Lins grit pays off at Boise State | News, Sports, Jobs

Boise State offensive lineman Dalton Lins, shown warming up before the team’s spring game in April, saw his first game action as a Bronco last Thursday in Boise State’s 36-31 season-opening loss at Central Florida. Boise State Athletics photo

Dalton Lins’ road to playing time for the Boise State University football team has been long and challenging.

The fourth-year junior offensive lineman was a stalwart for two Division II state championship teams for Lahainaluna High School, but at 250 pounds during his senior season of high school football, he was undersized to play the position for a Mountain West Conference power like the Broncos.

He was recruited as a preferred walk-on to Boise in 2018 by former Baldwin head coach Chad Kauhaahaa, the defensive line coach who was gone one season later.

“I was able to bump up to 280 by the time I got here, but basically it was Coach K who recruited me over here,” Lins said Monday after practice for the Broncos’ Friday game against Texas-El Paso. “He recruited me over here, so that was like my way in.

“I didn’t really know where Boise was at or anything, but I just said I want to play D-I. That was my goal from the start, to play for a D-I program. I got the opportunity and came right away.”

During his senior season at Lahainaluna High School, Dalton Lins weighed in at 250 pounds. He was able to bump up to 280 by the time he joined Boise State and now tips the scales at 295. Boise State Athletics photo

Then after the 2020 season, the staff turned over when Andy Avalos took the head-coaching reins from Bryan Harsin, who left for Auburn.

“It’s been pretty crazy recently with COVID and everything, last season without fans — I love that there are fans back in stadiums,” Lins said. “Yeah, I went through a coaching change, but I really like the new coaching staff, they are a bunch of good guys.”

Last Thursday, the now-295-pound Lins got into the Broncos’ 36-31 season-opening loss at Central Florida on field goal and extra-point special teams — it was his first game action as a Bronco.

“In the O-line room we want that blue-collar mentality, we want guys that love to work and take advantage of every opportunity to get better,” BSU offensive line coach Tim Keane said. “He stepped up big this past weekend and he did protection on our field goal and our PAT teams and he was lights out. We always talk about everyone has a role on the team and everyone’s role is crucial.”

Lins was Academic All-Mountain West in 2020 and a Mountain West Scholar-Athlete for the 2020-21 academic year — he has a 3.7 grade-point average in business marketing — but now he has showed that the grit and determination he learned growing up in West Maui pays off in the long run.

Dalton Lins and the Boise State Broncos host UTEP on Friday in their home opener. Boise State Athletics photo

“I’m doing pretty good,” Lins said. “I’ve been basically looking at real estate, but eventually I want to own my own business. I’m not sure what that’s going to be yet, but I know I want to be my own boss, an entrepreneur, something like that.”

He has learned determination from the hard road that walk-ons have to travel to find any playing time other than the scout team in practice.

“Definitely when you’re a walk-on you come in with like a different mentality — you just want to go hard every rep and prove yourself,” Lins said. “Basically you want to prove that you can be on this team and even be a part of the team and contribute. I think our team, we have a strong mentality about that. Being players, being a family, we really emphasize that.”

Lins is proud to represent where he came from.

“It means everything to me, I mean I love Maui and I’m grateful to be able to represent Maui, for sure, especially the west side, Lahaina,” he said.

The high school program he grew up with helped him make his mark at one of the most successful programs in the nation.

“I love Boise, too,” he said. “This has been like a second home to me. I love being here in Idaho, but nothing beats home. You gotta love Maui for sure.”

Lins has recently started wearing his hair in a mullet style, like many of his teammates.

“During quarantine there was no barbershops open or anything, so I was like, ‘Well, I’m growing my hair out,’ “ Lins said. “And then once they opened up, I’m like, ‘I need to cut myself a mullet.’ My roommate, he kind of inspired me to do that. … We’ve got a bunch of kids now on the team rocking mullets, so it’s kind of a cool thing, cool trend going right now.”

Lins will graduate this academic year, but he is leaning toward using his final season of eligibility next season.

“I want to focus on graduating obviously and then see where things are at and then I want to come back,” he said. “I obviously love being part of this team. I want to do it as much as I can. I have a bunch of friends out here.”

Lins keeps up with former Lahainaluna teammates including Tuipulotu Lai, who is at Snow College as he prepares to transfer to BYU; Josh Tihada is at UNLV; and Devon Sa-Chisolm is at Southern Utah.

La’akea Kaho’ohanohano-Davis is at Southern Utah and Mafatini Mafatini is at Snow — both are Baldwin graduates. Former Maui High standouts Tristan Nichols (Nevada), Feleti Afemui (Vanderbilt) and Jared Kapisi (BYU) are all seeing significant playing time at their respective programs.

“It’s awesome seeing all the younger guys that I played with when I was a senior and they were maybe sophomores or freshmen and then they have the opportunity to go out and do the same thing I’m doing,” Lins said. “To know that there’s just a bunch of Maui boys out there, representing, playing for D-I programs, it’s awesome.”

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com

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