Feature on Corey Nielsen

About putting a UH "H" logo decal on the back of his helmet, right above another decal of the Hawaiian Island chain, Corey Nielsen said:
"I wanna represent." (HA)

HA Note: "Nielsen made a verbal commitment in July and already considers himself a Warrior. He played this entire season with a Hawai'i "H" logo decal on the back of his helmet, right above another decal of the Hawaiian Islands chain."

HA Note: "Nielsen easily qualifies as the latter, since his mother — the former Cheryl Ching — is a Punahou graduate and his grandma and two aunts still live here. One of his cousins, Punahou alum Kelsie Look, plays for the Rainbow Wahine soccer team."

About how he thought that Nielsen was from Hawaii when he met him, Billy Ray Stutzmann said:
"When I first met him, I thought he was local. He's always representing Hawai'i." (HA)

About being invited to play with the Hawaii stars in the All-Star game, Nielsen (who arrived in time for the Cincinnati game) said:
"I was excited. I thought it would be a great opportunity to show the people of Hawai'i what I've got. It's one thing to see highlights on YouTube, but it's another to show what I can do in person." (HA)

Praising Nielsen's play in practice, Hawaii All-Stars coach Wendell Say said:
"He's legit. He's a good quarterback, real confident." (HA)

About practicing with Nielsen, Stutzmann said:
"He looks solid, I'm glad he's on our team. He makes the right reads, and he gets the ball there. On the short routes, he gets the ball there in a hurry. And he's not afraid to put touch on the deep passes." (HA)

HA Note: "Nielsen, who carries a 4.0 GPA and ranks No. 1 in his senior class of 444, said he's tried surfing only once and admits his pidgin English could use some work."

About his pidgin English, Nielsen said:
"I'm trying to understand (teammates' pidgin) a little bit. But they've all been welcoming me and showing me around ...It's been so much fun." (HA)