Week 2 update:

JKS and Campbell had a huge game last night @ powerhouse Punahou. Punahou came into the season the #2 team in Hawaii before a season opening loss to nationally ranked Sierra Canyon (CA). Sierra Canyon beat them 30-7 kind of embarrassing Punahou's vaunted defense and dropped them to 5th in the state rankings while JKS and Campbell jumped up to 2nd while dismantling Damien 67-35.

JKS & Co. went in and absolutely dominated Punahou 49-17 behind 5 TDs from our future star. I'm posting a link to the full game (well, minus the first drive from Punahou) and it's definitely worth a watch for anyone interested since highlights only tell so much of the story and can be a little desensitizing. Seeing him in action on every play is even more impressive. The full game is up on YouTube and I linked it at the bottom, I'd highly recommend watching at least the first drive by JKS and it only takes 5 minutes of your time.

Meanwhile in preps, Campbell's Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele went 24-for-30 for 332 yards and five touchdowns in a 49-17 win over Punahou.

Sagapolutele is now 46 passing yards away from becoming the fifth QB to top 8,000 career passing yards.

Record book: https://t.co/ztTx63NcA4 pic.twitter.com/AZvm3XTcCu

— Billy Hull (@billyhull) August 25, 2024

Here's a breakdown of his great first drive (although it probably takes longer to read than just watching):

• Play 1 - Cover 2. A 5 yard out to his slot receiver on his left for a gain of 7 yards. Pass was a little low but a good read and well away from any danger. ILB had no shot to get out to the sideline that quick and the outside corner couldn't pass off his man and come up fast enough. Easy money to take

• Play 2 - Cover 2. Play action screen to his right slot just past the earhole of a blitzing LB into the vacated area. On target with room to run in the seam for a gain of 22

• Play 3 - Cover 1. Play action shot down the middle of the field 40 yards downfield and dropped/broken up. Best play of the drive imo even though it went for no yards. The defender made contact early and it really should've been PI but the pass was dropped in a bucket where only the WR could catch it. Regardless it was a great throw where it took a great defensive play (and a little extra) to break it up but the ball was never in danger of an INT. This is one of the reasons that full games are so much better than highlights, you'd miss throws like this

• Play 4 - Cover 3. Punahou sends a blitz, JKS has too much traffic around his WRs so he decisively scrambles. Avoids some traffic of his own in the pocket, takes off up the middle and slides for a gain of 8

• Play 5 - Cover 1 and JKS hits his outside WR to his right on a go route for a gain of 28. If you're *really* nitpicking you could argue that it was a half a step too far as his WR lunged and fell while catching the ball but again it was dropped in a bucket where no one but his guy could even touch it

• Play 6 - Designed QB draw, pressure up the gut and JKS avoids him leaking out to his right. LB flies up to make a hit along the sideline and JKS spins to the inside and leaves him grasping at air while outrunning another defender. He continues up the sideline before getting hit out at the 7 yard line for 1st & goal. Gain of 17. What's really nice about this play is the headiness of it. Pre-snap swaps his RB to his right because it takes a LB off the edge and into the middle of the field. After the play action moving to his left the gives a subtle fake at a screen setup to the wide side of the field with a quick shoulder turn which causes the ILBs to bite and start flowing to their right toward the expected play and play fake. This also freezes the pressure up the middle for half a beat as the defender is defending the pass or run option to the open space. JKS takes off to the narrow boundary where all of these actions have created a mostly open sideline with only one LB to make miss. Because he read single high cover 1 he knew the CB would be run off by the 9 route and he flipped the play at the line (you can hear in the video) to the narrow sideline while manipulating the defense to create the space and matchup he wanted

• Play 7 - Cover 0. Fade route to the corner of the endzone for a 7 yard TD. Throwing to the far sideline and to his left (the tougher throw for a lefty) that was once again placed with pinpoint accuracy and where the defender could only watch. He made it look as simple and casual as a warmup throw

Punahou does a lot of moving around with their defensive front to create confusion which can be challenging to young signal callers who are always having to guess where the pressure is coming from and can rush them in their processing if they're not secure in their reads. JKS is never fazed and just calmly and casually picked them apart as they marched down the field. Zero negative plays, one for no gain, ball never in any danger, only one play where a defender even got a fingertip on the football.

