Junior safety Koa Akui has been all the buzz for the Sacramento State football team this year.
The Hawaiian native has started off the season hot, leading the team with three interceptions and being named Big Sky co-defensive player of the week.
While the recognition is appreciated, Akui said he said he has plans to make a big name for himself.
“I feel like if I keep going at the pace I’m going, I’m not going to just be compared to Big Sky. I’ll be compared to the whole nation,” Akui said. “I’m competing with everyone in the country. Not just the FCS but the FBS too.”
Success is flowing through his veins now, but this hasn’t always been his story. After his senior year of high school, he had no offers to play Division I football.
It wasn’t until Cherokee Valeria, Sac State’s former safeties coach, came to one of his high school football games. Valeria wasn’t there to watch Akui, but his skills on the field made him stand out enough to land his first DI offer to play for Sac States 2022-2023 season.
“I was gonna go to the military coming out of high school,” Akui said. “Then, Coach Cherokee came to the island recruiting my quarterback, and I was just there.”
He didn’t play his freshman season, but by his second year, he played in seven games to become a key player for the Hornets.
Akui played one game in his third season, starting in the 2024 opening game against San Jose State. Akui made one drive, which ended his season with a broken wrist.
“After that, I try to treat every rep, every play or every game like it’s my last. I know that’s cliché, and everybody says that, but I really try to treat it like that,” Akui said.
After that season ended, the Hornets brought in a new head coach, Brennan Marion. This is the third head coach Akui has had in his time as a Hornet.
For Akui, Marion brings something different to the team. Akui said he brings the pressure of always wanting to win and continues to push his athletes to be better every day, whether they are on scholarship or not.
“Everybody talks about NIL guys, but he was a walk-on guy who earned a scholarship in the spring and has earned everything that he’s gotten,” Marion said. “He’s showing it every time he gets a chance to show it, at practice and in the games.”
During the 2025 spring football game, Marion said he had seen how hard Akui was working every day in practice, weights and the classroom. After spending his first three years as a walk-on, Akui was finally awarded a scholarship. All of that hard work had finally paid off.
“When I first got the scholarship, it felt good. I was just so determined to be working so hard all of the time, but it wasn’t that big of a deal to me because it just wasn’t on my mind,” Akui said. “What was on my mind was to just keep getting better every day.”
Stepping up and taking on a leadership role was another factor that helped Akui earn his scholarship.
“He’s a great leader. All day, every day, he works hard,” teammate Anta’Veon McKenzie said. “We’re just following his lead, you know, trying to be better with him. So just the hard work he puts in, and that it’s showing, means a lot. He’s gonna be a special player one day.”
Growing up in Hilo, Hawai’i, Akui said his main sport was always football. Despite starting at 6 years old, once he reached high school, the realization set in that he could make a name for himself one day.
“I just followed my older brother who tried every sport. He ended up liking football the most, so that made me like it the most. I just wanted to be like him,” Akui said. “I never really thought of how good I was until people started saying I was better than average. So I just kept working, and that led me here.”
In addition to looking up to his older brother, Akui said the biggest part of his journey to Sac State was the support of his family.
“If it wasn’t for my dad and my brother, I probably wouldn’t be here. They really pushed me to be the things that they are not, or the things that people in my community are,” Akui said. “They are pushing me to be better, so they played a big part in my being here and doing what I’m doing right now.”
As a key part in the Hornets’ success so far this year, Akui said he has his eyes set on big goals for the team: making it to the playoffs and winning a national championship. But for himself, he has even bigger goals.
“There is no ‘plan B’ for me,” Akui said. “I want to make it to the NFL, and every day I am more and more motivated. So I think that is something I will do.”
