Sione Veikoso has become a student of the game and a good one in the classroom

Simple is not always easy.

Sione Veikoso is a master of simplicity in the face of adversity. The 6-foot-8, 275-pound Kailua senior never asked for extreme challenges. He just embraces — and excels — where some might wilt and collapse.

He can’t forget anything about his mom, Wendy, a single mother of four who stuck with him through thick and thin.

“She used to always say, ‘Whatever you do in life starts at home.’ I remember her waking me up on Saturdays, taking me to the swap meet. I was 10 years old,” he said.

There were times he was a hard-headed teenager, too.

“I got the fact that I had to listen. I miss her,” he said. “I”m sorry for all the troubles I gave her.”

Wendy died from a brain aneurysm in 2015, not long after Sione’s first season of organized football. Sione and his two sisters and younger brother moved in with an uncle and aunt, Siua and Michelle Kava. Somehow, he did more than just survive. He rose to another level. As a junior, he had a 4.0 grade-point average, increasing his cumulative to 3.43. While playing football, basketball and volleyball. While becoming one of the top offensive-line prospects in the state.

Kailua football coach Joe Hauoli Wong considers his left tackle the best in the state, and not because of natural bias. Wong was a standout lineman at Kailua, then played at Hawaii and Brigham Young before lining up for the Miami Dolphins, Philadelphia Eagles and Oakland Raiders.

“His footwork, hand placement, body posture — those are all his strengths, but his feet are ridiculously good,” Wong said. “He actually looks like a tight end when he runs, or a huge defensive end. He works out with our defensive ends. He still asks me to let him play D-end in games.”

Offensive line coach Kevin Pagan grew up with Wong in Waimanalo and has coached behemoths for decades, including some current Division I college blockers from Surfriders country.

“Sione has grown a lot with his attitude, his confidence, with his skill,” Pagan said. “Sione has the greatest feet I’ve seen for his size.”

Veikoso’s family moved from Kalihi to Waimanalo during his middle-school years, and his sport was basketball in Police Activities League.

“My freshman year, I was too scared to play football. I never played it before,” Veikoso said. “Coach Hau (Wong) saw me at one of my basketball games. He told me to come out, so I did one day and I’ve been going every day since then.”

It wasn’t an automatic transition for Veikoso.

“He came to me, he didn’t know how to get into a three-point stance,” Pagan recalled. “You put the videotape on now and he looks like he’s played since he was 5 years old. The honest truth, Miga Gaisoa was our left tackle. Hauoli said, ‘Sione is our right tackle.’ I said, ‘Maybe he needs reps on JV.’ But Sione listened and made strides by the week. It was amazing to see him grow.”

Then came Kailua’s first scrimmage of 2015. Powerhouse Saint Louis was a big test.

“He turned it on, burying guys out there,” Pagan said. “I thought, ‘I guess we’ve got our right tackle.’ ”

Since that initial experience as a 10th-grader, Veikoso grew 3 inches and packed on some muscle to a lanky frame. Wong believes Veikoso is almost 6-9 now, and though he and the staff believe their standout blocker has great potential, talk of colleges and recruiting is kept in house.

“I think whoever gets him is going to be very lucky. No matter what they run, he can block one on one, just maul people. If there’s a better left tackle, he can play right tackle. His arms are so long, they can’t touch him,” Wong said.

“The perfect college situation would be a great education, something different from home,” said Veikoso, who has offers from BYU, Hawaii, Oregon State and Washington State.

Wong is willing to make comparisons if asked.

“Sione reminds me of Ronnie Stanley when he was at Bishop Gorman. Both of them started as basketball players. Sione is starting to utilize his strengths out there,” said Wong, who also compared him to another Baltimore Ravens lineman. “Sione reminds me of a little version of Jonathan Ogden.”

Kailua has started the season well, now 2-0 in the OIA Red (3-0 overall). The future seems bright and blue. Veikoso has guarded optimism.

“We look pretty good so far, but we haven’t played the big dogs in our division,” he said. “I think we’ll see in a couple weeks or so.”

PROFILE

Sione Loni Veikoso

>> School: Kailua

>> Sports: Football, basketball, volleyball

>> Sisters: Mele, Sanimata

>> Brother: Sione Matileka

Q & A Favorites Athlete: Michael Jordan “I like the famous quotes he said about success. How his mom set his foundation and his roots. He couldn’t have done it without her.”

GPA: 3.43 “My junior year I was 4.0 through the year. I had to make up for freshman year. It’s just overcoming procrastination. I procrastinated a lot my freshman year. Now I do everything on time. It’s just effort. I want to get a degree and get into a career that I really want to major in. Just be successful. I’m thinking of engineering.”

Place to relax: My room “When I’m there, I’m at peace. I know the day is done.”

Major dislike: “I don’t play softball. I hate softball. It’s like baseball. Baseball is boring.”

Practicing with Christian Mejia, now at Washington State: “He was the best defensive end I ever saw. If I could block him at practice, I could go up against anybody in the state. It was mainly technique. I started getting used to Chris’ ways, and tried to develop some techniques to block him.”

Leadership

“I’m not really a natural talker. I learned it from watching the seniors when I was a sophomore and junior.”