SAN JOSE, Calif. — For the first time this season, Hopate Kaho will be in attendance when his son takes the field. This past year has been a whirlwind for the Kaho family as their oldest son, Ale, embarked on a winding road that led him from Reno, Nev., to Seattle and then ultimately to Tuscaloosa, Ala.
This wasn’t the way this story was supposed to unfold. But when Ale suits up for No. 1 Alabama during Monday night’s national championship game, no one inside the Kaho household will be complaining.
During his freshman season, Ale appeared in all 14 of Alabama’s games, tallying 11 tackles while also recovering a fumble. That production shouldn’t be a surprise considering he was a Rivals 100 member and one of the most coveted linebackers in the nation. The twist comes in the fact that he’s played his games in crimson rather than purple.
Ale signed with Washington in December of 2017, seemingly ending what was a hotly-pursued recruiting process. At that time, the four-star linebacker was “100 percent all-in” for the Huskies and excited to play out his college career under head coach Chris Petersen.
That was until that an unforeseen snag made that dream less and less of a reality.
Ale spent roughly five weeks in Washington this summer but never suited up for the Huskies during practice. The holdup came as he needed an extra year of foreign language to meet the university’s admission requirements.
According to Hopate, Washington had not notified the Kahos that Ale’s eligibility would be a concern until after he made the trip to Washington. Not only was the freshman not allowed to practice with the team, he was also forced to live with relatives in the area instead of on campus.
After learning that Ale would have to sit out a season, the family asked Washington for a release. However, it wasn’t until early August that Washington complied. From there, Alabama once again was able to pursue contact with Ale, allowing him to change his course and join the Crimson Tide during the final week of its fall camp.
“It was very frustrating because we were told things that were going to happen that weren’t really happening,” Hopate told BamaInsider.com. “We were kind of strung along a little bit when we should have been told the truth of what is going on so we could figure out what we were going to do. The whole situation played out really crazy, but things happen for a reason.”
LINK
https://alabama.rivals.com/news/freshman-ale-kaho-reflects-on-long-journey-to-alabama
