Hawaii quarterback Chevan Cordeiro and UCLA receiver Matt Sykes were pass-and-catch teammates on a state-championship team in 2017.

Now the Saint Louis School graduates will be the best of foes when UH and UCLA meet in Saturday’s season opener at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.

“Chevan was my QB my sophomore year of high school,” Sykes said of Cordeiro, who is two years older. “Chevan’s the man.”

Both players remain loyal “men of Kalaepohaku,” although Sykes admittedly has only exchanged texts with Koali Nishigaya, one of 12 former Crusaders on the UH roster, leading to game week.

“Not right now,” Cordeiro said of communicating with Sykes, musing, “right now, he’s not my friend. We’re just ready for this game.”

Both players praised the other. “He’s a good player,” Cordeiro said.

Sykes said: “He’s got everything it takes to be a great QB.”

Both are entering the opener with different experiences. Cordeiro has ascended from late-game hero in 2018 to part-time starter in 2019 to team captain last year. This week, teammates unanimously selected Cordeiro to a second term as captain. Despite being the anointed leader of the run-and-gun offense, Cordeiro remains driven.

“I’m not perfect,” Cordeiro said. “There are a lot of things I need to get better on. … I know what I need to work on. I’m never going to sit around. I’m going to keep pushing.”

In his two freshman years, in 2018 and 2019, Cordeiro provided competition for quarterback Cole McDonald. Now it is Cordeiro as the older quarterback to a freshman, Brayden Schager.

“Brayden has been pushing me this whole fall camp,” Cordeiro said. “He’s been getting me better, and I’ve been getting him better. It goes to the receivers, defensive linemen, o-linemen. Every position has depth now. We’ve been sharp. We’ve been battling each other for the past fall camp, and getting each other better.”

Sykes received a 4-star rating from 247Sports as a Saint Louis senior in 2019. With enough credits to graduate early from Saint Louis, Sykes enrolled at UCLA for the start of the spring session in February 2020.

“I think it was advantageous for me when I enrolled early because I got to get an early look in the playbook, being in those meetings with the receivers, and being around the team,” Sykes said.

As it turned out, the pandemic led to Saint Louis students completing the spring 2020 semester virtually.

As a freshman, Sykes played in six of the Bruins’ seven games, including starts against California and Oregon. He will have an expanded role this season.

“I give him all the praise in the world this fall camp,”: UCLA receiver Chase Cota said of Sykes. “I think he’s looked really good, especially coming from first year to second year. You can see a big leap, especially in his confidence and his route-running ability. He’s getting closer to the defenders when he’s making his moves and stuff. I think he looks really good for us.”

Sykes said he looks forward to playing in front of spectators in the Rose Bowl — fans were not permitted last year — and facing his hometown team.

“It’s been exciting having Hawaii on the schedule for the first game,” Sykes said. “I have a ton of my friends from high school playing there. That’s definitely one of my motivations coming into this is playing them, seeing them.”