The 2021 Hula Bowl was a post-season

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

all-star game An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or div ...

played on January 31, 2021, with kickoff at 4:30 p.m. HST (9:30 p.m. EST), at

Aloha Stadium Aloha Stadium is a closed multi-purpose stadium located in Halawa, Hawaii, a western suburb of Honolulu (though with a Honolulu address). It is the largest stadium in the state of Hawaii. , the stadium ceased fan-attended operations indefinitely ...

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. The game was the last of the 2020–21 bowl games and, while not restricted to FBS players, the final game of the 2020 FBS football season. Television coverage was provided by

CBS Sports Network CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American pay television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports Television also known as ...

. The game was played without fans in attendance, as Aloha Stadium was "deemed unsafe to hold crowds" in December 2020. On January 22, organizers announced that

Rex Ryan Rex Ashley Ryan (born December 13, 1962) is an American former football coach and analyst. Ryan was formerly the head coach of the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL), and also held various coaching position ...

would coach the Kai team, and

Mike Singletary Michael Singletary (born October 9, 1958), also known by his nickname Samurai Mike, is an American professional football coach and former middle linebacker. After playing college football for the Baylor Bears, Singletary was drafted by the Chi ...

would coach the Aina team; both have served as head coaches in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). They named as their

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...

s former NFL quarterback

Mark Sanchez Mark Travis John Sanchez (born November 11, 1986) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons. He played college football at the University of Southern California (USC) and was draft ...

for Kai and former NFL quarterback and head coach

Jim Zorn James Arthur Zorn (born May 10, 1953) is a former American football player and coach. Zorn was a left-handed quarterback, and is best known as the starting quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks for their first eight seasons. He was the quarterback ...

for Aina. For team KAI Ronnie Jones was selected to be the Defensive Coordinator Coach and for team AINA former NFL player Abe Elimimian was selected to be the Defensive Back Coach.

Players

Player invitations were determined by the Hula Bowl Selection Committee, primarily based on "potential to make a professional Football team roster". Players were expected from "several levels of the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

as well as athletes from Japan, Canada, Australia, and Polynesia."
list of accepted invites
was maintained on the bowl's website. Notable players included

K. J. Costello Kevin Richard "K. J." Costello (born June 7, 1997) is an American football quarterback who is a free agent. He played college football at Stanford and the Mississippi State. He previously played for the Los Angeles Chargers and New Orleans Sain ...

(QB,

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univers ...

) and

Brady White Brady White is an American football quarterback for the Memphis Showboats of the United States Football League (USFL). He began his college football career at Arizona State University, before becoming a graduate transfer to the University of Me ...

(QB,

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

Game

Team Aina was uniformed in red, and Team Kai in blue.CBS Sports Network broadcast The game utilized

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

rules, with some modifications—for example, all kicks and punts were fielded only via

fair catch A fair catch is a feature of American football and several other codes of football, in which a player attempting to catch a ball kicked by the opposing team – either on a kickoff or punt – is entitled to catch the ball without interference f ...

. Due to the fair catch requirement, no

onside kick In gridiron football, an onside kick is a kickoff deliberately kicked short in an attempt by the kicking team to regain possession of the ball. This is in contrast with a typical kickoff, in which the kicking team intends to give the ball to the o ...

could be attempted, but in its place the "kicking" team could attempt essentially a 4th-and-15 from their own 30-yard-line. This occurred once in the game, late in the 4th quarter after Team Aina scored on a pick six, but the attempt did not result in a first down.

Awards

An offensive and defensive MVP were named for each team. For Team Aina, the MVPs were running back

Mekhi Sargent Mekhi Sargent (born October 8, 1997) is an American football running back for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). He went undrafted in the 2021 NFL Draft. Sargent played college football at Iowa. Professional career ...

(Iowa) and defensive end

Carlo Kemp Carlo Kemp (born January 1, 1998) is an American football outside linebacker for the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). He previously played professionally for the Pittsburgh Maulers of the United States Football League ( ...

(Michigan). For Team Kai, the MVPs were running back CJ Marable (Coastal Carolina) and cornerback

Nick McCloud Nick McCloud (born July 9, 1998) is an American football cornerback for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). College career He played college football at Notre Dame and North Carolina State. Statistics Professional caree ...

(Notre Dame). Offensively, Sargent had 61 yards on six rushes plus an 18-yard reception, while Marable had five carries for 17 yards including a touchdown; defensively, Kemp had four tackles and returned an interception for a touchdown, while McCloud had two interceptions with 34 return yards.

References

External links

*
Hula Bowl Highlights 2021
via

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

Hula Bowl 2021 Video from all days of practice
via

BTS of the 2021 Hula Bowl
with coach

Chad Owens Chad Owens Sr. (born April 3, 1982) is a former professional Canadian football wide receiver and kick returner. He was most recently a member of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was drafted by the Jacksonville Ja ...

via

{{DEFAULTSORT:2021 Hula Bowl

Hula Bowl The Hula Bowl is a post-season college football all-star game held annually, usually in January. From inception through the 2021 playing, it was held in Hawaii; since the 2022 edition, it has been played in Orlando, Florida. The game was first st ...

American football in Hawaii

Sports in Honolulu

Players

Game

Awards

See also

References

External links