Catching up with Aidan Keanaaina ...

 

Aidan Keanaaina has grown in his first year since leaving Mullen and he was a quite large 6-foot-3, 300-plus pounds as a Mustang.

Don’t be fooled that he’s still 6-3, 308. Growth goes beyond height and weight. There’s also intelligence. Experience. Character. Commitment. Development. And the list for a young man attempting to establish himself at a storied university and football program goes on …

The Mustangs 2020 graduate has returned home to Colorado for a break between semesters at Notre Dame, where he also was part of the Fightin’ Irish team that made the College Football Playoffs in Dallas the past weekend.

Keanaaina graciously took a few minutes to answer questions and share a bit about his first days after Mullen and his first yeat at college that coincides with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

For the record, he dressed (noseguard, No. 92) for all home games (Notre Dame was 10-2), three on the road, and the CFP semifinal in Arlington, Texas.

“I played against South Florida (his only action, late in Game 2) and the entire time going in, I walk out and go “Oh, geez, I hope I don’t feint.’ I played nine plays and on my first hit, it was good, I really enjoyed it and it was a great experience ... especially since my first play on varsity at Mullen I jumped offsides. (Laughs.) But not in college.”

 

“It took a little while. With COVID and everything it was a (season) that was very different. We started off with players usually on their own doing their own stuff. It took a while for us to start doing drills with coaches as well as with other players, so it took time to adjust. But over time, I saw can start playing with these guys and the teaching by the coaches got better and easier.”

 

“Yeah at Nore Dame, they put a device in your shoulder pad to measure how hard and fast you’re running and when you’re taking a break. There’s no room for slacking. You’re constantly moving in practice and they’re very organized in college. They run them in periods. You get 24 periods, each is 5 minutes. You have a period for a certain drill or schedule two periods toward the end, three periods for team situations. The fall-camp practices were hard; toward the end of the season it got a lot lighter.”

 

“I talked to him a few times. Honestly, it’s different than high school, you don’t have the one-on-one talks with the head coach as you do in high school. Usually, the captain is talking to him. But he mentioned my name a few times, things that are happening in the program and how I enjoy it …”

 

“It was an amazing experience unlike any other. It was fun. I mean, I remember walking off, looking at a running back the same size as or bigger than me and I go, “Oh, so you’re hurdling my size as well!’ That’s an athlete right there … I remember growing up, watching them and seeing Nick Saban (the Alabama coach) on television and trying to beat them. It was weird – you never thought you’d be there.”

 

“When I got there, I came to realize I am not that big of a person. I walked in and (senior tackle) Aaron Banks is 6-5, 340, and towering over me. Even a freshman, Josh Baker, is 6-8, 330, and you’re just, like, ‘Wow!’ It was funny to learn that aspect of it.”

 

“In general, it made for a hard year, especially in the summer. We were relatively isolated, scared to see each other and afraid of getting COVID, and being locked away. We were terrified.”

 

“We were going to play Navy … I’d say everybody was bummed out, but everyone kind of knew it was going to happen. I was really excited to go over there and play.”

 

“No people? It was weird. Notre Dame allowed students, but when we went to Boston College, it was the weirdest experience of my life. No one was in the stands, just cardboard cutouts watching us. It was quiet, except for the sounds on the speakers. After the game, it was dead silent. We were thinking, “This is not too enjoyable.’”

 

“I can’t say anything is guaranteed, but I definitely have more confidence. During fall camp, after the first four practices, I got contact-traced from fellow students doing a project. So I had to sit out of fall camp for two weeks. It set me far back and I plan on it being different in the spring.”

 

“I took four credits in the summer and got a 4.0 (grade-point average). The first semester was hard. Notre Dame is a very rigorous school, no doubt about it. Classes are different. One of my professors (in calculus) barely spoke English and he taught on a giant board. But I had a 3.9 for the semester and am pretty happy about it.”

 

“On my first day there, my roommate walks in. He’s from the (United Kingdom) and he’s, like, “Yeah, I took the ACT for fun when I flew here, got a perfect score and I didn’t really try.’ I took the bare minimum to get in. Another roommate who’s going to be a neuro-surgeon was majoring in chemistry and it was something I had never heard of.”

 

“Oh, yeah, I’m very happy, couldn’t be happier with what I chose. It’s exactly what I wanted in a school, football players, people, even with the circumstance. I could have said, ‘Oh, man, this situation will ruin the first year of college.’ It definitely changed it, but I’ve made the best of it and thoroughly enjoyed it.”

 

“I definitely believe it. The people I’ve met, who I became at Mullen, helped me be successful at Notre Dame. I’m still the same person I was; hopefully, I’m a little more mature. The academics (at Mullen) definitely helped. The football wasn’t the best with the many different head coaches, but each one taught me something different.”