Home sweet home: Krau leaves prestigious football academy to play senior year at Baldwin High with his brothers

For the past three years, 6-foot-6, 320-pound offensive lineman Kaholi Krau of Maui has been protecting quarterbacks and opening holes for running backs at the prestigious IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.

The program is consistently ranked in the top 10 nationally, and according to its website has placed more than 200 student-athletes in college programs at all levels in the past five years. IMG Academy is such a powerhouse that 24 alumni were active players in the NFL for the 2023-2024 season.

So when Krau recently decided, with the help of his family, to forego his senior season at IMG to return to Maui to play for Baldwin High School, he called it one of “the hardest decisions of my life.”

The 18-year-old had flown from Maui to Florida on July 13 with the thought he might play again at IMG. But while there, he decided to get back on a plane and fly home with his mother on July 20.

“I didn’t know fully until like two days ago that I was coming back,” Krau said Tuesday. “It was like 50-50 before that.”

The IMG website says that tuition for the football players in 9th grade is $93,900 for boarders and $95,900 for each year from 10th through 12th grade. Kaholi Krau was on a near-full scholarship, according to his father Nick Krau.

He was the first Mauian to attend the school for more than one year. IMG Academy, with offices in Mexico, China, South Korea and Japan, offers eight sports for girls and nine for boys.

“Many have questioned why we’d leave such a prestigious program where Kaholi held a starting offensive line spot,” Nick Krau said. “But this decision is about our family and restoring what we lost during the past four years. None of his (five) siblings have ever watched him play a high school football game. He’s missed birthdays, holidays and countless family moments.”

On Monday, Kaholi Krau registered at Baldwin, passed his physical, filled out all the required paperwork, attended a weightlifting session and then was on the upper field at 4 p.m. for the Bears’ first practice of the season.

He is gearing up the Bears’ Aug. 8 opener against Hilo High School at Wong Stadium on the Big Island.

“It has been a lot, but I’m ready,” he said. “I’m glad to be back home with family. I’ve been away for like three years, almost four.”

It is a good bet college recruiters will find him on the island. He said he already has talked to 15 to 20 college football programs in the past year who are interested in him playing for their teams. Last fall, he took a game-day visit to Dartmouth University. Other Division I schools to inquire about him are Stetson, North Dakota and Fordham.

He bench presses 315 pounds and can do 10 repetitions at 225 pounds, which is one of the drills used at the NFL combine.

He also has 1,800 followers on X and generated his first official scholarship offer from Merrimack College as a freshman.

His father Nick Krau said several “top-10” high schools have inquired about his son playing for them for his senior season. Nick Krau also said Kyle Brey, the IMG director of football, spoke to the Kraus on the phone several times trying to talk them out of leaving before Kaholi Krau and his mother boarded the plane home.

“Kyle Brey had multiple in-depth conversations with both Kaholi’s mother and me and most recently said, ‘We believe in his future, and we still believe IMG is the best place for him to grow, both as a player and as a young man,’ ” Nick Krau said, adding that the option to return to IMG Academy is open.

But Baldwin High School could offer something that IMG Academy could not: brothers. Two of Kaholi Krau’s younger siblings play for the Bears.

On Monday, he practiced with younger brothers Braxton Krau, a 14-year-old, 6-2, 200-pound tight end and Vaidan Krau, a 17-year-old, 6-1, 280-pound junior offensive lineman.

“The last time we were all at the same school was elementary school,” Kaholi Krau said. 

He said he missed his family, spending about 95% of his time on the Mainland for the past three years.

Braxton Krau smiled widely when asked what it was like to have big brother home and on the same football field.

“It’s very nice because we get to spend time, to see him again, and we get to be on the football field together,” he said. “I’m pretty excited. I miss him quite a bit because we only see him a few times a year. It’s going to be fun. I’m sure he’ll be pushing me a lot, too.”

Vaidan Krau played junior varsity football at Baldwin as a freshman, attended Kamehameha Schools Maui last year where he did not play due to the state transfer rule, and is now back with the Bears and his brothers.

“I feel like the family is back together,” he said. “Today in the weight room, he was killing me.”

The emotion in Kaholi Krau’s voice tells a tale of how this was a family decision, although he left one family in Florida to come home.

“We all lived in dorms,” he said. “So, it’s super close. The team, we call it a ‘brotherhood’ and you see the same people every day. You interact with the same staff every day and you see the same coaches. So you build a really tight connection and it’s like a family up there. Everyone’s super close.”

He hopes to bring a little of the IMG plan to Baldwin and be a leader for the Bears.

“What we do at IMG, bro, is there’s a saying that we have ‘iron sharpens iron’ and it just … we go so hard against each other,” Kaholi Krau said. “You’re always trying to make your teammates better. And I feel like I could bring that here, the physicality. 

“I feel like I could bring the (Baldwin) team closer. I want to turn it into a brotherhood.”

Nick Krau said the reasoning was simple in the end. His son was a starter and standout for two of the three IMG varsity teams, the varsity blue and varsity white. He also played in a spring season where IMG sent teams to play internationally. It adds up to about 55 football games Kaholi Krau has played in the last three years.

“No high school football opportunity, no matter how big, can replace the value of being home, surrounded by family,” Nick Krau said. “The lessons learned around the dinner table, the love shared in everyday moments, and the bonds built with siblings will last far longer than any season on the field.”

Now that he is home, Kaholi Krau’s youngest brother, 6-year-old Jaxton, and sister, 7-year-old Brilee, will both get to see him play football live for the first time. Sister Allie Kennedy, a state silver medalist in the girls pole vault, is now a senior at Kamehameha Maui and will also get to attend his games instead of watching him play on the internet.

The facilities at Baldwin are nowhere near what Kaholi Krau was used to at IMG, where players are monitored on several levels, including their 30 minutes of stretching drills before stepping on the practice field. They are also weighed prior and after practice to monitor their water intake to make sure their hydration levels are safe in the baking Florida sun and humidity.

The Krau brothers played 8-under and 6-under flag football for Baldwin head coach Cody Nakamura when they were very young. The Bears have not been to the Hawaiʻi state tournament since 2019.

“We’ve been trying to get (Kaholi Krau) to come home for a long time, so I’m happy that it finally happened,” Nakamura said. “Hopefully he can bring some of that knowledge and energy back to us and help to continue to build the program. … We believe that we’re one big, happy family as well.”