D-lineman Mermea commits to Hawaii
The Hawaii football team improved its interior design, securing a commitment from a defensive lineman from Temecula, Calif.
Anthony Mermea of Vista Murrieta High completed a UH-sponsored recruiting visit last weekend, and after discussing the situation with his family, he decided to accept the Rainbow Warriors’ scholarship offer. He said he will sign Feb. 1, the first day 2017 football recruits can put their pledges in writing.
“I didn’t have to think about it,” Mermea said. “The weather is beautiful. The team is good. I decided to go where it’s more like home, and Hawaii is like home. Anywhere I go, I’m going to be away from home. I’m going to have to deal with that. I’m going to have to grow up. I feel Hawaii has the closest tight-knit group, and the players buy in.”
Mermea is 6 feet 3, 305 pounds, and capable of running 40 yards in 5.1 seconds. He said he likes the Warriors’ 4-3 defense, which will allow him to compete at nose tackle or 3-technique.
Mermea said he was 4 when his brother Ricky introduced him to football.
“He was the first one to set it off,” Mermea said. “It started in the backyard, and getting after it with your siblings. It made me want to compete. I love competition.”
Mermea ,whose mother is part Hawaiian, said he weighed 235 pounds as a freshman, 245 as a sophomore, 265 as a junior, and 290 last season. He said he hopes to weigh 285 when he enrolls at UH in June.
7 responses to “D-lineman Mermea commits to Hawaii”
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Absolutely love it! Congrats to coach Rolo and staff and thank you to Mermea for helping to start the foundation of the rebuild of the Warriors again.
Thank you Anthony Mermea for committing to our Warrior football team. You and I believe 20 other commits all from the mainland will lay for Rolo’s Warriors. Very unfortunately, only one local kid decide to stay home and play in front of their family and to be part of our Hawaii Warrior football team. These 20 or more mainland, Samoa and Australia kids show more love for our State of Hawaii than our local kids going away. I believe the true local kid is the one that plays for our Warrior football team. Even though the bulk or majority of this years recruit not from Hawaii, most local fans like myself consider these kids as local because of their love for Hawaii.
Part of growing up, as Murmea implied, is going away. No kid from Hawai`i should be blamed for going to another part of the country after high school, especially if s/he gets a full ride scholarship. By the same token, any athlete from Michigan, Mississippi, Texas, Florida, or the rest, ought to come to Hawai`i as part of their growing up process.
Blah…blah… blah….does it really matter where the young men come from? Get off this “we need top locals nonsense..UH NEVER had many top rated locals, the best ones like Owens, Jackson, Miano and on and on were not highly rated recruits or were walk-ons.
Agree, love to keep the good local kids home to support Hawaii’s team but there are a lot of good players to be found elsewhere. If they want to go away that’s up to them there’s always a replacement somewhere. These kids got to want to play for the Warriors and we ain’t begging no one to stay!
Hope Rolo can get Challen Faamatau (Farrington HS). Guy is a stud a could be another Kealoha Pilares.
Faamatau, like Ranan Mamiya before him, is not an NCAA qualifier (yet). Hence, he does not have any scholarship offers. I hope he does well in his future SAT attempts.