The Journey: Blaine Hipa '26

By Craig Sachson
PrincetonTigersFootball.com

Blaine Hipa has been the teammate and competitor that Princeton football head coach Bob Surace has sought on the recruiting trail for more than 15 years. Hipa weathered an obstacle-riddled 2024 season, one that would have broken lesser players, and came out with such a resolve and positive energy that his teammates voted him captain this past offseason.

He accepted a new role this fall with grace and determination, and he has grown into the type of weapon that the offensive coaches believed he could be. He fortified his prodigious talents with an understanding of the quarterback position that only comes with experience. He will lead his teammates into Brown this weekend believing what few outside of this campus do—Princeton is a team that can truly factor into the Ivy League race.

Surace has led Princeton to four Ivy League titles identifying and bringing in players like Hipa. That's what makes the long and winding road between the two so interesting, and, potentially, so important.

• • •

Hipa had orange on his mind as a standout quarterback for Campbell High School in his hometown of Ewa Beach, Hawaii. It was a different shade, however … a bit more Burnt.

The University of Tennessee offered a spot to Hipa following a 2019 season when he threw for 2,582 yards and 31 touchdowns. The University of Hawaii soon did the same. The future was wide open for Hipa.

And then it closed for everybody due to the COVID pandemic.

While many states held modified high school football seasons during the fall of 2020, Hawaii did not. While Hipa wasn't playing, there were staff turnovers at both Tennessee and Hawaii, and those offers disappeared. Hipa started seeing the musical chairs getting pulled away, and there wasn't any music for him.

But there was music in Chandler, Ariz., where his uncle lived. Following a 7-on-7 event in Las Vegas, Hipa and his dad drove to Arizona, where he met then-Chandler head coach Shaun Aguano, who is now coaching at Arizona State. Aguano had built a powerhouse at Chandler, but his quarterback had just graduated and there was about to be an open competition.

Hipa believed in himself and knew he needed to get back on the field with a high-level program to garner interest at the next level, so he took the opportunity and moved to Arizona. He won the competition and threw for nearly 3,000 yards and 30 touchdowns while leading Chandler to the state final, so he got the experience he wanted.

The interest was another issue. Many programs were already deep into the recruiting process, including Princeton, which already had commitments from a couple quarterbacks. Aguano pushed for Hipa, and the offensive coaches took note, but there wasn't room at that point.

Then there was a decommit, a phone call, an offer and an acceptance. Hipa had a home, finally, and he would be in orange after all.

"It ended up working out well," Hipa said. "My offer came in the middle of February my senior year, which is really late. It was an interesting journey."

• • •

His journey at Princeton has had its own twists and turns, but Hipa has shown the same resolve through it all. Following a freshman year injury, he served as the primary backup to senior quarterback Blake Stenstrom throughout his sophomore season. He claimed the starting job last season, but the coaching staff knew that his missed time in both 2020 and 2022 would make the experience even more challenging than it would be normally.

"I didn't have the number of reps that other guys had coming into their starting season," said Hipa, who threw for 1655 yards, 10 touchdowns and 15 interceptions last season. "In high school, you aren't looking at fronts, coverages and blitzes all the time. You're just playing football, and your talent takes you further. Here, you need to have the understanding as well as the talent. Trying to make the big play is not always going to work out."

The mental growth came as the season progressed. Through his first six games, Hipa threw four touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Over the last four, including a season finale win over Penn, he threw six touchdowns and only three interceptions, and he had his two best passing days of the season against Yale (267 yards) and Cornell (257).

The season record didn't end up where Princeton wanted it, but Hipa knew there was a foundation to build on.

"We wanted to build a team culture that couldn't be penetrated," he said. "We grinded the whole offseason and kept last year in the back of our heads. Everyone knew the potential we had for this season."

Hipa's leadership earned him the distinction of being one of the four team captains this season. Surace wasn't surprised in the least.

"Blaine's competitiveness and love of football are standout qualities," Surace said. "We talk about 'juice' as a core value in the program. His enthusiasm, his passion for practice, meetings, lifts, and the way he supports his teammates is exceptional. He is a deserving captain."

He demonstrated that leadership and teamwork in the preseason when he learned that he would split the quarterback duties with classmate Kai Cólon. Competitors — and especially ones at the quarterback position — want all the time to themselves, but Hipa knew that he needed to keep his focus steady at all times.

"When it first happened, we just said to each other 'let's go win some games'," Hipa said. "We support each other throughout the game, and we know we need to be ready at all times."

Princeton enters this weekend's Brown game with a 2-2 record, including a 1-0 mark in the Ivy League. Both losses have been to teams either ranked in the FCS Top 20 (Mercer) or receiving votes (San Diego), and the offense ranks in the top half of the Ivy League in total, scoring and passing offense. Hipa remains confident in himself and the offense, and believes this group has considerable potential for the rest of the year.

"We need to stay on schedule as an offense and continue to improve on execution," Hipa said. "We've been doing a good job there, and I know we'll continue to improve."

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