Jared Ursua speaks fondly of his time playing high school football in Hawaii.
But you’ll have to excuse him if he doesn’t remember much of it.
It’s been eight years since the Southern Utah senior racked up more than 1,500 total yards at Kealakehe, leading his team to an undefeated regular season in the Big Island Interscholastic Federation.
He can recall the painful loss to Hilo in the playoffs that brought a sudden and shocking end to a promising season.
Other than that, however, he can’t say much.
"It feels like a lifetime ago," said Ursua, a starting wide receiver for the Thunderbirds this season. "I don’t know if I can claim myself as a Hawaii boy anymore."
 » Name: Jared Ursua » School: Southern Utah » Position: Wide receiver » Class: Senior » Height: 5 feet 11 » High school: Kealakehe (2004) » Stats:
| Year |
GP |
Rec. |
Yds. |
Avg |
TD |
LG |
| 2008 |
11 |
27 |
298 |
11.0 |
3 |
45 |
| 2009 |
11 |
26 |
239 |
9.2 |
2 |
21 |
| 2010 |
11 |
8 |
116 |
14.5 |
2 |
70 |
| 2011 |
6 |
34 |
434 |
12.8 |
4 |
41 |
| Totals |
39 |
95 |
1,087 |
11.4 |
11 |
70 |
|
Quite the opposite was true less than three weeks ago, when Ursua took the field on a typical Saturday evening in Las Vegas.
Southern Utah, an FCS team that plays in the Big Sky Conference, stepped up to play FBS-member UNLV just one week after the Rebels dominated Hawaii 40-20 on the same field.
Ursua wasn’t recruited by the Warriors out of high school, but still follows the team regularly, and he knew full well what had happened just one week prior.
A Thunderbird on the field, Ursua said there was a little "Warrior" in him when he lined up for the opening play of the game.
"It’s not like Utah, where there’s Utah and BYU. Hawaii is the state team in Hawaii. That’s all they’ve got," Ursua said. "You grow up in Hawaii, you’re a (UH) fan, so for me, I took that game personally, probably a little more personal than my teammates."
Seven days after the Rebels beat Hawaii by 20, Southern Utah blasted UNLV 41-16.
Ursua called it the best moment of his college career.
"Definitely No. 1 on the list," said Ursua, who had four catches for a team-high 78 yards against the Rebels. "The environment and the fact it was a little bit more personal for me after they beat Hawaii … it was a lot of fun, and I definitely got a lot of feedback from a lot of my friends back home."
A lot has changed since Ursua graduated in 2004. After redshirting his freshman year, Ursua served his 2-year LDS mission in, of all places, Utah.
"My sister got married over spring break, so I came home and filed all of my papers from Hawaii and they called me right back (saying Utah)," Ursua said. "I get a lot of laughs about that."
Once his mission was over, Ursua had a chance to play at Utah, but turned down a walk-on offer to take a scholarship at Southern Utah instead.
After playing behind two All-American receivers, Ursua has stepped up his senior year to lead the team through six games with 34 catches for 434 yards and four touchdowns.
"I’ve been able to have a lot of the games I’ve had this year because of the skills and techniques I learned from those guys in front of me," said Ursua, who twice this year has scored two touchdowns in a game. "I’ve always been able to make the plays in practice and now I get an opportunity to do the same on Saturdays."
The Thunderbirds have lost two close games to open Big Sky play following the win over UNLV, and they play four of their final five games on the road, beginning with Cal Poly on Saturday.
Ursua’s lone remaining home game comes against UC Davis, which lost to UH 56-14 on Sept. 24.
"A lot of people compare (the UNLV games) and say we can beat (UH), but I don’t think I’d put all that together," Ursua said. "(Because) we run a lot of the similar stuff as Hawaii, we were able to learn a lot from that tape and execute (against UNLV).
"It would have been a lot of fun to play them though."
