JC kicker will join Warriors

Even in the womb, as the story goes, Rigoberto "Rigo" Sanchez often was kicking.

"I’ve always been a kicker," said Sanchez, who will join the University of Hawaii football team this summer. "There are pictures and videos of me kicking the ball as a little kid."

Sanchez, who played at Butte College in Oroville, Calif., said he hopes to succeed placekicker Tyler Hadden, who completed his NCAA eligibility at the end of the 2014 season. Walk-ons Aaron Novoa and Kainoa McDonald were the UH kickers during spring practice.

Sanchez is 6 feet 1 and 190 pounds. He said he is "pretty solid" on field-goal attempts up to 55 yards. He said he connected from 60 yards during warm-ups last year, and hit a 57-yard field goal as a Hamilton (Calif.) High senior in 2011.

At Butte in 2014, he converted 10 of 13 field-goal attempts. He said two-thirds of his 64 kickoffs were touchbacks.

Sanchez was an accomplished center-midfielder in soccer before joining Hamilton’s football team as a sophomore. He was named to MaxPreps’ California Division IV all-state first team as a senior.

"I really got into football, and that’s what I do now," Sanchez said. "I gave up soccer. I’m fully committed to playing the (placekicking) position, and doing as best as I can."

At Butte, Sanchez also averaged 40.7 yards per punt in conference games.

For all the football games he played, he had not attended a college game until last November. He made the 2-hour drive to Fresno to watch the Bulldogs play the Warriors.

"I was sitting right behind Hawaii," Sanchez said. "It caught my attention. After that, I wanted to play for Hawaii."

Butte quarterbacks coach Jon Hays called UH coach Norm Chow. Chow was Utah’s offensive coordinator in 2011 when Hays was the Utes’ quarterback.

"I’ve always wanted to play in the Mountain West (Conference)," Sanchez said. "I’m blessed to have an opportunity to go to Hawaii and play."