We've all heard about the physical traits that he brings to the table as a 6-4 lefty who can run and make all the throws but here you can really see how advanced Jaron is with his mental game. He knows where he wants to go and what he's reading so none of the trickery up front ever bothers him. Credit to his OL as well because they did a great job too.

A couple more notes:

- His stat line of 24 of 30 for 332 yards and 5 TDs (plus 60 yards rushing by my count though I could've missed some rushes) and zero sacks still undersells just how efficient he was. He had 5 incompletions in the first half, 2 were throwaways to the turf under pressure, 2 were dropped TD passes, and the last was the aforementioned perfect pass with a great breakup and possible PI. His one incompletion in the 2nd half was a scramble drill adjustment where JKS put the ball into space and his WR stumbled a bit and laid out with the ball falling between his arms, it was very catchable but on those adjustment plays there are often miscommunications with guys not initially on the same page. But the takeaway is every time he throws the ball it goes exactly where it's supposed to go

- His best drive came to end the first half. Jaron and Campbell got the ball back with just :47 on the clock needing 60 yards to the endzone. JKS went 5-5 on the drive moving his team effortlessly down the field and got it done in just 28 seconds

- He has a serious shot to be the all time leading passer in Hawaii state history and the first to 10k yards. After next game he'll pass Tua Tagovailoa for 3rd most passing yards in Hawaii history (204 yards required) in 4 fewer games. He needs 341 yards/game to make 10k if his team doesn't make the playoffs (very unlikely), 293 yards/game with only one playoff game, 256 yards/game with two playoff games, or 228 yards/game with three playoff games. His biggest obstacle to becoming Hawaii's leading passer is Keoki Alani (current QB at Konawaena) who has 1356 more yards on 6 more games played. Regardless he could be one of the first two 10k passers in the state at season's end

- He got hit on a long completion at the end of the 3rd quarter and left the game with an apparent ab strain or rib injury. However he came back one play later to immediately throw a TD to go up 32 points and that was his final play of the game

- This was not a cupcake opponent, especially defensively. Punahou began the season as the 2nd ranked team in Hawaii, I don't follow all their players but they at least have a Notre Dame commit at LB, and a Stanford commit at DB. Campbell beat them down more than national powerhouse Sierra Canyon did last week. They went down 3-0 then rattled off a 35-0 run to go up 33, gave up a TD, then scored two straight to go up by 39 and called off the dogs

- This brings his total season stats through two games to: 42/52 (81% completion rate) 719 yards (14 y/attempt) (17 y/completion) 11 TDs, zero INTs, 9 rushes 109 yards (12 ypc)

Full game link: https://www.youtube.com/live/isLvFAmZu8A?feature=shared

I'll probably keep doing these weekly updates because this is as excited as I've ever been for an incoming freshman QB, he's just been ridiculous and should shoot up the ratings lists as he keeps tearing up the competition and makes a run at the Hawaii state championship

Hopefully he's sold on potentially putting up bigger numbers here than Goff, and becoming an even greater legend than Rodgers, because he will be getting offers for many millions, from many places, starting right about now.

Great stuff. Thanks for doing this.

Along with everyone else, let's hope Cal can hang on to him. He's the kind of talent that can really boost recruiting.

Word on the street is that the domers are going to make a pass at him.

Really want to see this guy in blue and gold

bencgilmore said:

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Really want to see this guy in blue and gold

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Cal, Blue and Gold.

Imua Na Pea!

this kid looks special. thanks for posting the game, now I have a better feel for how good this kid is.