Bellevue Alumni Kendrick Van Ackeren Ready To Tackle New Role in Hawaii

Kendrick Van Ackeren’s resume while playing at reads like a dream list of on-field accomplishments. Three state championships, , a bag full of post-season awards and a dominating senior season. Now the former Wolverine quarterback/safety is suiting up for the University of Hawaii…and learning a new position.

How is everything going for you overall down in Hawaii?

It’s going good. It’s difficult switching positions and everything and trying to pick it up fast, but, as far as I can say it’s going good. Could go better, could go worse, but good’s the only way to really describe it.

What position are you practicing right now?

Outside linebacker.

What was the decision behind making the switch from safety to outside linebacker?

You know, I’m not really sure. It was just something that happened with most of the schools that recruited me late in the process, a lot of them began to look at me at outside linebacker instead of safety. I don’t know if it’s because of numbers or because of size or speed, I don’t what it was, but it was just a decision made by the coaches.

What’s been the biggest difference for you, playing outside linebacker as opposed to playing safety?

I’d say there’s two. The first one is probably the footwork. It’s completely different when you’re down there in the box and you have a lot more shuffling, a lot more side to side and a lot more attacking, whereas safety it’s a lot more like lead step and you come downhill. And the other thing is vision-wise, because safeties are behind everything, you see everything, you can see the whole defense and the whole offense. But at linebacker, you have a lot less peripheral vision to see everybody. You have to keep your head on a swivel a lot more and it’s a little bit more difficult to find everybody you need to find.

Apart from switching positions, what have you noticed as the biggest difference between playing at the high school level and playing at the college level in terms of the players around you?

Everything’s a lot more sharp. The receivers run better routes, the linebackers have quicker feet, they use their hands more, the lineman are a lot quicker and better with their hands. Outside of the players, the plays and the playbook are a lot more complicated, there’s a lot more things that you have to based off what the offense does and stuff.

You had thought for a while before you made your college choice. What was it that ultimately led you to pick Hawaii out of the group you were looking at?

On my visit, it was the place I felt the most love from. Through the whole recruiting process, they were probably the most consistent with me and they seemed the most interested. When I came here, the coaches just had the best kind of attitude, they were always trying to praise the players. All the other coaches they seemed like they had all their stuff down, there’s no confusion with them. It just felt like the best place for me to do be, where I could do the best out of my options.

Did the weather down there play into that all?

You know, not really. It’s definitely a plus and it definitely helps out now that I’m here. But during the recruiting process, for me, it had nothing to do with the weather, nothing to do with the climate, it was 100 percent about the school and about the team. I could play in cold weather, obviously, I am from Washington, it gets pretty cold up there, it’s always raining and I could play here, in hot weather. So, it’s a little different, but it’s not a big adjustment that I need to make.

Do you feel like playing for a program like Bellevue, where you had a lot of notoriety and national rankings, helped prepare you make the jump to the college level?

I think playing at Bellevue definitely did help me make the jump. The coaches there are just straight to business with the players, but they have good relationships with their players at the same time. We’re very big on discipline, which I think really helped me come in and be here. We’re big on being able to learn and being coachable and whatnot. All that stuff really helped me come here, where I have to learn a new position and learn new plays and just trying to be coachable and trying to switch it all up. It’s a lot of change for me, but I think my coaches [at Bellevue] did the best job that they could do preparing me for it.    

When you think about the first time you run out on to the field for your first college game, what are the thoughts that go through your head?

I’m 100 percent ready. I think about it a lot. I don’t know if it will be this year, next year, maybe the year after depending on what happens with practice and everything, but I know when it does come, I’ll be excited and, hopefully, I’ll do what I have to do.