Hawaii Grown: Former Saint Louis player Braeden Meyer takes a different path to success

Around the state of Hawaii, you will find kids everywhere playing football, dreaming of making it to the Division I college level.

Braeden Meyer is here to tell you there’s more out there if that D-I opportunity doesn’t come your way.

The Adams State fifth-year senior is a starting linebacker for the Grizzlies and has played in 34 games at the Division II level.

He’s coming off a career-best performance of 10 tackles with his first sack against Black Hills State on Saturday.

That’s just the on-the-field stuff. Off it, he has already earned his bachelor’s degree and is on his way to achieving a master’s degree in sports administration.

It’s all been made possible because of the opportunity and decision to play at a Division II school in Alamosa, Colo.

“I just kind of want to say I know a lot of Hawaii boys back in the islands have a big ‘D-I or bust’ mindset, but there’s a lot of great opportunities when you play at any collegiate level,” Meyer said in a phone interview on Monday. “I want to preach to the boys back home there is another way to get to the next level, and my experience with football has taught me a lot of things that I never would have learned if I stayed at home and went to school back home.”

Five years ago, Meyer was like any other kid hoping to make it big. At Saint Louis, where he graduated in 2017, it was hard enough just to get on the football field, playing behind the likes of Dylan Toilolo, Isaac Slade-Matautia and Noa Purcell at linebacker.

Meyer was good enough to earn his share of playing time and it earned him a look from at least one coach, from one school — which in this case, is all it took.

“One of our coaches (at Adams State) at the time was Derek Faavi, who is actually (Tua Tagovailoa’s) uncle,” Meyer said. “One time my dad and Tua’s dad were talking while we were practicing and (Galu Tagovailoa) told my dad there’s a school called Adams State University and you should have Braeden look into that because Tua’s uncle is over there. So I sent out an email to Coach Faavi and the coaches here.”

Meyer visited during his senior year of high school and did enough to earn a shot to play at Adams State.

Was he hoping for something more at the time? Maybe. But now, five years later, after going through a pandemic that canceled the entire 2020 season, Meyer is a leader on and off the field and has grown into the person he is today.

“These past five years have really been a blessing to me. I’ve grown so much from high school and, shoot, I was able to get my degree,” Meyer said. “I’m honored and blessed to play football and continue to play the sport that I love, but when everything is done, football won’t last forever and I have that degree to my name.”

The Grizzlies haven’t had a lot of success on the field, winning just four games in each of the previous three seasons.

That didn’t stop Meyer from working as hard as he could in the offseason. When the COVID-19 pandemic forced the school to shut down, Meyer and a few of his teammates used anything they could get their hands on to try to stay in shape and get better.

“We did our own workouts from March to about July,” Meyer said. “We made a whole backyard workout set. We found anything and everything — 15 gallon water jugs we filled with water, found a pole to bench and squat, used some straps we found and tied it to the jugs and filled some tires we found with cement. We did anything we could.”

When the school opened back up, Meyer went right back to the weight room, only to find out soon after that the season would be canceled.

Without football, Meyer used the time to accomplish what was needed in the classroom.

But he wasn’t done with football quite yet.

After 654 days away, Meyer stepped back on the field for the first time in a NCAA game on Sept. 4 against Western New Mexico.

“It was full of emotions, like almost I didn’t know how to react,” said Meyer, who has already set a career high with 24 tackles in just four games. “I just thought back to all of the hard work I put in through the whole COVID year. We’ve been through a lot as a team and done a lot of growing. I’ve put in a lot of work for this season because I knew it would be my last.

“I just want it to end with a bang.”

BRAEDEN MEYER BIO AND CAREER STATISTICS

Name: Braeden Meyer

School: Adams State

Class: Senior

Height: 6 feet 1

Weight: 220

Position: Linebacker

High school: Saint Louis (2017)

CAREER STATISTICS

YEAR GP S A TOT. TFL-YDS SK-YDS FF

2017 8 2 3 5 0-0 0-0 0

2018 10 12 15 27 3.5-15 0-0 1

2019 12 14 18 32 0-0 0-0 0

2020 Season canceled (COVID-19)

2021 4 18 5 23 2-4 1-3 0

TOTAL 34 46 41 87 5.5-19 1-3 1