You must be able to make quick decisions if you want to play college football at Oregon. New quarterbacks coach Koa Ka’ai will put you on the spot about your favorite flavor of ice cream.
There are no wrong answers!
The Ducks coaching staff wants their top college football recruits to show some conviction. Any kind of hesitation does not reflect well on their ability to make decisions during a game.
Who is Koa Ka’ai?
Although Ka’ai never made a significant impact in terms of numbers, the former tight end and defensive end was a crucial part of the Oregon football program from 2011-2015. He received the Ducks’ Elmer Sahlstrom Award as the team’s senior who maintained an outstanding academic record and demonstrated exemplary attitude and contributions throughout the year. He was a glue guy.
The 32-year-old worked his way back to Eugene as an assistant coach in 2022 after working at his high school alma mater in Honolulu and the University of Hawaii. Lanning brought him on to coach running backs and wide receivers. Koa Ka’ai later made the switch to quarterbacks in 2024.
Although he has never played any of the positions he has coached at Oregon, he has learned from guys like Todd Graham and Will Stein. Veteran assistant Jay Johnson, who served as the offensive coordinator at Wyoming last season, also joined the quarterbacks room during the offseason.
Ka’ai is working with two high-profile quarterbacks in Dylan Raiola and Dante Moore.
He explains his job like this:
“I say this all the time, but Drew Mehringer is the OC and Dante Moore is the trigger-man. Drew has the vision and Dante is the one on the field, so what’s my job? I’m the conduit between the two. How do I take Drew Mehringer’s vision and how do I work with Dante Moore or all of our quarterbacks and how they perceive the game and how do I make that vision come to life?”
Lanning loves what he has seen thus far.
“”He’s been an integral part of what we’ve done […] Maybe new territory by title, but this is something that he’s done at a really high level already, and excited about his growth.”
Ka’ai also plays a crucial role in recruiting. He certainly knows what it takes to play multiple positions on both sides of the ball!
What does ice cream have to do with college football?
When it comes to recruiting, Ka’ai looks for a very specific type of player. There are a lot of young high school kids who can throw the football but you “cannot find a bunch of kids who can play the quarterback position.” It comes down to the cognitive aspect.
Koa Ka’ai looks at the past to drive the present.
“Would anybody have taken Philip Rivers out of high school with his throwing motion? Probably not. Could Peyton Manning throw a spiral consistently toward the end of his career? Probably not. But why were those guys such elite quarterbacks? It was the cognitive aspect. It was the processing aspect.”
There always going to be some semantics with the throwing motion that must be taken into account but Oregon’s quarterbacks coach is more focused on intelligence. What is his emotional intelligence? What is his football intelligence? That is one of the top things the Ducks look for in a recruit.
“You have to be smart to play the position!”
Ka’ai uses a simple test in recruiting. He asks recruits a very easy question. If they can answer quickly, great. If they hesitate, he moves on.
If a college football recruit pauses on his favorite ice cream, how is he going to react on third down in front of 11,000 screaming fans? “He’s probably going to think about it more than he should.”
Koa Ka’ai expects his future signal-caller to show conviction. There are no wrong answers, except for no answer at all.