Family is all Brandon Hayashi has ever known.
Growing up in Hacienda Heights, California, Hayashi never remembers having friends other than the kids on his various athletic teams. There wasn’t much of a need to make friends outside his family ring because cousins and siblings and aunts and uncles surrounded him wherever he went.
Hayashi’s paternal great grandparents were Japanese immigrants who survived the horrors of World War II concentration and interment camps. The couple had 14 children and today, Hayashi’s great grandmother claims more than 250 grand and great grand children. His mother also comes from a sizeable family who immigrated to America from Egypt, tightening their bond as they acclimated to a new way of life.
“Family effected me through and through throughout my whole life,” Hayashi said on Monday. “I’ve grown up with nothing but family. The only friends we have had are the people we played sports with. That’s translated into football with the family mentality of I have your back, you have my back.”
Hayashi was a productive but undersized and under recruited defensive tackle when he graduated from Los Altos High in 2014. He elected to attend Citrus College just 20 miles up the road in Glendora to the east of Los Angeles.
At Citrus, the 6-foot defensive tackle transformed himself from a 275-pounder with quickness but no ability to hold the point of attack to a powerful 310-pounder who’s impressive punch knocks offensive linemen onto their heels with frequency. Those skills earned Hayashi official recruiting trips to Gardner Webb in North Carolina and Eastern Illinois. Each recruiting trip marked the first time he had left the state of California.
Last week, Hayashi took an official visit to Montana State. After seeing MSU conduct its final of 15 spring football practices, he knew he was ready to leave his native land and move to Bozeman.
“It was beautiful, honestly,” Hayashi said. “As soon as I landed, I just felt at home. I love cold weather and it wasn’t even cold, it was perfect, 70. Honestly, flying into Bozeman, it reminded me of my home and that’s all I wanted.
“North Carolina and Illinois were completely different. Compared to Bozeman, it was almost an automatic, like this is perfect. Especially after talking to Coach Choate, man he’s a great guy.”
Hayashi has signed a financial aid agreement with Montana State. He will move to Bozeman in June. He is the second defensive tackle transfer added by new head coach Jeff Choate and his staff, joining College of San Mateo defensive tackle Fou Polataivao, who also signed a financial aid agreement earlier this week.
“Now that it’s actually all happening and I’m actually going to be leaving, my family all realizes I have been working for this my whole life,” Hayashi said. “I have missed some family events to train and work out. Now they say to expect them to be at almost all of my games to watch me play.”
Hayashi got a chance to see Choate and MSU defensive line coach Byron Hout in action during Montana State’s final spring practice. His instant connection with Montana State’s new head coach helped solidify in his mind that MSU was the right choice.
“I loved the adult conversations I was able to have with him,” Hayashi said. “It was all personal conversations and conversations that regarded my future and the future of the team, what he was trying to achieve, what I was trying to achieve. Being able to see him and Coach Hout in their last practice, the way they worked with the guys live and in action, that was something so cool to watch. You could tell all the guys were focused and the respect level all the players have for the coaches by the way they listen and react.”
Choate likes what he is getting in Hayashi as well.
“Brandon is a really good student who values the off-the-field experience in terms of giving back to the community,” Choate said, “and I think that’s part of what attracted him to our program. He works in the YMCA in his community, and when he visited Bozeman he realized how important football is here and what a great opportunity our students have to give back. He is a compact, explosive three-two gap nose tackle and that’s an area we definitely wanted to prop up.”
In 10 games at Citrus last season, Hayashi had at least five tackles in seven different games. He notched a season-high 12 tackles in a loss to perennial power Palomar. He finished the season with 24 solo tackles and three sacks among his 63 total stops. He earned second-team all-conference honors.
“JuCo ball is hard to describe,” Hayashi said. “It either makes you or breaks you. It’s where you find out if you really, really love football or if you don’t want to continue football. I was just fortunate enough my freshman year to be around a bunch of great guys who got after it. They had amazing work ethics. I was blessed to have them with me to show me the ropes.”
During his visit, Hayashi spent time with MSU defensive tackles Tucker Yates, a sophomore, and Joe Naotala, a senior. The duo is the slated starters on the inside of Montana State’s defensive line. Yates, a 6-foot, 310-pound Colstrip product who started eight games as a redshirt freshman last season, missed most of spring drills with a broken hand. Naotala fought injuries all throughout 2015 and did not contribute like MSU’s previous coaching staff had hoped when they brought the 6-foot-2, 275-pounder in from Palomar.
Hayashi and Polataivao join a current Bobcat defensive line that includes Yates, Naotala, junior Matt Brownlow (5-9, 310) and converted defensive ends senior Robert Wilcox (6-1, 260) and sophomore Zach Wright (6-3, 250). Redshirt freshman Riley Griffiths (6-3, 260) suffered a broken right hand during spring drills and is out indefinitely.
“The coaches were telling me they only had two guys really on the inside and that they were shuffling guys in and out from the outside,” Hayashi said. “They mostly told me I would be a guy who could come in and compete for a spot and have fun with this team they are putting together right now.”
Hayashi is about to earn his AA degree at Citrus in sociology. He might continue in the field or try his hand at Montana State’s renovated business school. Regardless of what he majors in, signing with Montana State is affirmation of a dream come true.
“Honestly, when I think about it, I’m speechless because I’ve worked so hard and I’ve been through so much just to get where I am right now,” Hayashi said. “It means the world to me. Ever since my sophomore season has been over at Citrus, I’ve been working my butt off because they say if you work hard, good things will come to you. I’m just so blessed to have this chance to play Division I football and Montana State. It’s perfect. It means everything to me.”
