‘They don’t like me too much’

Steve Guiremand

Friday, July 23, 2004 | 9:50 a.m.

Chris Kemoeatu admits he was as surprised as anybody when Utah head coach Urban Meyer asked him if he'd like to attend Thursday's Mountain West Conference football media day at the Ritz Carlton Hotel at Lake Las Vegas.

"I was like, 'Coach, they don't like me too much in Vegas,' " said Kemoeatu, a 6-foot-4, 338-pound senior offensive guard from Kahuku, Hawaii.

That's probably putting it mildly.

Kemoeatu, a preseason first-team all-MWC pick, was last seen in Las Vegas being escorted off the field in the third quarter of Utah's 28-10 victory against UNLV on Oct. 18 at Sam Boyd Stadium. Kemoeatu, who had been ejected just a week earlier for kicking a player in a game against San Diego State, this time got caught on TV delivering another kick, to the helmetless face of Rebels nose guard Howie Fuimaono in a pileup.

Fuimaono immediately grabbed his face and screamed in pain after Kemoeatu's cleat landed just inside his left eye socket. He was rushed to the hospital with blurred vision but was released later that night thankful that Kemoeatu's cleat didn't land about a quarter of an inch to the left, directly on his eyeball.

Meyer told reporters afterward that if Kemoeatu had indeed kicked a player for the second time in the span of six plays then he would not play again for the rest of the season. But less than 24 hours later he backed off that statement and levied just a one-game suspension as well as mandatory anger management classes for his star offensive lineman.

"I thought I was out," Kemoeatu said. "I thought I was done for the rest of the season."

Meyer said Thursday: "He's a good person who got caught up in some things and made two bad decisions. He learned from it. If he didn't, then he wouldn't be playing for Utah."

The soft-spoken Kemoeatu seemed remorseful about the incident.

"I really feel bad about what I did and I regret doing it," he said. "In the heat of battle sometimes you overreact and do stuff you're not supposed to do. I learned a good lesson."

Kemoeatu said he has learned to control his emotions after receiving a tongue-lashing from his parents, Manako Melino and Ahea Kolovetekina Kemoeatu, as well as attending the anger management class.

"My parents told me that I was supposed to have grown up already," he said. "They told me that if I wanted to fight to join kick-boxing or something like that.

"I thought the class was pretty good. We did a lot of exercises that had to do with controlling your anger and slowly calming down and walking away. They put you in certain situations where you have to handle something. They make you jot things down like when you're on the road and someone is reckless driving or flips you off or something. Every time I overreacted I had to write it down and keep a list of things I did."

Meyer said he has noticed a big difference in Kemoeatu's demeanor on and off the field.

"He's earned (coming to media day)," Meyer said. "He's done everything I've asked of him since January. He's grown up. I talked to him about coming here and accepting the roll of leadership and he's done it. He's a better person because he came here."

Still, there was some grumbling from the media that Meyer decided to bring Kemoeatu instead of star quarterback Alex Smith to be interviewed. Was he trying to rub the kicking incident into UNLV's face one more time or was he trying to keep the spotlight off his preseason player of the year candidate?

"It would have been easy for me to bring Alex Smith and the media would have loved it because Alex is so sharp and so smart," Meyer said. "But Alex would not have gained anything from that. I'm not really concerned about the media gaining something. I want our program and our players to gain something."

Meyer said he had to convince Utah athletic department officials that bringing Kemoeatu instead of Smith was a good move.

"When I told them who was I was bringing they said, 'Wait a minute,' " Meyer said. "But as long as the sign on my door says head football coach, that's my call."

Speaking of calls, has Kemoeatu ever picked up the phone to apologize to Fuimaono?

"I haven't talked to him yet but I would like to talk to him and apologize," Kemoeatu said. "What I did was uncalled for."