Inside The Huskies

Huskies Flip Another Recruit, Take TE Away From Florida

Kekua Aumua is a 6-foot-6, 260-pound tight end from Hawaii.
Dan Raley|
Kekua Aumua flipped from Florida to UW.
Kekua Aumua flipped from Florida to UW. | UW

Florida should have worked a little harder to coax Jedd Fisch to come back and coach at his alma mater.

Instead, Fisch and his University of Washington football staff on Friday moved in and took a tight end right out from under the Gators, flipping and signing 6-foot-6, 260-pound tight end Kekua "Rhino" Aumua, who's from Kahuku, Hawaii.

Aumua, a 3-star recruit, is the third player to join the Huskies since this signing period began on Wednesday, joining 4-star wide receiver Trez Davis from West Monroe High School in West Monroe, Louisiana, and 3-star edge rusher David Schwerzel from O'Dea High in Seattle.

Davis flipped from Baylor, Schwerzel from UCLA.

Aumua went on KHON TV in the islands to reveal his choice, doing the residual hat reveal by choosing a purple UW hat among five sitting on a table that included both Florida schools, California and his home state Hawaii.

"It's a dream," he said, seated behind the anchor desk.

Aumua becomes the 26th player to sign with the Huskies during this recruiting cycle.

Aumua has been a few places growing, up detailing in his TV interview how he had moved from Japan to Hawaii, attended IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, and returned for his senior year to play in front of his family members at Kahuku High.

He cited the UW history for producing pro football-bound tight ends for his reason for coming to the Huskies.

"A big part of my decision was my relationship with coach (Jordan) Paopao, the tight end coach,” Aumua told Rivals. “We’ve been talking for a couple of years now and I’m very comfortable with him. He’s not just a good guy, but a really good coach, too. He's developed a lot of really good tight ends that have gone on to the NFL and that’s the goal for me as well."

With his large frame, though, Aumua easily could be converted into a college interior offensive lineman by simply adding weight and strength. He supposedly has an 80-inch wing span.

On his profile, he listed LDS, which presumably means the Church of Latter Day Saints. There's no immediate word as to whether he would feel compelled to serve on a church mission before enrolling at the UW.

"I really believe going to the UW is going to be the next step in the process," Aumua said on TV.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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