UNLV offensive guard feels at home with Rebels after year at UCLA
His mother cried when dropping him off for college at UNLV. His father teared up also.
But something told Alani Makihele he was home. A fire burned inside him about the place.
Then he left it.
Now he’s back.
The senior offensive guard for the Rebels football team has after a one-year stint at UCLA returned to finish his collegiate career where it began.
The bright lights of Los Angeles and playing in the Big Ten suddenly wasn’t all that enticing to him. He thought it would be an opportunity to play in a big-time atmosphere.
Something was missing.
Feeling comfortable
“It’s hard to compare how I felt there compared to here,” Makihele said. “I’m not sure my love for football was at UCLA. I have that at UNLV. I realized Los Angeles just wasn’t for me. I made a lot of friends there, but it didn’t feel like a home.
“Once I went into the transfer portal and UNLV coaches hit me up, I knew that I wanted to come back. This is my home away from home. I was super homesick in L.A. I wasn’t really checked in. But now I’m back here and feeling really comfortable.”
His real home is Anchorage, Alaska, where the 6-foot-3-inch, 350-pound Makihele raves about the football competition.
About playing high school games amid the beautiful scenery of Juneau and Fairbanks.
“You come here and play a (Santa Ana) Mater Dei team and it’s just another stadium,” he said. “In Alaska, you’re playing right up against the mountains when the sun hits them just right. It’s incredible.”
He also talks of a Polynesian community in Anchorage that produces several players capable of competing at the Division I level annually. Most, however, simply don’t want to leave. He did.
He spent his first three seasons at UNLV (redshirting as a freshman and not seeing action in 2021), playing for Marcus Arroyo, then had one with Barry Odom and will now finish his collegiate career under Dan Mullen.
Makihele played in all of UCLA’s 12 games last season, starting two. It’s not as if the competition is any less with the Rebels. Far from it.
He will earn every snap he gets on a rebuilt line with some of the better talent and depth UNLV has known from its offensive front in some time.
“The first thing about Alani is that he’s a great kid to have in our program,” offensive line coach Mike Sollenne said. “He’s a veteran presence. He knows this place. He loves this place. Guys respect him. So having a veteran guy around who has played a lot of football to mentor and help those younger guys is huge for us and huge for them.
“Alani just has to keep learning our system. He has only had a few practices with us. He’s got to keep learning and getting better every day. That’s our focus. Get better every single day.”
Makihele missed much about UNLV, including its rivalry game against UNR.
Rankings and lists and historical references all will point to USC-UCLA being one of college football’s fiercest rivalries. He didn’t see it that way. Didn’t feel the juice he had expected when becoming a Bruin after watching the matchup on television while growing up.
“It felt like any other game,” Makihele said. “It was all pretty normal. Honestly, I think the UNLV-Reno game is more intense. It’s town versus town. Obviously, we’re on top right now. Vegas is where it’s at.”
Hello, Bruins
And then there is Sept. 6.
It’s when Makihele will get an opportunity to face UCLA and many of those friends he made.
The Bruins come to Allegiant Stadium for what should be UNLV’s biggest and most interesting nonconference game.
“I think they’re all special,” Sollenne said. “We have to go out and execute for every one. For (Makihele), he has 12 games left for sure guaranteed. Hopefully, we get more. But he’s got 12 left. UCLA might be special for him, but I hope they’re all pretty special.”
Said Makihele: “It’s another game, another chance for us to compete and make the most out of it. It’s going to be interesting, for sure.”
He came and left and is back again.
Back to his second home. To where it all began.
Contact Ed Graney at egraney@reviewjournal.com. Follow @edgraney on X.
