He has found his niche at Alabama and now he looked to build on it.
For Brandon “Ale” Kaho, he gave Crimson Tide fans a scare when he went missing in the offseason and people were anticipating him to transfer. After sorting out family issues, the linebacker from Nevada returned to campus and got back into action. He was a late addition to Alabama’s top-five class for 2018, flipping from Washington to the Tide in the summer.
While his athletic build (6-1/228) puts one in the mind of former All-American, C.J. Mosley, Kaho is still learning how to take things one step at a time. He has had moments where his emotions have gotten the best of him on the field, in terms of letting go of bad plays, but it appears as though he has found one area of football that allows him to use his aggression.
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Some of Nick Saban’s favorite players, which includes Julio Jones, Dont’a Hightower, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Eddie Jackson were really good on special teams. All of them had a feel for covering kicks, punts and simply knocking guys out on the field.
Jackson, in particular, had a knack for judging the coverage, fielding the ball and letting his vision take over as a returner.
Kaho has recorded 12 tackles in six games, with the majority coming on special teams.
He takes pride in flying down the field, cleaning somebody’s clock out, hearing the approval of fans as he drops the opposing player to the ground, and celebrating with teammates. Alabama had gone three years – since Fitzpatrick in 2015 – without a blocked punt, until this season.
In its matchup with Mississippi, Kaho came through the line and blocked a punt inside Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Tyrell Shavers, a sophomore, was in position for his first career touchdown, but he could not secure the ball. As he bobbles it on ground, Kaho returns in the picture to recover the block for his first-ever score and the team’s first non-offensive touchdown of the season.
The following week, he struck again.
This time, the opponent was Texas A&M at Kyle Field and Kaho was trying desperately hard to not run over the punter. He succeeds on his second block and Shavers secured the bag for the program’s second non-offensive score. He has earned Special Teams Player of the Week honors from the coaching staff in three games – South Carolina, Mississippi, Texas A&M – but on Wednesday, Saban said Alabama wants to get developed more at linebacker on defense.
“We think he is a very football player on defense,” Saban said of Kaho.
“He’s missed some time a little bit around him and that has not helped his development, in terms of knowledge and experience, and it would certainly help us if we can get him to that point because he is a good player on defense as well.”
Per Saban, Kaho has the traits to be successful on special teams and defense.
“Ale is a really good competitor,” he said.
“He really gives good effort and plays hard in everything in he does. He contributed all last year on special teams and he’s developed into a guy that has really good knowledge and experience. You couple that with his energy and intensity and attitude that he plays with on special teams, which some guys don’t see the value in that, the combination of those things makes him effective.”
He is the unquestioned defensive leader with 47 total tackles; however, Xavier McKinney has many fun moments on special teams. Much of his excitement comes from watching Kaho.
“Having him on special teams is a great feeling,” McKinney said of Kaho. “I talked to him after he blocked a punt about some stuff, before they went off on kickoff. Just knowing that he’s on punt return and has the ability to block the ball every time that we rush, it is huge for us because it helps us get the ball back and gives us an opportunity to add more points on the scoreboard.”
Raekwon Davis and Terrell Lewis are both fond of using a football as their significant other during interviews.
Not a lot of things come between Lewis and the ball, until reporters brought Kaho’s name in the conversation.
The 6-foot-5, 252-pounder quickly smiled, leaned up in his chair and talked joyfully about playing with someone that will be special for years to come.
“Kaho is a dog,” Lewis said.
“He’s a dog on special team, but just as a football player, he’s one of those guys that you definitely want to see play. He’s a hard-nosed guy and real physical, so a guy like him, he is just happy to be out there. Any time he can contribute on the field, whether it’s special teams, defense, anything… he’ll go in on goal line and stuff like that. He’s a headhunter. You love seeing guys like that.”
Speaking of goal line situations, it was the first scoring play Kaho was involved in and it happened in Alabama’s season opener versus Duke. He lined up at fullback and while commentators thought it was Mac Jones, Kaho led Brian Robinson into the end zone.
He is one step away from being the complete package.
If Kaho can learn to play the next play, his full potential will be unlocked.
The Tide will have a couple of games (Tennessee, Arkansas) and a bye week to get ready for a showdown with LSU on Saturday, Nov. 9 at home.
Should he continue to grow, we could be looking at a circumstance of Alabama picking between Kaho or Shane Lee at inside linebacker.
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Stephen M. Smith is the managing editor and senior writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @CoachingMSmith.
