Daily Pilot Football Player of the Week: Robert Chai

Barry Faulkner

Robert Chai doesn’t know where it comes from. In fact, he’s not

totally convinced it exists.

But for eyewitness accounts and game videotape, The 6-foot-4,

270-pound Newport Harbor High football star might even successfully

dismiss his on-field alter ego with plausible denial.

But incontrovertible evidence of his unleashed aggression continues to

mount, as do his accolades, and the piles of defenders he propels into a

prone position.

“People say I’m really mean on the field, but I can’t tell when I’m

out there,” said Chai, a decorated senior offensive tackle whose

highlight video wowed college recruiters throughout the offseason. “I

guess you have to be kind of mean to play offensive line, but when people

tell me about the things I do on the field, I don’t know what they’re

talking about.”

These days, it’s his live performances that have solidified the

UCLA-bound standout’s reputation as one of the biggest blocking bullies

in Orange County, if not the Southland.

“He has been our most dominating lineman,” said Newport Harbor Coach

Jeff Brinkley, who is among those impressed by the Daily Pilot Player of

the Week’s rare combination of power and grace.

“For a big kid, he’s very athletic and he’s able to stay on his feet,”

Brinkley said. “He’s one of the nicest, most polite kids you’ll ever

meet, a real gentleman. But he’s very aggressive out there and he

finishes off his blocks. He seems to find another gear on the field.”

The finishes of which Brinkley speaks usually mean pain for Chai’s

opponent, perhaps even embarrassment.

“When all the recruiters came through last spring to watch film on

him, they didn’t want to shut down the projector,” Brinkley said. “They

said he was so fun to watch, because when the play was winding down, he

was still driving his guy out of the frame.”

Additional fodder for Chai’s growing legend involves what coaches call

a “punch” on pass protection. The technique, a sharp thrust of both hands

into a defender’s chest, is designed to stop forward momentum, while

allowing the blocker to reset his balance for the defender’s next surge.

Against Chai, however, that second surge often never materializes.

“He has the best punch of any offensive lineman we’ve had,” said

Brinkley, in his 16th season at the Sailors’ helm. “There have been about

six or seven times over the last two years when he has pass set, punched

and knocked his guy off his feet and onto his back. He did it last week

against Woodbridge.”

Chai termed the Woodbridge game, a 34-7 Harbor victory to clinch the

Sea View League championship, one of his best in what has been an

unbeaten season for the Tars, ranked No. 1 in CIF Southern Section

Division VI and No. 5 in Orange County.

An All-CIF Division VI choice as a junior, Chai is one of three

returning starters on what Brinkley has said may be the best offensive

front he has had. But, despite the fact that he stands out, at least as

much as any offensive lineman can, Brinkley said Chai downplays his

personal prowess.

“He’s very, very team oriented,” Brinkley said. “He was almost

embarrassed by the recruiting process. He just very much wants the team

to be successful.”

Chai said the individual attention he received after last season,

including being listed by SuperPrep magazine as the No. 60 college

prospect among players from California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon,

Washington and Hawaii, was as unexpected as it was flattering.

“I never thought I’d get the awards and opportunities I have,” he

said. “I wasn’t even sure I was going to play football in high school.”

Chai also said previous honors, as well as praise for the his

teammates in the trenches, helps motivate him to live up to high

expectations.

“I was worried about letting people down,” he said. “I figured people

would be gunning for me this year and I wanted to prove I could get

better, not worse.”

Though respectful of opponents, Chai said he does not regret the

mayhem he administers in the process of doing his job.

“The other guy is trying to do the same thing to me I’m trying to do

to him,” Chai said. “It’s just competition.”

Still, Chai looks forward to the postgame handshakes, when he and his

rival can share some mutual respect.

“That’s one of my favorite parts,” Chai said. “I shake the other guy’s

hand and sometimes we give each other a hug. It’s just a game and there

are no hard feelings.”

Perhaps not hard feelings, but plenty of hard landings for those

unfortunate enough to line up across the neutral zone.