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Conference Freshman of the year spurns transfer portal to remain at current program

One outstanding young passer announced that he's staying put in 2026.
Joe Cox|
One conference Freshman of the Year winner announced his decision to return to his present school on Friday.
One conference Freshman of the Year winner announced his decision to return to his present school on Friday. | Marco Garcia-Imagn Images

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Hawaii Rainbow Warriors

While transfer portal moves are frequent, they aren't guaranteed. Admittedly, it's usually power conference superstars who make a decision to stick with their present school. But at least one G5 standout-- in fact, his league's Freshman of the Year-- turned down the opportunity to seek greener pastures and announced his return for 2026 to his current school.

Given how much even the best QB prospects leap into the transfer portal, stability at quarterback is a rare virtue. It's even more rare when the incumbent starter can play three more seasons. But one of the leading passers in the Mountain West Conference is in just that situation.

Micah Alejado announced on social media that he's returning to Hawaii. The MWC Freshman of the Year, Alejado has just lead Hawaii to its first winning season since 2020. He burst onto the national stage with a sharp game in a Week 1 upset of Stanford by the Rainbow Warriors. Alejado was born in Hawaii, but went to high school at Las Vegas's Bishop Gorman High. The 5'10" passer elected to return home for college and showed flashes of skills in a four-game trial in his redshirt 2024 season.

In 2025, Alejado missed two games due to injury, but enters Hawaii's bowl with 2,832 yards and 21 touchdowns through the air. After he returned from injury, he had a five-week streak of three-touchdown passing games, with Hawaii going 4-1 in that run.

Alejado led the Mountain West in yards per game at 283.2. He also set a Hawaii freshman record for freshmen with his 21 passing scores. Even Alejado's coach, Timmy Chang, who set virtually all of the passing records for Hawaii, managed just 19 touchdown passes in his own freshman season. Alejado's excellence earned him honorable mention status on the All-MWC squad.

Hawaii faces a fair number of inherent limitations in FBS competitiveness. A member of the Mountain West since 2012, Hawaii hasn't had a nationally relevant season since 2007, when they went 12-1 and finished in the top 20 in both major polls. But keeping a QB like Alejado when the transfer portal is filling with Leavitt, Lagway, Sorsby, etc., is a major step forward for the program.

Hawaii opened the season with an upset of ACC foe Stanford and will now get the chance to finish the season with another ACC upset, as California will travel to Hawaii to play the Hawaii Bowl on Wednesday.

Hawaii QB
Hawaii QB Micah Alejado is returning to the Rainbow Warriors for 2026. | Neville E. Guard-Imagn Images
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Joe Cox
JOE COX

Joe is a journalist and writer who covers college and professional sports. He has written or co-written over a dozen sports books, including several regional best sellers. His last book, A Fine Team Man, is about Jackie Robinson and the lives he changed. Joe has been a guest on MLB Network, the Paul Finebaum show and numerous other television and radio shows. He has been inside MLB dugouts, covered bowl games and conference tournaments with Saturday Down South and still loves telling the stories of sports past and present.

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