Posted on 06 October 2016.
When Oregon sophomore defensive lineman Canton Kaumatule addressed reporters during Oregon’s media day in August, he had a sense of optimism and relief.
This year was going to be a fresh start.
Before he ever set foot on Oregon’s campus, Kaumatule was hailed as the next savior for the Ducks on the defensive side of the football. The No. 14 recruit in the nation for the class of 2015, Kaumatule was thrown into the fire as a true freshman and struggled through an injury-plagued freshman campaign in which a concussion caused him to miss significant time.
This season was supposed to be different, though. He was healthy to start the year. His freshman season was out of the way, and with the arrival of Brady Hoke, the Ducks were shifting to a 4-3 defense that would allow him to “just be natural” and attack the football.
A 6-foot-7, 295 pound lineman who moves like a linebacker, Kaumatule was supposed to be the breakout star for a team that badly needs one.
Instead, five games into the season, he is languishing on Oregon’s bench, unable to secure consistent playing time for a team that ranks 102nd in the nation in run defense.
“I would say, with him, it’s just an ability to stay focused on the task at hand,” Oregon defensive line coach Ron Aiken said. “Handle that, and then the next play, get ready after the primary play is over with — if that makes any sense. One play at a time.”
The 2016 campaign hasn’t yielded much better results than last season, when he recorded two tackles in eight games. Kaumatule has one tackle in four games this season and not a single quarterback hurry in his career.
“I haven’t been getting much playing time, but I’m doing everything I can,” Kaumatule said. “I’m going full speed. All my boys are helping me out. We’re all pushing together.”
Aiken and Hoke said Kaumatule is still practicing with the same high motor that earned him a 5-star ranking out of high school. But fans began asking questions when Kaumatule was missing from Oregon’s two-deep depth chart prior to the Ducks’ season-opener against UC Davis. He played scarcely in that game, and two weeks later, he didn’t play a single snap during Oregon’s nail-biting 35-32 loss to Nebraska.
By that point, Kaumatule stopped being made available during post-practice media sessions. According to Oregon’s coaches, it hasn’t been an injury or discipline issue.
“Effort has not been a problem with him,” Hoke said. “It’s more just pad level. Sometimes instincts play a part of that, and your football intelligence.”
For those looking for an absolute answer to Kaumatule’s absence, it doesn’t exist at this point. But Aiken said improving his hip and back flexibility could be key to getting him up to speed.
“He’s just a little tight in the hips,” Aiken said. “That slows you down as far as running, it slows your upper body down as far as moving. So we’ve gotten that a little bit looser.”
Oregon Ducks defensive lineman Canton Kaumatule (99) puts pressure on Washington State Cougars offensive lineman Cody O’Connell (76). The Oregon Ducks play the Washington State Cougars at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Wash. on Oct. 1, 2016. (Adam Eberhardt/Emerald)
Some Oregon fans have been baffled by Kaumatule’s lack of production to this point, partly because he was listed as the fourth-best lineman in his class by ESPN and Scout. In Kaumatule, many Duck fans saw and still see a replica of one of the best players in Oregon history: DeForest Buckner.
Kaumatule and Buckner both spent their prep careers at Punahou High School in Honolulu, Hawaii. Both are massive players who can thrive at every position on the defensive line. After the San Francisco 49ers selected Buckner in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft, it only stoked the expectations for Kaumatule.
Aiken said one difference between Buckner and Kaumatule was that Buckner gained weight and got bigger after he arrived at Oregon. Before Kaumatule arrived in Eugene, he was “already pretty big and strong.”
Canton’s brother, Luke Kaumatule, is now a senior tight end at Stanford and was in the same high school graduating class as Buckner. Both players were seniors when Canton was a freshman. The three teammates all garnered 3-star rankings or better from ESPN, but never played in a high school game together. Punahou was part of the private school division in Hawaii. In that league, freshmen were not allowed to play on varsity.
“It got to the point in the state championship game where it would have been nice if Canton was playing with us,” Luke Kaumatule said. “He came up to practice with the varsity as a freshman and was just tearing up our O-line.”
Luke recalls memories of watching his brother play in their father’s adult football league — when Canton was still in middle school.
“My dad told him ‘just beat up the guy in front of you,’” Luke Kaumatule said. “The problem was, he would forget about the ball carrier. The whole play he would just be driving that offensive lineman back so far. My dad would pull him on the side and be like ‘what the hell are you doing! You’ve got to rip and release!’”
Buckner was similar to Kaumatule in the sense that it took time for his physical gifts to manifest as on-field production. The light came on for Buckner during his sophomore year in 2013, when he finished with 39 tackles. For now, Canton continues to run with Oregon’s scout team, meaning Oregon’s first team offense is tasked with stopping one of the most physically gifted linemen in the nation on a daily basis.
“He’s got tremendous size, tremendous length. Pretty much everything you want in a defensive lineman,” Oregon center Jake Hanson said. “It’s obviously a big difference blocking Canton versus some of the other scout team linemen. He’s really good.”
The Ducks have consistently started Rex Manu at defensive tackle this season, while Drayton Carlberg has been one of the first Oregon linemen off the bench. They have each recorded six tackles and combined for two sacks on a team that ranks 116th out of 128 teams in total defense (490.4 yards per game). Manu and Carlberg each came to Oregon in the same 2015 recruiting class as Kaumatule — Manu was the 64th ranked defensive tackle in the class, while Carlberg was ranked 65th by ESPN.
Oregon has never welcomed a recruit with a ranking as high as Kaumatule’s since ESPN began releasing rankings in 2006. Still, he remains glued to the bench while Oregon has yet to find an answer anywhere else on the roster.
Despite the discouraging results at this point, a breakout could be just around the corner. Aiken, Kaumatule and several Oregon offensive linemen said that Kaumatule had his best week of practice of the year before Oregon’s matchup with Washington State last week.
He hasn’t begun to cause nightmares for offensive coordinators in the same way that Buckner did all of last season. But coaches and players still believe Kaumatule is the type of player who could blow up entire plays singlehandedly — and start doing so soon.
“That’s what we saw a few days ago in practice,” Aiken said, shaking his head and smiling. “He could be a guy that would dominate for us; he’s just got to continue to take it one step at a time and not try to think too far ahead of what he’s doing at the present moment.”
Follow Jarrid Denney on Twitter @jarrid_denney
