It's perfectly reasonable for something like that to happen. Players in all sports lose a starting position during the offseason all the time because someone better comes along.
Between the bowl game and spring practices were 4 months of conditioning, 4 months of unofficial team practices (that sound every bit as rigorous as a standard practice), 4 months for coaches to evaluate players, 12 months from the start of the season to evaluate those players redshirting (mind you, there's a very good probability from the sound of things that the red shirts would have already played over Kai the last couple of games and the bowl game had they not been red shirted). He was a sick run blocker, but he consistently got worked in pass blocking.
It doesn't take beating a guy out during a game to lose your starting position... Kai EARNED his own starting position based on practices and coaches evaluations, it's no different for the rest of the team. He KEPT it because he played a solid game and near the end of the season, and it wasn't worth pulling the red shirt off of other players for what little improvement may have been seen at that point. Other players stepped up and EARNED the starting position based on practices and coaches evaluations over the course of the last YEAR. It's now their job to keep it.
It would have been great to keep Kai to push them and take over if they don't prove they can hold onto it. Kai would have made a SICK fullback too, it's unfortunate to see him go. It's just stupid throwing the coaches under the bus for making a decision that none of us really know anything about. Especially considering the kind of man Hawk is, I don't see him dumping a player like Kai, or putting him in a situation like that without good cause. He was trying to make the best situation for Kai going forward.
Last edited: