Can Washington Close Another St. John Bosco Linebacker?

Ashtin Kekahuna-Lopes has a lot riding on his senior season. The three-star linebacker transferred from Liberty High School in Nevada to St. John Bosco in Bellflower, California, for his final year of high school.

Ranked as the 995th overall prospect in the country by the 247 Sports Composite, Kekahuna-Lopes, or "Kanai," is one of just three remaining prospects from Washington's big weekend of official visits who haven't committed. After the Huskies secured a commitment from his teammate Khmori House on Monday, could Kanai be next?

Kanai is a flexible defender for his size, listed at 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, he lines up a lot at the nickel position on his junior film. While he isn't ranked very high, the tools of a future Power 5 defender who could be a good fit at linebacker for the Huskies.

He holds nine offers and spent the month of June taking official visits to Boston College, Utah and Oregon State, along with Washington. If recent history says anything, the latter two have done an excellent job evaluating talent on the defensive side of the ball in recent years, so if those two schools want a prospect to play defense for them, they believe they can do it at a high level.

So what is it that the talent evaluators see on Kanai's film? One word: projectability.

While he still has a long way to go in terms of learning the position, with the size and athleticism that he possesses, he has a very high ceiling at linebacker. The biggest things he needs to learn are how to loosen up his hips so he can turn and run in pass coverage, and he also needs to continue working on wrapping up and tackling.

If he can do that, he could end up being a big-time contributor in a few years for whatever school he decides to attend.

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