Nebraska offensive line signee Preston Taumua discusses his knee injury, returning for a state title and much more.
Preston Taumua’s 2023 began with an ACL injury and ended with a state title and the four-star offensive lineman from Hawaii headed to Nebraska.
“The last couple months have really been a ride,” Taumua told Husker247 this week.
While training for a 5-on-5 tournament in Las Vegas in February, Taumua felt his knee pop and was diagnosed with the knee injury.
Taumua began working his way back from the injury and had accepted the idea that he might miss his senior season. Still, Taumua worked quickly back from his knee injury. After a few weeks post-surgery, Taumua was walking laps around his school’s practice field. Then he was jogging. Then running.
Once his Waipahu team played its fourth game, he knew he had to come back. He was cleared to return in October and made his debut as Waipahu was in the midst of its run to the state title.
Praise for Husker in-state recruiting approach: ‘They don’t seem to be reactionary’
Some items from Wednesday’s time at Bellevue West, where three players signed on to be Huskers.
Bellevue West coach Michael Huffman appreciated that this signing day afforded him the opportunity to wear his Husker gear to school on a Wednesday.
No question he’s excited for his players wherever they end up. But man alive, three from his program on one day to the home-state school he makes no secrets about rooting for? Talk about a proud day watching everyone in the gym try to arrange a picture with new Huskers Daniel Kaelin, Isaiah McMorris and Dae’vonn Hall.
Eventually the boys all got one with the Husker boombox too. Is it a program about to pump up the noise? The local coach can see the possibility.
«They’re getting a chance to go to a place that I think is just getting ready to explode, hopefully on the national scene,» Huffman said. «It will be good to have some good football back.»
You could say Huffman is impressed with how Rhule’s staff is working the in-state recruiting game – and not just because it happened to work out really well for the Bellevue West prospects in this cycle. He was talking about the whole approach to recruiting locally.