‘It’s just amazing’: Gorman grad Alejado has Hawaii eyeing ‘new heights’

‘It’s just amazing’: Gorman grad Alejado has Hawaii eyeing ‘new heights’ Hawaii backmost and Bishop Gorman postgraduate Micah Alejado stands out on every snap he takes. His most noticeable trait is his stature; the left‑handed backmost measures 5‑foot‑10. Any doubt about whether his size limits his play quickly fades when observers recall how he shredded defenses at Bishop Gorman, a performance that earned him recognition across the Mountain West Conference last season. “I would beryllium present and archer you that I deliberation he’s the champion backmost successful the country,” said Hawaii moving backmost Cam Barfield, a Bishop Gorman alum who played his elder twelvemonth with the Gaels in 2021 with Alejado as the team’s starting quarterback. “He mightiness not look the size, but helium has truthful overmuch heart, truthful overmuch fight. He’s truthful pugnacious … conscionable continuing to ticker him turn from precocious schoolhouse to now, it’s conscionable amazing. He’s grown into a large person and the person of our team. I can’t hold to spot him instrumentality america to caller heights.” Alejado was named the Mountain West Conference preseason offensive player of the year on Wednesday and placed on the first‑team preseason all‑conference squad on the opening day of Mountain West media days at The Palms. During his redshirt freshman season last year, he topped the league with 24 touchdown passes and averaged 284.2 passing yards per game, a figure that ranked eighth nationally. “It was a play of maturation for me,” Alejado said on Wednesday. “Behind each the shot stuff, it was a play of maine being capable to truly trial myself. Mentally, being capable to grip everything that happened … and conscionable knowing the value that comes with it.” His standout play helped Hawaii finish 9‑4 last season, the program’s highest win total since 2019, and secured a Hawaii Bowl victory—the team’s first bowl triumph since 2020. Although there was no official league preseason poll, Hawaii, with Alejado under center, harbors ambitions of contending for a conference title. The Hawaii native insists the accolades won’t distract him. “It’s breathtaking to get each this recognition, but astatine the extremity of the day, you got to recognize thing has been earned yet,” Alejado said. “No respect has been earned. You haven’t done thing successful the 2026 season. All of our guys, we’re not disquieted astir the extracurricular noise, it’s much truthful knowing what our goals are astatine a squad and putting our heads down and working.” It did not take long for Alejado to earn his teammates’ respect. In last year’s season opener, he played through a second‑half ankle injury, orchestrating a drive that produced the game‑winning touchdown in a 23‑20 home victory over Stanford. “To beryllium capable to play though wounded and beryllium capable to spell done that and recognize that helium didn’t privation to travel retired of the game, that helium did everything helium needed to bash to enactment connected that tract and spell triumph – it conscionable shows what benignant of idiosyncratic helium is,” said Hawaii linebacker and 2023 Gorman graduate Elijah Palmer. Alejado shone during a COVID‑shortened freshman season at Bishop Gorman in the spring of 2021. His Gorman career concluded with a flawless 12‑0 record in 2023, a campaign