SDSU, SUU make it 11 offers for Punahou DB Kilinahe Mendiola-Jensen

Kilinahe Mendiola-Jensen (right) with father, Mark, at the Pylon 7v7 tournament in Mesquite, Nev., last summer

The hits keep coming for Punahou junior Kilinahe Mendiola-Jensen.

San Diego State and Southern Utah came through with scholarship offers to the talented defensive back within one hour of each other on Thursday. The 6-foot-2, 155-pound playmaker now has 11 offers:

(Chronological order)

Navy (AAC) 3/26/20

Army (independent) 4/6/20

Idaho (Big Sky) 4/16/20

Sacramento State (Big Sky) 4/17/20

Eastern Washington (Big Sky) 4/21/20

UNLV (MWC) 4/29/20

Central Michigan (MAC) 4/30/20

Utah State (MAC) 4/30/20

Montana (Big Sky) 5/14/20

San Diego State (MWC) 5/28/20

Southern Utah (Big Sky) 5/28/20

SDSU was a natural progression in this list. Another Mountain West Conference member, UNLV, offered to Mendiola-Jensen in late April.

“I’ve been in touch with Coach Savaii Eselu and Coach Kyle Hoke (safeties). I had a feeling they were going to offer. Coach Kyle talked to me a couple of days ago. They ended up offering me today, which is awesome,” Mendiola-Jensen said.

Eselu is the former Moanalua head coach who accepted the new position at SDSU last winter.

“I’ve been talking to Coach Savaii since Apr. 21, talking story pretty much every day. Eventually, Coach Kyle reached out to me,” Mendiola-Jensen added. “This morning Savaii called me and offered me a scholarship, and after that Coach Kyle called and said congratulations. I feel awesome. It’s an awesome blessing for my family and I.”

With 11 FBS offers, there is likely more on the horizon.

“I’m still open to all schools and hopefully get some visits in. They extended the dead period to July 31 so I might not get one in. I’m still going to do research on all the schools and stay in contact with the ones that offered me,” said Mendiola-Jensen, who has a 3.0 grade-point average.

There is more communication with MWC schools and a Pac-12 program.

I’ve been talking to Fresno State a lot, Hawaii a lot. UW, Coach (Will) Harris, the DBs coach. We’ve just been talking pretty much every other day, building that relationship and see where it leads from there,” he said.

Southern Utah is the fifth Big Sky school to knock on the door.

“The Southern Utah guy that recruited me was Coach (Anthony) Arceneaux,” Mendiola-Jensen said of the former Saint Louis athlete. “I think they’re confident in offering me because there’s other Big Sky schools that offered me before. We’ve stayed in contact, building that relationship.”

He isn’t weighing factors like conference appeal yet, not outwardly.

“For me, I just want a school that’s going to prepare me better for life while giving me a platform to play football, and build relationships. I want to be prepared for life after football. I definitely would want to get to the next level after that, hopefully to the league,” he said.

Lockdown staples

Top 3 shows/movies

1. The Last Samurai

2. Scooby-Doo series

3. Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles (original)

Top 3 food/drinks

1. Breakfast: bacon, eggs (over easy), cheese, mayonnaise in a croissant. I make this at home.

2. Oranges

3. Leftovers from the night before. My mom (Hoku) does the cooking. She makes good chili.

4. Chocolate chip cookies. We get the cookie dough and throw it in the toaster oven.

5. Salt and pepper pork chops, Mark’s Drive In (Stadium Mall).

Top 3 lockdown music artists