Hawaii DT enjoys visit to Cal

One of the big reasons for Cal’s turnaround the past couple of years has been the strength of their defense and specifically, the defensive line. For their Big Game weekend two weeks ago, the Bears tripped in a pair of standout defensive tackles from the Islands including Honolulu (Hawaii) Kamehameha’s Jonathan Kane.

Kane, 6-3, 285 pounds is a classic nose guard whose job isn’t to rack up a bunch of gaudy statistics but to take up two and sometimes three blockers so his teammates around him can make plays.

“I don’t even know my tackle or sack totals to be honest,” Kane said. “In our defense, I mainly play gap control and just try and tie up as many blockers as possible. They really don’t want me to get up the field because it will leave a hole in the defense somewhere so I just try and protect my area and let our linebackers fill in.”

Kane took his first official visit to Cal two weeks ago and said he had a great time.

“I got in Friday morning and was pretty tired from the plane ride over so the first thing I did was get some sleep in my hotel room,” Kane said. “Later that day, I got a tour of the campus, watched the team practice and went to the bon fire pep rally later that night. Saturday, we ate with the team, I watched some defensive line film with my position coach and then we all bused over to the game.

“The game was great, I had never been in an environment that crazy before. I’ve been to a lot of Hawaii games but they don’t get anywhere near the crowd support that Cal had. The students and fans were just going crazy the whole time, it was pretty wild. Overall, it was a good experience and I felt comfortable there which is the main thing I’m looking for in a school. I definitely want to leave home and play on the mainland but at the same time, it would be nice to find a place that is kind of like home. The school where I get that feeling, where I’m just comfortable with the players and coaches, that’s the school I’ll commit to.”

Kane said Cal has offered but he wants to take a few more trips before making his decision.

“I want to visit Oregon State, Washington and Utah,” Kane said. “Oregon State is coming in for a home visit later today (Tuesday) and Cal will be here next week. Hopefully I can take all three trips in December because I want to decide by the time New Years rolls around so I can focus on the rest of my senior year.”

Academically, Kane is carrying a 2.8 GPA and scored an 850 on the SAT and a 22 on the ACT.