As we begin our coverage of Hawaii Prep Football we want to immediately connect with the best in the business on the Islands. I have personally had so many connections to Hawaii here in the Pacific NW that I feel like I am home when I go there. The goal of IslandPreps.com and our staff will be to take the deserving athletes from Hawaii and other Islands and tell their story to our growing Network here at Vype Sports. Through this we will shine a brighter light on these kids here in the mainland and help the story of these special student athletes get into the hands of the many college coaches that follow our work.
Starting off the network is a quick glimpse at the #1 player in the 2016 graduation class and what some of his coaches have to say about him.
Kaiser High School in Honolulu, Hawaii is home to 6’4″- 305 lb. Senior Michael Eletise. The 4 Star offensive linemen is rated by Rivals.com and Scout.com as the #1 Offensive Guard in the West. He is an Under Armour All American and holds 45 offers which include almost every major school in the US. He rose to prominence in 2014 and continued his rise through 2015. Mike was at Nike’s The Opening and dominated.
Before he committed to the Arizona Wildcats Elitese had offers from Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Auburn, LSU, Michigan, Michigan State, Texas, TCU, UCLA, Washington, and Wisconsin just to mention a fraction of the schools that came after him. The kid has the WOW factor on and off the field.
Of all things he has his strength, which at this point appears super-human, appears to be his best asset.
Coach Chad Ikei is in the eyes of many the man to train with in Hawaii and he has coached up to 150 Pro athletes in terms of strength, speed, and conditioning. Here he captured Michael repping 805 lbs on the squat. Just freakish and it tells us why he is so dominating on the field. Watch this and realize he is a High School kid!
From the Website IkeiSportsHawaii.com; Chad Ikei has over 26 years of experience and a unique background in strength and power sports. With over 11 years of athletic experience in World-Class competition and 15 years of professional coaching in strength and conditioning, Chad understands the requirements for athletic success. He places a priority on building strong communicative relationships with every athlete and aggressively develops their mental focus, physical preparation and athletic performance. Chad’s knowledge in strength and power development elevates Ikei Sports Performance to the highest level of performance. When athletes need to be bigger, faster and stronger, they come to Chad Ikei at Ikei Sports Hawaii.
Coach Ikei shares his thoughts about Michael.
“Michael is an incredible young man and I’ve been blessed to have worked with him the past 4 years. He comes from an amazing support system at home that has provided him with the passion & desire to work hard in order to become the best student athlete he possibly can be.”
Another guy we are close to and have loved working with over the years is offensive line guru Coach Brian Derby. He has trained thousands of Offensive Linemen from Hawaii over the past 15 years and dedicates 20 weekends a year to the young and the college bound and he does it all for Free! Derby could coach at any college in the world in our opinion and we have only seen a few guys that break the sweet science of the offensive line down the way he does. Elitese tweeted out a nice tribute to Coach Derby who he says made him who he is today as far as his line skills go.
Been so blessed by Coach Brian Derby! I am where I am today because of him! #Coach #Mentor #Example #OLineStrong pic.twitter.com/iq8LDnwaug — Michael Eletise (@MichaelEletise) June 29, 2015
“Mike has been with me for 5 years. Great Kid! He is so strong. He is the real deal. He will probably be one of the strongest if not the strongest guys on the team when he gets to Arizona in a couple weeks. He is strong, quick, technical and can play Center, Guard, and Tackle! He has a great future. Because of his work ethic and God’s gift of talent I do believe that one day we will see him in the NFL,” said Coach Derby who is only known to shower praise like that on a limited few.
Here is Michael taking a rep at the end of the 2016 Brian Derby Football Camps.
Enjoy this guy when he goes forward to represent the 808! Michael is special and has all the attributes of a great one. No doubt he has had the support of great positional and strength coaches and many more people behind him too. This is the sort of kid the Islands are known for and we look forward t0 bringing many more stories forward as our coverage moves ahead!
Do you have a great story or athlete you want us to cover? Email our editor Dirk Knudsen at dirkknudsen@gmail.com for consideration.