Polynesian Bowl Features Multiple Cal Football Freshmen Tonight
Cal quarterback Nainoa Lopes, tight end Taimaine Purcell, offensive linemen Kamo’i Huihui-White and Esaiah Wong are all participating.
Time: 6 PM Pacific, 9 PM Eastern, 4 PM Hawaii
TV: NFL Network
The Polynesian Bowl was a nice feature last year to showcase incoming freshmen. Cal quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele had a solid performance, and Aiden Manutai, Jae’on Young and Lebron Williams all had their moments.
All four of Cal’s Hawaii commits will be participating this Friday evening.
Quarterback Nainoa Lopes is ranked as the 6th-best Hawaiian prospect and the 52nd-best quarterback in the 2026 class by 247Sports Composite.
Scouting report on Greg Biggins:
- Has one of the smoothest strokes in the region and the ball jumps out of his hand.
- Boasts one of the quickest releases in the country and can make high level throws look easy.
- Can change speeds and throws with touch and anticipation.
- An excellent deep ball thrower and is accurate to all three levels of the field.
- Poised in the pocket, doesn’t rattle with a defender in his face and shows toughness standing in and taking a shot.
- Projectable 6-foot-3 frame with plenty of room to add good weight.
- Mobile in and out of the pocket and can make throws rolling to his right or left.
- The ceiling is high and has all the traits to be a multi-year starter at the Power 4 level.
Tight end Taimane Purcell is ranked as the 3rd best Hawaiin prospect and the 30th best tight end by 247Sports Composite. Purcell stood out earlier this week in Day 1 of Practice this week.
Scouting from Biggins on 247Sports:
Boasts an athletic 6-3, 235 pound frame, is a fluid mover and shows natural hands as a pass catcher. He’s extremely quick off the line, can stop and start on a dime and can separate down the field. Shows high level body control to win jump ball battles and has the strength to catch the ball through contact. Strong in-line blocker and his physicality shows up in his ability to break tackles after the catch and on the defensive side of the ball. May not have ideal tight end size but makes up for it with a large catch radius, quick twitch explosiveness and toughness.
Offensive lineman Esaiah Wong is ranked as the 9th-best prospect in Hawaii and the 108th-best offensive tackle by 247Sports Composite. He had a pretty good practice rep in Polynesian Bowl practice against Lamar Brown, who is ranked as the 2nd-best prospect in the nation in this class.
Offensive lineman Kamo’i Huihui-White is ranked as the 5th-best prospect in Hawaii and the 65th-best interior offensive lineman by 247Sports Composite.
Check them all out in action tonight!
Go Bears! (Each of them).
JKS will have a greater sense of purpose with an understudy like Nainoa in the room. OL linemen abound. Is it only me or am I reading in too much excitement with all the signings and returns (and RBs) that we are in for an exciting year?