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2020 Mountain West Football Top 50 Players: #17, Boise State DB Kekaula Kaniho
The Boise State defensive back is the highest-ranked Broncos defender on this year’s list of the Mountain West’s best athletes.
Contact/Follow @MattK_FS & @MWCwire
One of the conference’s toughest defensive backs.
It isn’t easy spending a lot of time near the line of scrimmage as a defensive back, but the next player on our countdown of the Mountain West’s best for 2020, Boise State’s Kekaula Kaniho, often made that responsibility look easy last year.
After making 13 starts for the Broncos between 2017 and 2018, Kaniho started all 14 games for Boise State in 2019 and placed himself firmly in the conversation regarding the conference’s best defenders with his level of play. Not only did he collect 11 tackles for loss, which tied with Wyoming’s Alijah Halliburton for the most by a Mountain West defensive back since 2012, he also picked up three sacks, two forced fumbles, seven pass breakups and an interception to go along with a career-high 61 tackles.
“Kekaula plays bigger than his size. That’s an attribute to his dad, his family and more or less his heart." Kahuku H.S. football coach Sterling Carvalho on Boise State nickel Kekaula Kaniho. https://t.co/NXvUTPYumk
— Ron Counts (@Ron_BroncoBeat) October 19, 2019
As a result, he was the only other Bronco defender besides Curtis Weaver to land on the all-conference first team in 2019. The Boise State secondary might be overflowing with talent at this point, but Kaniho’s flexibility is what should bring it all together for another run at the conference title.
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