Syracuse football recruiting: OL Austyn Kauhi commits to Orange

Just because players have started to return to campus for workouts doesn’t mean the recruiting stops for the Syracuse Orange. Coach Dino Babers picked up his 11th commit for the class of 2021 in offensive lineman Austyn Kauhi.

Kauhi is ranked three stars by 247sports with no ratings from anywhere else. He is also the first offensive lineman to commit to the Orange and the fifth player on the offensive side of the ball to commit to ‘Cuse in the class of 2021.

Kauhi hails from Honolulu, Hawaii, which is odd because you wouldn’t think there would be a strong connection between Syracuse and the 50th state of America. However, don’t forget that Babers was born in Honolulu and played as a running back and a defensive back at the University of Hawaii before starting his coaching career there as a graduate assistant. Syracuse offensive line coach Mike Cavanaugh also coached Hawaii’s offensive line from 1999 to 2004.

That does bring up the question, would Kauhi be the first player from Hawaii to play for Syracuse? Well, according to Syracuse.com’s Stephen Bailey, it would seem that he would be the first native Hawaiian to play for SU under scholarship. The first native Hawaiian to join the program was kicker Jeff Chan as a walk-on in 2017.

Kauhi chose Syracuse over Hawaii, so that’s another win for the Orange in getting a player to come north instead of stay in state. Other programs such as Central Michigan and Fresno State looked to sign the Hawaiian.

Welcome to Syracuse, Austyn! Remember to pick up a pair of snow boots on your way here. I don’t think they sell those in Hawaii. Check out his tape here: