HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Long before deciding to play his college ball at the University of Alabama, Tayden Kaawa realized early in life he’d need to move to get noticed.
It’s part of the reason why his family moved from Molokai to Oahu when he was a boy, and why he left Moanalua after his sophomore season to head to Utah.
“At first it was tough, just because I was leaving my parents,” Kaawa said. “It wasn’t a tough decision schooling-wise, it was more leaving family back home.”
Kaawa is the starting quarterback at Orem High, which is about 50 minutes outside of Salt Lake City, but he’s never felt too far from home.
He lives with former University of Hawaii basketball star and successful sports agent Jarinn Akana, who grew up with Kaawa’s parents on Molokai and relocated to Utah a couple of years ago.
“He calls Jarrinn ‘Pops’, he calls Carla ‘Mama’, so that helped a lot,” said Kaawa’s mother, Abbie. “Because the history with us and the Akanas and us growing up on Molokai, it made the move so much easier.”
With a strong support system in place, Kaawa thrived and, by the end of his junior season, had offers from power programs including Alabama, Brigham Young University, Oregon, Washington, and Arizona State.
“During our fall, coaches come by every day because they can drive through states, they can stop by schools,” Tayden said. “I would say every day, coaches are coming in. We’re sitting down, having meetings, talking with them.”
After a lengthy recruiting process, the 6′5″, 235-pound, 4-star power arm decided on the Crimson Tide, trusting the school’s reputation of getting players to the next level.
“My dream is to play in the NFL,” Kaawa said. “I’ve talked to coaches. I’ve talked to different players, and the ultimate thing is that Alabama is the best way to get to the NFL. Their background of putting players in the NFL is crazy, and just looking at them, I wanted to be the next player.”
And for Kaawa’s family, seeing his journey unfold is overwhelmingly gratifying.
“When they tell you it literally takes a village, it does,’ Abbie Kaawa said, holding back tears. “Back home, everybody knows everybody. The support and the love is like no place else.”
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