Things are going South, but in a good way, for three former Hawaii high school star quarterbacks.

Jordan Ta’amu is one of them. With two others making a colossal mark on the college football scene last month, Ta’amu’s breakout season was tame in comparison. Had Tua Tagovailoa (from Saint Louis to Alabama to winning TD pass in national championship game) and McKenzie Milton (from Mililani to UCF to 13-0 record and a Peach Bowl win over Auburn) not been around, Ta’amu is the one college football fans from Hawaii would be amped up about.

And with good reason. Ta’amu took over for the heralded but injured Shea Patterson as the Ole Miss quarterback at midseason and wound up throwing for 1,682 yards and 11 touchdowns in the Rebels’ 6-6 season. Even though Ta’amu was a rock of a QB in high school, he was not considered a sure thing on his roundabout way to Oxford, Miss., and the football-crazed Southeastern Conference from little ol’ Pearl City High with a stop at New Mexico Military Institute.

“When I first stepped on the field, I was completely nervous with all the fans in the stadium and all the noise,” Ta’amu said via cellphone last week. “But I had been preparing for this my whole life … my dream … and I wanted to make the most of it. So I blocked out everything and focused on what I needed to do. I had been behind Shea and had been watching him. I wanted to take advantage of my chance. I prepared every practice as if I was going to start. It helped me a lot. Success just came on its own. I did what I had to do — possessions and reads and I trusted the receivers to be there to catch the ball and make tremendous plays.”

Ta’amu will always remember the shot of adrenaline he got after his first big play for Ole Miss — where Archie Manning and son Eli fill the No. 1 and 2 all-time greatest QB spots in school lore.

“The 49-yard TD run that I made in my first start against Arkansas, that was one of my favorite plays from the season,” Ta’amu said. “My O-line gave me room and my fullback made an even bigger hole and I took off. A memorable moment.”

And he recalls some of the mistakes, too.

“My least favorite plays were when I made bad decisions on two picks,” Ta’amu added. “One of them was against Texas A&M, where I could have been smarter with the ball and made a better decision. I believe it cost us the game. The coaches didn’t think that. But it was a pick-6 and it changed the momentum.”

After spending 2013 and 2014 throwing for 3,351 yards and 39 touchdowns and rushing for 595 yards and four TDs as Pearl City’s starter, Ta’amu went on to New Mexico Military Institute — a junior college — for two seasons. He played sparingly as a freshman in 2015, but threw for 3,014 yards and 32 TDs with 328 yards and seven TDs rushing as a sophomore.

“My greatest accomplishment in high school was making it to the (OIA D-II) championship game in my junior and senior years,” he said. “We came close when I was a junior and even closer, losing in overtime, as a senior. At states, we went to Kauai two years in a row, but came up short. I will always remember those trips.”

Prior to all of that, Ta’amu played youth football for various organizations, including Aiea, Waikele and Kunia. He has at least one year of college eligibility left.

“The (Ole Miss) coaches are trying to see if the NCAA will grant me a year back for a medical redshirt,” Ta’amu said. “My first year in junior college, I was hurt and only took a couple of snaps. They’re saying the chances are pretty good, but they don’t want to get my hopes up. I’m praying that I get another year.”

Things are looking bright for Ta’amu in 2018. He is the incumbent starter at QB since Patterson decided to transfer to Michigan. But on the negative side, the school is under a postseason ban for 2018 and there have been scholarship reductions.

Still, Ta’amu is loving his time in the deep South.

“Everything has been awesome since I got on campus — the coaches, the community, the fans, my teammates,” he said. “It’s a blessing. The team is super pumped for next year. We have a lot of recruits coming in that are going to help us a lot. We’re getting ready.”