Kuao Peihopa, 2021 3* DL, Honolulu (Kamehameha), HI (Committed)

Washington made an early impression on Kamehameha (Hi.) DL Kuao Peihopa and after considering his options this past spring and having the forsight that COVID-19 shutdowns could hinder him taking visits to see any schools, the three star defensive line committed to the Huskies. He's been relatively quiet over the past six months, but he spoke with Dawgman.com recently and gave us an update on how things are going.

"I've been doing 12 workouts a week," Peihopa said recently. "I hover right around 300 to 305 and that's a good weight for me. I do a lot of different workouts to keep in shape, whether it's running or lifting or just doing explosion drills, stuff like that. One workout I am really enjoying is a boxing workout.

"My uncle was a Golden Gloves champion out here and my little eight-year old cousin is a total badass boxer too and I am a huge UFC fan, so that's something I've enjoyed watching and now that I'm in it, I love it."

What is it about the boxing workouts that has helped? Peihopa had a couple of things he's noticed.

"It definitely helps with your handspeed and your core," Peihopa noted. "The one thing that I didn't realize was that I got super tense and all of my muscles got tense when I competed for something. So, when I'm throwing punches, I'd get all tense and I couldn't make it more than a minute into a workout because I was all tensed up and it exhausted me. Then I started to realize that's what I did on the football field. My coach was like 'hey, slow down, relax, it's how you can stay in this', so now I can make it through the whole workout. I mean, I'm still soaked (with sweat) and it's a great cardio workout and all of the other stuff, but I'm not done after one minute, so I can see the progress I've made."

Speaking of making progress, Peihopa is on pace to wrap up his academic work this quarter and he plans to enroll at Washington after the start of new year.

"I'm not going to play my senior season which was hard, but the way things worked out with them postponing our season, that's what happened," Peihopa said. "All along, I was planning to be up (in Seattle) in January and that's still the plan, so when the season was canceled, I wasn't going to put (enrolling early) on hold, so I decided to just let it go and start focusing on my future up there."

Peihopa said he's spoken to his future position coach, Ikaika Malloe, regularly and the two have a great relationship.

"I've always felt really close to him and he's a coach I trust," Peihopa admitted. "I felt comfortable with him from the start and no other coaches I talked to were able to build the same type of relationship I had with him.

"He was really excited to get the season started and so was I. I was looking forward to watching them play Cal this past weekend, so when it got canceled, I was totally bummed out, but I'll be watching the rest of their games and I've been talking with the other commits in our group text, so I'm staying connected."

Peihopa is a three-star recruit and is rated as the fourth-best recruit from the state of Hawaii and the 31st defensive tackle prospect in the country as well. He currently holds a 0.8769 in the industry-generated 247Composite.