A ship righted

ANNAPOLIS | When Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada reflects on the decision he nearly made just over a month ago, he’s certain it’s one he would regret now.

The Navy quarterback couldn’t finish the Temple game Nov. 1, the second time this season a comeback attempt failed. The hamstring injury he suffered at the end of the first week of practice in August was still limiting his effectiveness.

This wasn’t the way he wanted his senior season to play out. Kaheaku-Enhada, who last season scored a team-high 12 rushing touchdowns, was entrenched as Navy’s starter entering the year.

Pride bruised, patience evaporated, disheartened by the notion of another round of rehabilitation, he had reached the nadir of his career. So he decided to tell coach Ken Niumatalolo and offensive coordinator Ivin Jasper he was quitting.

“I wasn’t playing to my potential,” Kaheaku-Enhada said this week. “I wasn’t playing to my capabilities. I know I’m a lot better player than what I showed all season long.”

But Jasper refused to let him give up. Navy still had four games left on its schedule, and the showdown with Army was still a month away. It was enough time for Kaheaku-Enhada to give his season one more chance, and Jasper knew the quarterback’s return to the starting lineup for the rivalry game would give the Mids a boost.

“He was in tears, he was frustrated,” Jasper recalled. “He said, ’Coach, I’m done. I’m just not the same. I can’t burst. It won’t heal up.’ I just said, ’Let’s just take all the time off we can, let’s just rehab real hard and get back for the Army game. If you give me one more game, give me that one.’”

The encouragement convinced the Hawaii native to reconsider. With the support of his teammates and coaches, Kaheaku-Enhada embarked on his third stint of rehab. This time around, he rested longer before he resumed running. In the week before the Army game, he practiced at full speed to make sure his hamstring would hold up.

And in the process, the coaching staff noticed a change in Kaheaku-Enhada’s morale - the re-emergence of his laid-back, cheery personality.

“The good thing about what he did was his attitude changed from being down in the dumps,” said Jasper, who doubles as Navy’s quarterbacks coach. “He got excited, and he worked his butt off to get back.”

Sure enough, he took every snap for the Mids in their 34-0 rout of Army. The Army-Navy game is a special day for seniors at the academy, but this year it held extra importance for Kaheaku-Enhada.

Despite his individual pedestrian numbers - 14 carries for 48 yards and 3-for-10 passing for 62 yards and a touchdown - the Mids amassed 430 total yards and controlled the clock for 60 minutes. More importantly, Kaheaku-Enhada made it through the entire game as healthy as he had felt all season.

“It was a high. I’m very happy that I was able to come back and play similar to what I used to,” he said. “I’m still not there yet, but I’m happy to get back out there.”

Kaheaku-Enhada enjoyed another full slate of practice this week. So after nearly giving up on his season, he will be under center for the second straight game when Navy (8-4) faces Wake Forest (7-5) in the EagleBank Bowl at RFK Stadium on Saturday.

“If it wasn’t for Coach Jasper not letting me quit and then the players pushing me, I wouldn’t be playing right now,” he said. “Coach Jasper knows how I am. He knows that I push myself harder than anyone else and the fact that I hadn’t been playing the way I thought I could, to my potential, he understood that. He understood what I was going through. He knows that I’m a competitor, and he knows that if I would have hung it up then, I would be regretting it now.”

But instead of wondering what would’ve happened if he quit, Kaheaku-Enhada has come out his most trying season with a positive outlook.

“One thing about this is that everybody hits adversity, and it’s the people that know how to balance it and deal with it that make it far in life,” he said. “That’s something that my high school basketball coach told me and I think about now.

“It’s something that I definitely won’t forget. I won’t forget the guys that pulled me through.”