Family tradition: This Boise State cornerback is following in his brother’s footsteps
Boise State nickel Kekaula Kaniho has played in four straight Mountain West championship games, and the fifth-year senior has helped the Broncos win 41 games since joining the team in 2017.
But for Kaniho, the memory of all those wins and two conference championships pales in comparison to a moment he shared on the field with his younger brother, Kaonohi, during the Broncos’ win at then-No. 10 BYU on Saturday.
Trailing by nine points with about 2 minutes to play, the Cougars were in Boise State territory when quarterback Jaren Hall decided to go deep on a pass. Kaonohi came out of nowhere to intercept it, sealing the Broncos’ first win over a top 10 opponent since 2014.
Kekaula, older by three years, was the first player to celebrate Kaonohi’s first career interception. As they walked off the field together, Kekaula draped his arm over Kaonohi’s shoulder — looking very much the part of a proud big brother.
“I think that’s the best memory for me, and one I’ll remember forever,” Kekaula Kaniho said. “That’s just a moment right there where it felt like everything that I’ve tried to give to him throughout the years, going way back, and showed him the right way to do things, that moment felt like it kind of all paid off.”
Kekaula will etch his name in Boise State’s record books when the Broncos host Air Force on Saturday (7 p.m., FS1). It will be his 55th career game, the most of any player in Boise State history. But even that doesn’t measure up to having the chance to take the field with his brother again, he said.
“Looking back when I’m done playing, it will be pretty special having that number,” Kekaula said. “But to be there and help him off the field and run off with him in my arms was a pretty special feeling of just knowing that moment was a culmination of a lot of hard work. ... That’s just the beginning of his career, so hopefully from here, he can take off and be really great.”
Boise State coach Andy Avalos said earlier this week that cornerback Markel Reed is out for the season with an injury, but he didn’t comment on the status of fellow starting cornerback Tyric LeBeauf, who, like Reed, missed the Broncos’ game at BYU.
Kaonohi is one of two redshirt freshmen listed as LeBeauf’s backup on the latest depth chart, so he could start. But even if he doesn’t, there’s a good chance the Kaniho brothers will be on the field together at some point on Saturday — Kaonohi matched up on a wide receiver and Kekaula in the slot at his nickel position.
The Broncos’ win at BYU was the first time the brothers were on defense together during a game since 2016, when Kekaula was a senior at Kahuku High School in Hawaii and Kaonohi was a freshman.
Avalos called it a special moment. It may be even more emotional if they take the field together on Saturday, because the Kanihos’ parents, Jarrett and Misty, are planning to be at Albertsons Stadium for the game, and they’re bringing Kaonohi’s infant daughter, Teavana.
“The first couple plays, I’ll be honest, I couldn’t help but look over there, too,” Avalos said. “For their parents, I can’t imagine what that was like.”
Brotherly love on and off the field
It turns out Kekaula didn’t have to go far to find Kaonohi after his game-clinching interception at BYU. The receiver Hall targeted on the throw was being covered by Kekaula, but after seeing the Cougars’ quarterback scramble away from pressure, Kaonohi — anticipating the throw — left his man and made a play on the ball at Boise State’s 11-yard line.
“Early on in that game, I got beat on a deep ball, so I started thinking when the quarterback started scrambling that he was going to throw it up to my guy, but he didn’t,” Kaonohi said. “The quarterback just launched it up to my brother’s guy, and I just went and made the play.”
There were no hard feelings from Kekaula about missing out on an interception that could have been his. He was proud, not jealous.
That’s how the Kaniho brothers are, even if they do squabble about taking out the trash and washing the dishes in the apartment they share in Boise. Kekaula feels like he has to take care of his little brother. Kaonohi thinks his older brother is a little controlling. But at the end of the day, blood is always thicker than water.
“We’re super close,” Kaonohi said. “I love being around him because he knows so much about the game and just about life. It’s nice to have somebody to talk to when you’re going through stuff.”
There are parallels between the start of the brothers’ careers at Boise State.
Kekaula was on the field for all 14 games of his true freshman season in 2017, and his skill as a playmaker was on display right away. He scored two defensive touchdowns that year: one on a fumble return against San Diego State and another on a 53-yard interception return in the Las Vegas Bowl against Oregon.
He has started 41 games and racked up 193 tackles, five sacks and five interceptions since joining the program, and he has earned accolades on and off the field. He won the 2020 Senior CLASS Award and was a finalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy — two of college football’s top academic honors — and he’s a two-time All-Mountain West pick, having earned a first-team selection in 2019.
“It would not surprise me if he was president of the United States some day,” Avalos said.
Kaonohi’s freshman year was complicated by COVID-19, but he appeared in four of the Broncos’ seven games. He hauled in an acrobatic, one-handed interception during the spring game in April, and he posted five tackles and a pass breakup to go along with his interception at BYU in the first extended action of his career in a regular-season game.
How good can Kaonohi be at Boise State?
“I don’t know, but I hope a lot better than me,” Kekaula Kaniho said.
AIR FORCE AT BOISE STATE
When: 7 p.m. Saturday
Where: Albertsons Stadium
TV: FS1 (Cory Provus, Mark Helfrich). That’s channel 146 on Sparklight, 219 on DirecTV and 150 on Dish Network.
Radio: KBOI 670 AM/KTIK 93.1 FM (Bob Behler, Pete Cavender)
Records: Boise State 3-3; Air Force 5-1
Series: Boise State is 6-3 all-time against Air Force, and the Broncos have won four in a row.
Vegas line: Boise State by 3.5
Weather: High of 72 degrees, 1% chance of rain, 12 mph winds
This story was originally published October 14, 2021 at 3:44 PM.
