Hawaii Rainbow Warriors head football coach Norm Chow stated that four former Pac-12 players will start for the team this year. Those four are former USC quarterback Max Wittek, ex-Utah wide receiver Quinton Pedroza, former UCLA linebacker Jeremy Castro and another linebacker in former Arizona Wildcat Makani Kema-Kaleiwahea.
Fox Sports’ Bruce Feldman reported the story.
Norm Chow says #Hawaii has starters from #USC (Max Wittek); #Utah (Quinton Pedroza); #UCLA (Jeremy Castro) & #Zona (Makani Kema-Kaleiwahe).
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) July 29, 2015
Castro and Pedroza are the only two who have played for Hawaii entering this season, with Pedroza having caught 59 passes for 674 yards and three touchdowns last year and Castro totaling 21 tackles and two sacks in 13 games.
Wittek comes to the program after two years as a backup at USC, over which he threw for 600 yards and completed 50 of 95 pass attempts for three touchdowns, but also threw six interceptions. As a graduate transfer, he will be immediately eligible to play and may have to beat out junior Ikaika Woolsey for the starting quarterback’s job.
Kema-Kaleiwahe was primarily a reserve in two years at Arizona and posted seven tackles and half a sack in his time there.
Hawaii has gone 8-29 (4-20 Mountain West) in three years under Chow, so these four will hopefully take the team forward and return to the prominence it enjoyed under former coach June Jones, who won two Western Athletic Conference (WAC) titles in nine seasons with the program.
Hawaii opens the season at Aloha Stadium on September 4, taking on the Pac-12’s Colorado Buffaloes.
Can’t get enough of Campus Sports? Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to stay updated with the latest news and exclusive giveaways!
*Featured Photo (above) credit to KHON2
