Alejado, Sagapolutele, Maiava on Manning watch list
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University of Hawaii quarterback Micah Alejado and Hawaii high school alumni Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele of Cal and Jayden Maiava of USC were named Monday to the 2026 Manning Award watch list. The prize, which will be selected by a voting panel of national media members and each of the Mannings, honors the nation’s top collegiate quarterback.
Forty players made the watch list. Last year’s winner was Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza, who also won the Heisman Trophy as he led the Hoosiers to the College Football Playoff championship. He went on to be picked No. 1 overall by the Las Vegas Raiders in the NFL Draft.
Alejado, a sophomore who opens the Rainbow Warriors’ season Saturday at Stanford, passed for 3,106 yards with 24 touchdowns and nine interceptions last season as he battled injury. He also scored one rushing touchdown.
Sagapolutele, a sophomore, passed for 3,454 yards as a freshman, with 18 TDs and nine interceptions, plus four scores on the ground. The Golden Bears open their season on Sept. 5 against former Pac-12 rival UCLA. Cal now plays in the ACC and the Bruins in the Big Ten.
Maiava and USC are also in the Big Ten and open Saturday against San Jose State, which, like UH, makes its home in the Mountain West. The Kaimuki alum, who is a senior, passed for 3,711 yards last season, with 24 TDs and 10 picks, adding six scores as a runner.
UH’s Dianda (2 goals) earns MWC award
The Mountain West Conference named Hawaii soccer forward Olivia Dianda as the Freshman of the Week on Monday.
Dianda, starting both matches as a true freshman, scored her first two goals as a Rainbow Wahine as UH went 1-1-0 in the Outrigger Invitational — one goal in the second half of a loss to Western Michigan on Thursday and the other in a 2-0 win over Idaho on Saturday.
The women’s soccer program and most other UH sports joined the football team in the MWC this academic year.
The Rainbow Wahine next play Saturday, hosting Hawaii Pacific at 4 p.m. on the Lower Campus Field.
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