Aidan earns an ‘A’
Keanaaina announces his recruiting choice and it’s Notre Dame.
Of course, Aidan Keanaaina “was always a big kid,” according to his father, Stacey.
Of course, Aidan Keanaaina “was always a big kid,” according to his father, Stacey.
The younger Keanaaina, pronounced kay-aw-nah-EYE-nah, “gained 30-to-35 pounds every August from the time he was 6 or 7 years old and all the way up through tackle football, and all the way to eighth grade. He was always the heaviest kid,” said his father.
It was as natural as calculated for the son of a college-football tight end. So when it was time to choose a high school, the Brighton resident meticulously did his homework with his parents and opted for Mullen as the best place for academics, football and developing his character. Now 6-foot-3, 300 pounds, he used the same principles in selecting a college in which he had two dozen offers from major schools.
Today, on his 17th birthday, Keanaaina, a junior, announced he has committed verbally to Notre Dame. And the interior defensive lineman confirmed that he foresees it as an extension of his high-school setting. Smaller. Friendlier. Religious. And serious about meeting goals.
“They’re similar,” Keanaaina said, “and I love Notre Dame and how it runs and it’s why I love it. People are there to be successful in life. They work so hard and it’s what I wanted to be surrounded by ... and why? Well, I mean, a part of me knew where I wanted to go. And I got the same, exact feeling (as when he chose Mullen). This is what I want and the culture I like.”
In insisting his commitment is “pretty much set in stone,” Keanaaina said he will sign with the Fighting Irish in December.
Certainly, he and his family are aware that he may be the only junior football player you’ve heard of who is committing so early – he is pledging 10 months before he can make it official in the third year of the new signing period. It has changed everything. Previously, football players would commit during the summer at the earliest, which was unusual, or during their senior seasons or anywhere from December to the first Wednesday in February.
However, the late-December time to sign has been viewed as a positive switch here and nationally; a signing period was needed closer to the end of a football season than having 12th-graders waiting as many as three months; almost all of the high-enders have been taking advantage of it; and Keanaaina has pushed the proverbial envelope a little further. Call it progress – he is committing nearly a year earlier than seniors during previous rules.
And he’s fine with it.
“It’s hard to just keep it in and keep deciding,” he said. “It’s a lot that goes along with it. Coaches are calling and reaching out, and people asking you … that’s definitely a big rock to get off my chest.”
And from a practical standpoint, he said, “I knew where I wanted to go. I’m not going to wait. There was no reason to wait, no other thing I was waiting for.”
As well, Keanaaina had to aift through a considerable list and try to make sense of it. Alphabetically, Air Force, BYU, Cal-Berkeley, Colorado, Colorado State, Florida, Iowa, Kansas State, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, UCLA, Utah, Vanderbilt, Wisconsin and Yale offered rides, all but one of them free, to some of the best academics and football available.
He admits he was tempted by Ohio State and Florida, but the chance to be at Notre Dame was too enticing.
“As a (former) college-football player, I know how hard it is to earn a scholarship, to get to that level,” said Stacey Keanaaina, who was a walk-on tight end at Colorado State under head coach Earle Bruce and had Urban Meyer (wide receivers) and Tony Alford (running backs and formerly of Doherty High) as Rams assistants.
His father, a native of Hawaii, attended high school in Europe and played against another Army Brat you may have heard of – Shaquille O’Neal. “I always wanted to meet him again later in life,” he said.
In coaching his son for nearly a decade heading into Mullen, Stacey said he repeatedly heard ‘He’s how old?’ as Aidan always dwarfed virtually every other youth, “but for him, how good he’s doing with his spirit and getting his name out there and film and everything, he was able to get all of these offers.”
And they took them seriously. While Keanaaina never made public the paring of his list, his father said they did it “internally” and they took nine unofficial visits.
“We always talked about going to five schools, three schools, then just one school,” the elder Keanaaina said.
And they did.
“The time came, I knew what I wanted and I just pulled the trigger,” Aidan said.
Said Mullen football head coach Vincent White: “Great decision, a great academic institution combined with football.”
A year ago, Keanaaina was second on the Mustangs with 69 tackles, a team-high 12 for loss, as most opponents found it more productive to run away from him. He also had 4.0 sacks, caused three fumbles, recovered another and had an interception. He has played varsity since his freshman year and pointed to a game three years ago against Columbine as his coming out party of sports.
“It was my big game and showed who I was,” he said.
He was named Class 5A all-Metro West League as well as to the All-Colorado team by Mile High Sports magazine. He is considered within the top-four prospects in Colorado for 2020 and a three- or four-star recruit depending on the service.
With a 4.1 grade-point average, Keanaaina said he hasn’t decided on a major, but knows there is plenty of time to choose one.
As for his senior year, he said he “plans on enjoying it,” will appears in the Polynesian Bowl in Hawaii in 11 months and compete in Mustangs track and field, throwing the shot put and discus.
He knows Notre Dame can be a wonderful walkway to his adult life.
“Whether it’s that I go to the NFL and after that use the rest of my life based off that or, sadly, not making it there and having a degree, it’s a great college,” he said.
“In the end, I think it’s the best choice. I’m happy with my decision.”
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