Dave Reardon: Oregon hits Hawaii with a few local names

A player named Bryan Addison had a chance at a spectacular grab of a Brayden Schager bomb in the second quarter, nearly making an over-the-helmet basket catch Saturday at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore.

Addison also made a tackle on the fifth play of his team’s 55-10 win. That would have been a good thing for University of Hawaii football fans if this were 1992.

But it’s 31 years later, and this was Bryan Addison Jr., not Bryan Addison Sr. Senior played for the Rainbow Warriors the year they went 11-2 and won the Holiday Bowl. That season started with Hawaii’s third victory in a row against Oregon, and it was on the road.

This was the first time the schools played each other since. And it’s pretty obvious things have changed, drastically.

Addison Jr. was among many players with ties to UH or Hawaii in general to contribute to the Ducks’ lopsided victory over the visitors from the islands where they love to recruit.

The 45-point loss was not much of a surprise, since 13th-ranked Oregon was favored by 381⁄2. But that didn’t make it easier for UH fans to accept. Part of it is because Oregon seems to be the high-profile program that takes the most top-notch talent from the islands.

At least it appeared so on this sunny Saturday.

There was Iapani “Poncho” Laloulu, a true freshman from Farrington who got significant playing time on the Oregon offensive line. He was considered by many the best prospect out of Hawaii in the class of 2023. He started three years at Farrington and his junior year at Saint Louis.

There are 10 players on Oregon’s roster who either played high school football in Hawaii, list a place in Hawaii as their hometown, and/or whose father played at UH. One of them is Teitum Tuioti, whose dad, Tony, is a former UH star and assistant coach.

If that wasn’t enough, those of us who watched on TV were reminded a few times about Marcus Mariota and DeForest Buckner — two keiki o ka aina who did pretty well for themselves as Ducks.

I’ve always contended that student-athletes should go to college wherever they believe is best for them. These are their lives, their futures. And if you’re a gifted football player and a school like Oregon (or Notre Dame, or USC, or … at least since the past couple of weeks … Alabama) is interested in you it’s probably a good idea to consider it.

You can point fingers in any direction you want, because you’re a fan — but try not to blame the players, who are young people making the best life decisions they can with the information they have.

Since you’re a fan, you’re also more than welcome to dream — and sometimes dreams come true. The next time a highly sought-after hometown recruit chooses Hawaii and others in his class join him won’t be the first.

When UH head coach Timmy Chang graduated from Saint Louis in 2000, he had committed to the Warriors — and was quickly followed by many of the other top prospects from Hawaii. Like Chang, they were intrigued by the turnaround of 1999 — when Tony Tuioti was among the key players coached by first-year head coach June Jones, who took the team from 0-12 to 9-4.

Chang and his classmates were not winners right away at UH. When they were true freshmen, the Warriors went 3-9. But they won more than they lost all four years after that.

Give Chang another couple of recruiting classes, financial support and a real stadium — at least under construction — and maybe Oregon or some other team on the continent won’t seem more like Polynesia’s team than the one that is in Polynesia.