Utah Utes football: With Fotu out, U. needs Gaison to be a 'stud'

NEW ORLEANS — When Utah lines up against Alabama Friday night, the Utes will have one player making his first-ever start for the Ute defense with junior Kepa Gaison manning the stud linebacker position.

The change hasn't received a lot of attention, perhaps because no one at the U. seems the least bit concerned that Gaison, the long-haired, ukulele-playing ex-punter is playing instead of Nai Fotu, who suffered a season-ending knee injury against BYU.

While the Ute coaches will miss Fotu and feel bad that he won't get to play in the Sugar Bowl, they have no worries that Gaison will fill in quite nicely.

"We've got all the confidence in the world that Kepa can come in and get it done," said Utah defensive coordinator Gary Andersen. "Kepa has backed up all three linebackers all year long. He's played a number of reps, and now he's the starter at the stud backer. He's 100 percent ready to do that."

"I'm not worried about him at all," added linebacker coach Kalani Sitake. "It's his first start, but he's seen significant reps during the year. ... The difference is, instead of being in on rep 17, he's in on rep 1."

Gaison never dreamed he'd eventually be a starting linebacker when he walked onto the Ute team in 2005 after helping lead Kamehameha High to the Division I state title in Hawaii. At 5-foot-10 and a little over 200 pounds, he figured he couldn't play defensive line as he had in high school, so he tried to make it as a punter.

The problem was there was a guy named Louie Sakoda standing in the way.

"He wasn't a bad punter," recalls Ute coach Kyle Whittingham. "He had a strong leg, but we had Louie Sakoda and the writing was on the wall. Nobody was going to unseat him as the punter."

Gaison's father, Blaine, had been a safety for the Atlanta Falcons in the early 1980s, and the Ute coaches knew Kepa (pronounced Keppa) was an athlete with good bloodlines. Andersen and Sitake noticed his potential and were thrilled when he expressed an interest in playing defense.

"Louie was the guy and they didn't need anybody else but him," Gaison said. "So I started to play some scout team, trying to find a spot to get on the field somehow. The coaches gave me a shot to play. I ended up doing pretty good on the scout team and in the scrimmages, and the next spring they gave me a chance to play."

He played in all 12 games in 2007 in limited action, but this year became the backup at all three linebacker positions, playing between one-third to one-half of defensive snaps each game and getting 23 tackles in 10 games.