"Football's pretty big in the community where I grew up, and so I always focused on how to get recruited for college football. I didn't think that I would be able to play at a division I. I guess I always saw myself - because I saw my brothers playing at a smaller college - that I would also play at a smaller college. But, fortunately for me, the University of Hawaii and some other schools came around toward the end of my senior season.

School is definitely very important to focus on. If you don't have the academics, if you're not taking care of school right now (at the high-school level) - as much as any coach would want to recruit you, or bring you to their college, they won't be able to if you don't have the grades to be eligible. So that's always been a big priority of mine.

Something that my parents have always emphasized to me is 'School first'. Also continue to work on your skill - whatever sport it may be - as an athlete. You can be the greatest athlete in the world, but if you don't have the grades to get you into college then it's going to be an unfortunate circumstance. School is a very important part of how to get recruited for college football. Definitely take care of school as you continue to develop yourself in your sport." -Inoke Funaki (Quarterback for the University of Hawaii)

"College football recruiting services can help you get recruited, but one piece of advice I would give any high school athlete going into college, education wise, is to go into a degree that will be good for you - something that you like, something that you enjoy, but also something that you could see yourself doing in the future. A lot of college athletes go into school thinking 'Oh, I'm just going to play football' and they don't have a backup plan. So when their football career is done they're stuck with nothing. They don't have a degree, they haven't finished, or they're going into something that they can't do anything with. So my advice would be - coming out of high school, going into college - make sure your degree is applicable, and is something that you want to do, and make sure it's a good backup plan for you. Talk to a college football recruiting service, so that if you finish with football at the end of your career you know that it's something that will work out for you and be good for your future.

If there's one thing that I would have done differently in high school while being recruited it's: I wouldn't have given a verbal commitment so early, because when you do that some teams tend to back off. Some schools tend to pull out - if they're giving you and offer, they won't anymore, and they'll look at someone else instead. So that's one thing that I would have done differently: not commit so early. College football recruiting services can help with that process" -Jayson Rego (Running back for the University of Hawaii)

"During the high school football scouting process, you might start to notice some differences between high school and college football. One thing that I notice that is different for me from high school to college football is the speed of the game is faster. Everyone is faster, even the big guys. Your 'O' line, your 'D' line, your linebackers, your tight-end - everyone's bigger. They're all bigger and they're all faster. Wide-receivers are a lot quicker. That's one thing that I noticed in high school football scouting.

Because of that one fact that everyone's bigger faster and stronger than they were in high school, you have to become a student of the game. What that means is that you're going to spend just as much time watching film, learning plays, and running through plays as you do in school - because that's how you get the edge. It's a whole new level of play - after high school scouting - once you get to the college football level, especially if it's a D1 level.

One way that faith and your beliefs will play into college football: You have to have a strong belief in yourself and you have to have faith that things are going to work out the way that they're supposed to, even when the don't. You have to be ready for the worst, but you have to hope for the best. Believe in yourself, know that you can do whatever you want to do, no matter what anybody tells you. If somebody tells you that you can't do something that should give you more of a drive to do it and to make yourself better." -Jayson Rego (Running back for the University of Hawaii)