Teammates Again
10/11/2022 2:50:00 PM | Football, Blog
Dean Connors and Conor Hunt traveled different paths from Hawai'i to Rice
From the day he was named head coach at Rice, Mike Bloomgren has prioritized a national recruiting effort. In the Owls' 28-24 win over UAB, no fewer than 10 states were represented among the starters against the Blazers.
But two of the biggest plays in the game's final moments came courtesy of a pair of players who were once teammates at a small prep school on the island of Hawai'i in a town known more for its ranching than beaches or surfing.
Dean Connors and Conor Hunt figured prominently in the Owls' comeback victory on October 1. Connors put the Owls in front to stay by catching a six-yard touchdown pass from TJ McMahon, the first score of his collegiate career. With just over a minute remaining, Hunt blasted a 46-yard punt from the Rice 15 to push the Blazers 61 yards away from the Owls' end zone, and the Rice defense followed with three consecutive sacks to end the game.
When asked to recall when the last time they might have combined on a game with similar highlights for each, the duo more easily recalled the fact that at Hawai'i Prep Academy each was called upon to handle multiple roles
.
"If you watch any of those old tapes, we had maybe 25 guys on the team, so both of us were playing both ways," Connors recalled. "I was playing middle linebacker on defense and our D1 punter (Conor) was on the field playing safety or wide receiver."
"I know I started one game at DB and as a backup wide receiver," Hunt recalled.
When pressed further, they agreed on a game vs. Hilo earlier in their careers when Connors scored a 98-yard touchdown but Hunt was more active in the game. "It was our only touchdown that game and Conor stayed pretty busy because we weren't very good," Connors recalled.
They last played together in high school in 2019, a year that saw Hunt earn All-State honors in football as well as soccer. He signed with Georgetown while Connors, who was one year behind Hunt in school, made the decision to move to California in the hopes of drawing greater recruiting interest of his own.
If you want to mail a package to Hawai'i Prep, you'll need to address it to Kamuela, Hawai'i, but when you are driving there, you're more likely to read Waimea on any road signs. Waimea may be one of the oldest communities on the Big Island, but it shares its name with several other locations in the state and the US Postal Service demanded that the town have a different designation.
The town with two names is located on the far north end of the island adjacent to the Parker Ranch, which was founded in 1847, making it older than Texas' most famous ranch, the King Ranch in south Texas.
There is a delightful irony that a pair of players from Hawai'i can claim association with a ranch larger than anything in Texas.
The fact they find themselves once again as teammates has as much do with the impacts of the pandemic as with any master plan.
Hunt's first year at Georgetown consisted of online classes and a canceled season, while Connors' hopes for greater exposure to recruiters were stalled by a canceled fall season at Murrieta Valley High School. A spring season was too late to entice any offers from four-year schools, so he opted to play at Riverside CC where he helped lead the Tigers to the CCCAA title game. Meanwhile, Hunt was earning All-Patriot League honors for the Hoyas.
Connors picked up an offer from Rice and when he learned his old teammate had entered the transfer portal he made his pitch.
"I knew that Conor had gotten an offer for Rice originally when he decided to go to Georgetown," Connors recalled. "When I picked up the offer from Rice and I knew he had entered the portal I hit him up and said let's link up again."
And now they find themselves teammates again in Houston along with a third Hawaiian high school product (Tim Horn) . While Horn, who was raised in Honolulu and played at Washington for two years, came well prepared for life in a large metropolitan area, Connors and Hunt can lean upon their background to find their own connections to their new home.
"I like that our town is rooted in cowboy culture but at the same time, it's in Hawaii. It was nice to come to Texas and have a little common ground," Hunt noted.
But two of the biggest plays in the game's final moments came courtesy of a pair of players who were once teammates at a small prep school on the island of Hawai'i in a town known more for its ranching than beaches or surfing.
Dean Connors and Conor Hunt figured prominently in the Owls' comeback victory on October 1. Connors put the Owls in front to stay by catching a six-yard touchdown pass from TJ McMahon, the first score of his collegiate career. With just over a minute remaining, Hunt blasted a 46-yard punt from the Rice 15 to push the Blazers 61 yards away from the Owls' end zone, and the Rice defense followed with three consecutive sacks to end the game.
When asked to recall when the last time they might have combined on a game with similar highlights for each, the duo more easily recalled the fact that at Hawai'i Prep Academy each was called upon to handle multiple roles
.
"If you watch any of those old tapes, we had maybe 25 guys on the team, so both of us were playing both ways," Connors recalled. "I was playing middle linebacker on defense and our D1 punter (Conor) was on the field playing safety or wide receiver."
"I know I started one game at DB and as a backup wide receiver," Hunt recalled.
When pressed further, they agreed on a game vs. Hilo earlier in their careers when Connors scored a 98-yard touchdown but Hunt was more active in the game. "It was our only touchdown that game and Conor stayed pretty busy because we weren't very good," Connors recalled.
They last played together in high school in 2019, a year that saw Hunt earn All-State honors in football as well as soccer. He signed with Georgetown while Connors, who was one year behind Hunt in school, made the decision to move to California in the hopes of drawing greater recruiting interest of his own.
If you want to mail a package to Hawai'i Prep, you'll need to address it to Kamuela, Hawai'i, but when you are driving there, you're more likely to read Waimea on any road signs. Waimea may be one of the oldest communities on the Big Island, but it shares its name with several other locations in the state and the US Postal Service demanded that the town have a different designation.
The town with two names is located on the far north end of the island adjacent to the Parker Ranch, which was founded in 1847, making it older than Texas' most famous ranch, the King Ranch in south Texas.
There is a delightful irony that a pair of players from Hawai'i can claim association with a ranch larger than anything in Texas.
The fact they find themselves once again as teammates has as much do with the impacts of the pandemic as with any master plan.
Hunt's first year at Georgetown consisted of online classes and a canceled season, while Connors' hopes for greater exposure to recruiters were stalled by a canceled fall season at Murrieta Valley High School. A spring season was too late to entice any offers from four-year schools, so he opted to play at Riverside CC where he helped lead the Tigers to the CCCAA title game. Meanwhile, Hunt was earning All-Patriot League honors for the Hoyas.
Connors picked up an offer from Rice and when he learned his old teammate had entered the transfer portal he made his pitch.
"I knew that Conor had gotten an offer for Rice originally when he decided to go to Georgetown," Connors recalled. "When I picked up the offer from Rice and I knew he had entered the portal I hit him up and said let's link up again."
And now they find themselves teammates again in Houston along with a third Hawaiian high school product (Tim Horn) . While Horn, who was raised in Honolulu and played at Washington for two years, came well prepared for life in a large metropolitan area, Connors and Hunt can lean upon their background to find their own connections to their new home.
"I like that our town is rooted in cowboy culture but at the same time, it's in Hawaii. It was nice to come to Texas and have a little common ground," Hunt noted.
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