Boise’s Correa uses faith as motivation on and off field

BOISE, Idaho >> You can learn a lot about someone with a quick look at his or her Twitter account. After everything I’d heard about Kamalei Correa, I was somewhat surprised he even has one.

Kamalei_8 makes things very clear in the brief bio under his picture: Follower of GOD.

He does so in real life, too. I asked him about his humility and affinity for the underdog.

"First off, I believe in God, that’s the main thing," the Boise State sackmaster said. "My mom stresses that I keep that first in my life."

His re-tweets aren’t about people getting punked or celebrities being celebrities. They’re about things that matter. Like this:

Bleacher Report @BleacherReport Aug 13

VIDEO: Notre Dame surprises walk-on/uniform model with scholarship, teammates go nuts http://ble.ac/1J6ymc8

or this:

BuzzFeed News @BuzzFeedNews Apr 10

Lauren Hill, The Inspiring College Basketball Player Fighting Brain Cancer, Dies At 19 http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/lauren-hill-the-inspiring-college-basketball-player-fighting?bftw&utm_term=4ldqpgc#4ldqpgc …

"Real inspirational people keep you humbled," Correa said. "It motivates me to strive to do my best. It helps me remember a lot of people have it worse than I do."

Opposing quarterbacks are the ones who have it really bad.

Last year he sacked them 12 times, leading the Mountain West Conference and putting him on the watch list for almost every award a college football defensive player can win. In four games this season he has just two sacks, but would likely have more if the 3-1 Broncos needed his services longer in 52-0 and 56-14 blowouts of Idaho State and Virginia the past two weeks.

At 6-foot-3 and 245 pounds, combined with last year’s production, he’s considered a good NFL prospect if he makes himself available for the 2016 draft. But he doesn’t think that far ahead and just sees himself as needing to improve to be the best he can for Boise State.

"Last year I made plays because my teammates were in position and the coaches had good schemes. I feel like I could’ve done a better job with more effort from me physically," he said. "I have a standard. Coach (Bryan) Harsin has a standard. All the fans have a standard. I haven’t met my standard yet."

There’s no way this hungry and humble guy can develop a big head, unless he turns off his phone after every game. That’s when his older brothers, La’anui and Haku, provide feedback. They are hard graders.

"They were really tough on me when I was in high school (at Saint Louis). They’ve kind of tapered off. But they still call me after games and say, ‘You could’ve done this, you should’ve done that,’ " said Correa, adding that the brothers rough him up even after he plays a great game. "They always joke with me, ‘Ah, you junk.’ It’s always tough love. I know they love me and they want the best for me."

This Saturday ditching the phone won’t work. The brothers will be in attendance at Albertsons Stadium as Hawaii comes to Boise.

He’s trying to approach it like any other game. Good luck with that.

"Honestly, I’m not going to lie, this is the first conference game, so it’s huge," he said. "But it’s a normal week of preparation. It really doesn’t matter who you play, you can get beat by any team. Hawaii is a good team."

La’anui and Haku played defensive line for UH. And their mom, Lani, works on lower campus, at the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatics Complex.

So, it might seem Kamalei Correa was born to be a Warrior.

"They left that decision up to me," he said. "I wanted to start my own path."

And that trail often leads straight to the quarterback.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.