Dual-sport standout from Mililani set to join UH football
STAR-ADVERTISER / OCT. 2015
Mililani’s Isaac Liva sacked Moanalua’s Alakai Yuen during a game between the Moanalua Menehune and the Mililani Trojans on Oct. 2, 2015 at Moanalua High School.
Isaac Liva, who was one of the state’s top high school volleyball players the past three seasons, is set to join the University of Hawaii football team next month.
It is a remarkable ascent for Liva, who won several honors in volleyball and basketball but had not played organized football until his senior year at Mililani High School.
When Liva inquired about joining the Mililani football team in July 2015, head coach Rod York recalled thinking: “Who’s this guy? We never even heard of him.”
That probably was because Liva attended Hanalani School as a freshman and Hawaii Baptist Academy as a sophomore and junior, when he led the Eagles to Division II state volleyball titles in 2014 and 2015.
“It was my senior year, and I had nothing to lose,” Liva said of decision to try out as a defensive end.
Liva admittedly had difficulty putting on his pads correctly for his first football practice. The coaches “let you know where you are on the (depth chart),” Liva said. “We had first string, second string and third string. When I first started, I was no string.”
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But he advanced to backup defensive end during the 2015 preseason. When two defensive linemen suffered season-ending knee injuries, Liva moved to the top of the depth chart.
Liva, who is 6 feet 5 inches tall and 230 pounds, initially was instructed to “basically, go for the quarterback. Once I got that down, they taught me about the moves and the different gaps and stuff.”
In Mililani’s four-man base front, Liva aligned on the edge. “He’s athletic,” York said. “You can’t out-run him. He might lose containment, but because of his athletic ability, he’ll recover.”
York said Liva was at his best as a run-stopper. In short-yardage situations, Liva moved to defensive tackle, playing the 3-technique across the gap between the offensive guard and tackle. In the OIA title game, Liva recovered a fumble and raced 27 yards for a touchdown.
Liva also is expected to play for the UH men’s volleyball team. This past volleyball season, he was named the OIA West Player of the Year.
22 responses to “Dual-sport standout from Mililani set to join UH football”
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Wow, sounds like a great get especially so late in the year. You can’t teach athleticism and size but you can teach a good athlete with size to be a good player.
Keiki O Ka Aina !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
alright! this is the most excited cholo has been about uh football since… well since chow almost destroyed it. which truthfully began as soon as chow was hired. chow was once a good football coach but he never progressed and adapted with the times.
scored big
Now he looks like a football player
“When I first started, I was no string.” We’ve all been there! Welcome to the new Warrior!
great addition to both teams!
Two ILH schools and then an OIA. Kid gets around. What kind of grades are we looking at?
This guy may be a great get for the Warriors. Good size, athletic…..and a sense of humor (“..no string”).
WOW … loving all these walk ons (I’m assuming he’s a walk on) that we’re getting … says a lot about “Rolo” and the staff which to me means we are headed in the right direction …
LIVE ALOHA / PLAY WARRIOR / DEFEND THE ROCK … GO ‘BOWS !!!!!
I agree! It looks like the beginning of a turn around. Go Bows!
Looking forward to seeing him do great things for the Warriors on both stages.
Love that the local players want to play for UH and Rolovich. Lots of nice late recruits coming in.
It’s Warrior Tiime baby!!
I love when these athletes switch sports. He is gonna be very valuable if he reaches his potential. Volleyball and basketball players bring a lot to the plate!
Sounds like another Ikaika Alama-Francis! Can Rolo do what JJ did for him? Good luck!
It is refreshing to see a local product join our UH football team when so many are picked up by other big name school such as Oregon and Notre Dame. In some cases they’ve even managed to wrangle them after they commit to UH as in the Notre Dame and Manti Teo incident. But then that is par for course for a school like Nitre Dame. That is the same school that snatched Cincinnati’s head coach right before their bowl game. They could have waited but they didn’t care about that coach’s commitment to his players nor about the players themselves. How selfish is that? And Notre Dame is supposed to be a Catholic school.
Isaac is very raw on the football field but he has good potential as a DE. Great size and smarts though.
Better suited for volleyball where he should focus most of his energy.
He will shortly need to make an important decision, football or volleyball. Given the football position that he seems to be slotted for, D-line, he needs to bulk up to be competitive. Doing so will significantly limit his volleyball potential or visa versa. Last I’ve seen there’s a lot more money to be made playing football, if he has that potential. Either way, good pick up for UH.
That is great news!
Welcome to UH! It’s an inviting place now that the place been cleaned out and fresh air flows through the athletic program. No longer is a young man looked at negatively based on long hair or tats or any sect affiliation.
I’m expecting improvement over Chow’s years. I’m not expecting us to be competitive against Cal or Michigan, so if we are competitive against either team then I will be pleased.