My wife and I had the privilege of going out to Aloha Stadium last night for the Kamehameha-St Louis football game. It was a big 35-3 win for St Louis over a pretty dang good team, and Tua was outstanding. His stats were 23-36 for 272 yds, 2TDs, 0 ints, and rushed 10 times for 42 yards. He was probably over 100yds rushing, but faced a furious pass rush with blitzes coming on almost every play and was sacked a few times. He had four drops on balls that were right on the money, but it seemed to never phase him, and he seemed to help his receivers "shake it off."
Although I did HS play by play for six years I am not much of a highly technical guy when it comes to quick releases, progressions, etc .But, here's what I liked about him.
He is definitely a leader - not a rah, rah! cheerleader type but was constantly up and down the sidelines talking to his offense, patting them on the helmet and from my vantage point encouraging them. When the offense would go onto the field after a change of possession, I noticed that it was Tua who was huddled near the sideline talking with the team with the coach standing back on the sideline.
Although a dual threat QB, he is definitely a pass first guy. That impressed me. His pocket presence was surprising to me, since at least in my experience, dual threat QBs look to run at the first sign of pocket breakdown. Several times he stepped up in the pocket and made great throws. He had some scrambles, one on a 4th and 26 play where he showed both strength and speed as he was hit pretty hard about 4 yards short of the first down but stayed on his feet to make it by about a half yard!
I was impressed with his accuracy. I only saw one ball all night that was not on the money, and end zone fade route that was well defended. Honestly, only one. His receivers were hit in stride, did not have to twist or turn to make the catch. On a third and 21 he threw a beautiful deep ball which he released while his receiver was stride for stride with a pretty good CB; his receiver kicked it into gear and got a step and ran under the perfectly thrown ball for a 38 yard gain. When I looked back from where Tua had thrown the ball after he had to scramble it was a little over 50 yards in the air.
We sat with and talked with a lot of folks. I have been coming out here since 2007, doing some work out at Pearl Harbor. Since day one I have been amazed at the number of Bama fans out here- many who have never been past California on the mainland. Almost all around us had watched the OM game and had lots of comments, of course. All positive! "Glad WE pulled it out!" Most seem excited and honored that "one of their own" has a chance to go play at Bama. We saw about a dozen folks, old and young wearing t-shirts that had printed on the front "Roll Tua Roll"!
Some mentioned Oregon, however. And Mariotta is also from Honolulu, and has a lot of influence. Many are also aware that Hurts is just a freshman, and Tua will either have to beat him out, or wait his turn! I don't believe he is afraid of competition and that he stays committed to us.
Just my thoughts!
RTR
Although I did HS play by play for six years I am not much of a highly technical guy when it comes to quick releases, progressions, etc .But, here's what I liked about him.
He is definitely a leader - not a rah, rah! cheerleader type but was constantly up and down the sidelines talking to his offense, patting them on the helmet and from my vantage point encouraging them. When the offense would go onto the field after a change of possession, I noticed that it was Tua who was huddled near the sideline talking with the team with the coach standing back on the sideline.
Although a dual threat QB, he is definitely a pass first guy. That impressed me. His pocket presence was surprising to me, since at least in my experience, dual threat QBs look to run at the first sign of pocket breakdown. Several times he stepped up in the pocket and made great throws. He had some scrambles, one on a 4th and 26 play where he showed both strength and speed as he was hit pretty hard about 4 yards short of the first down but stayed on his feet to make it by about a half yard!
I was impressed with his accuracy. I only saw one ball all night that was not on the money, and end zone fade route that was well defended. Honestly, only one. His receivers were hit in stride, did not have to twist or turn to make the catch. On a third and 21 he threw a beautiful deep ball which he released while his receiver was stride for stride with a pretty good CB; his receiver kicked it into gear and got a step and ran under the perfectly thrown ball for a 38 yard gain. When I looked back from where Tua had thrown the ball after he had to scramble it was a little over 50 yards in the air.
We sat with and talked with a lot of folks. I have been coming out here since 2007, doing some work out at Pearl Harbor. Since day one I have been amazed at the number of Bama fans out here- many who have never been past California on the mainland. Almost all around us had watched the OM game and had lots of comments, of course. All positive! "Glad WE pulled it out!" Most seem excited and honored that "one of their own" has a chance to go play at Bama. We saw about a dozen folks, old and young wearing t-shirts that had printed on the front "Roll Tua Roll"!
Some mentioned Oregon, however. And Mariotta is also from Honolulu, and has a lot of influence. Many are also aware that Hurts is just a freshman, and Tua will either have to beat him out, or wait his turn! I don't believe he is afraid of competition and that he stays committed to us.
Just my thoughts!
RTR
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