Quotes from the feature article about Sol Eliminian

About his part-time job teaching PE at Loveland Academy to youngsters age 11-18 who have autism, Eliminian said:
"It's a real joy for me. The kids are great. I learn a lot of things from them. One thing I found out is these kids try harder than we try. It's fun working with them. It's a whole different environment than school and football and I enjoy it." (HSB)


About how he told Sol to stay away from gangs, but them left for UH so Sol had to resist the temptation without him being around, Abraham Eliminian said:
"He was at a crossroads. I gave him some advice, but it was Solomon who decided to be a leader and not a follower and take the right path." (HSB)


About his big brother Abe, Sol said:
"If it wasn't for him, I'd probably be in a gang right now. A lot of kids who were in gangs were my friends and I used to hang out with them a lot. There were a lot of situations. My brother found out and told me to stop. It's kind of fun and trendy, but my brother, he stopped me where I was at." (HSB)


About his father's influence, and how his father exposed him to life beyond South Central LA, Sol said:
"My father instilled a lot of great qualities in me. We looked beyond the neighborhood. He always had me reading newspapers. So I got a wider perspective of how life is." (HSB)


About how he regretted choosing UH over Cal for much of his freshman year, Sol said:
"Probably that whole season. It was hard adjusting. A lot of things happened fast. I learned to handle it." (HSB)


About how he told his brother that he'd get used to the different lifestyle and laid-back pace of Hawaii, Abe said:
"He didn't believe me. He was, yeah, yeah, but I could tell he didn't believe me when I told him he'd end up loving Hawaii. Now he won't leave." (HSB)


About how he and his brother bonded over those cell phone calls during his freshman year, Sol said:
"The first year here for me was hard and the only person who understood it was my brother. I talk to him about every other day now. Since I came to Hawaii we got very close. The age difference, five, six years apart, we never had a close bond. He was in Hawaii and I was with our family." (HSB)


About how Coach Lee helped him adjust to Hawaii as well as college football, Sol said:
"Coach Cal goes beyond football. It's like a father-son relationship in a lot of ways. "(HSB)


About the Warriors ohana, Sol said:
"I think that's why our team is as good as we are. We have ohana. There's different colors, different cultures. But we don't look at color. Last year it was a big year due to that. We love each other in another aspect -- it's not just about football. And it's not cliques here and there. It's the whole team." (HSB)


Praising Sol's work at Loveland, Loveland teacher Gerald Wong said:
"He's a good role model. They look forward to seeing him and they're very excited about UH football." (HSB)


About how he looks forward to every day that he has at Loveland, Sol said:
"It's a real joy for me. The kids are great. I learn a lot of things from them. One thing I found out is these kids try harder than we try. It's fun working with them. It's a whole different environment than school and footbalI and I enjoy it." (HSB)


Sol's Loveland supervisor Nate Dudoit praised Sol's work at Loveland:
"He's able to reach these kids with his heart and personality. He's a natural working with kids. He's one of a kind. He just steps in and does the right thing." (HSB)


About how he'll give his tickets to the Loveland kids this season, Sol said:
"They know I play football for UH, and they're always asking how Colt's (Brennan) doing, how's Davone (Bess) is doing. This kind of work, and other appearances we do to impact young people, we all look at it as an opportunity." (HSB)


About how it hasn't been hard for him to adjust to being the MLB in the 4-3 instead of an ILB in the 3-4, Sol said:
"I think it's coming natural for me. A linebacker's heart is a linebacker's heart, you know? It doesn't change that you've got to hit and you've got to run. A lot of the guys on our team are intelligent. Our whole defense is picking it up pretty good. As far as me, I love the transition. I think it fits our personnel better. Guys can actually play now that couldn't before. It's a joy for us. Like (defensive end) Karl Noa, he's going to have a really good year this year." (HSB)


About how he doesn't mind Hawaii's high expectations for them this season, Sol said:
"I think, for us, we embrace it. We're confident, in ourselves and the next guy, every guy. We're very confident in everybody on the team. We have chemistry and enough talent to run the table. We know we have to take every game as critical. We can't just go into a game thinking, we're gonna blow out Northern Colorado or Charleston Southern. We understand that every game is an important game and we have to respect every opponent." (HSB)


About the importance of his work at Loveland, Sol said:
"It was time for me to get out of the anonymous life of school and football. The kids here are the same (as in Crenshaw). Different skin color, but the same, because they just want an opportunity. I feel like I'm always going to have something to do with kids. I know how important opportunities are for them." (HSB)


Proud of Sol's work at Loveland, Abe said:
"He's learned that when you give, you end up getting a lot back. He's always been a really good person, quiet and thoughtful and caring. Now he's showing it." (HSB)