of this caliber.

 

[buffaholic]

It's kind of a surprise that UCLA would accept a commitment from Lakalaka this early. With USC likely having reduced scholarships this cycle, they'd normally be killing it in SoCal. They're not, and they're taking players who should be "Plan B" for them. I think Lakalaka's a pretty good player, but I don't think he's the type of guy at Top 25 all-time program like UCLA takes from out-of-state in May unless the coach is on such a hot seat that recruiting is a struggle.

That said, watch him be All Pac-12 as a freshman. :smile2:

Neu-weisel can't recruit right now because of the hot seat. It's Hawkins 2.0. They couldn't fill the class in 2011. With that said, I'm also surprised. If Rick plays the waiting game and signs essentially no one like 2011 class thru mid year but has success on the field, he could easily fill it up at USC's expense. If he doesn't win on the field, he's gone so he won't care.

With that said, I have no idea how good this kid is so maybe he's not a stretch and instead a great pickup.

 

[bigbang]

He looks like a fullback on tape. And this is not to put the kid down.

 

[lawdogg]

Scout now showing him as committed to Hawaii. Not sure if he dropped UCLA or if it was the other way around, but he's staying closer to home.

 

[Buffnik]

I guess Mora had about the same grade on him as BB and I did. Nice player, but borderline BCS and shouldn't have been a "Plan A" for a program like UCLA.

P.S. Watch his rating drop now.

 

[BehindEnemyLines]

sounds like Mora cut #2 (no offense to this young man). Mora beginning to remind me of a moray eel.