Even as a teenager at Graham-Kapowsin High School, Vega Ioane was a mountain of a man. 6-foot-4, over 300 pounds. Hands like bear paws. Legs like tree trunks.Ioane (full name Olaivavega Ioane) played left tackle for Eric Kurle’s Graham-Kapowsin, protecting quarterback Joshua Wood and leading the Eagles to the 2021 Class 4A state championship.
Graham-Kapowsin went 14-0 that season, beating Lake Stevens 44-7 in the state championship game and winning its games in Washington by an average margin of 41 points.He continued to dominate at Penn State and on Thursday night, was selected in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft. The Baltimore Ravens took Ioane with the 14th pick.No one was able to slow down Graham-Kapowsin in 2021. What do opposing coaches remember about Ioane from his days at G-K?
Mostly, the impossible challenge of the matchup.Longtime Sumner coach Keith Ross, who said he was tuned into his TV and was “super excited” to see Ioane drafted on Thursday, remembers Ioane’s sheer size.“How big he was,” Ross told The News Tribune. “How sturdy he was. His balance, he was never out of balance, ever.
You can get o-linemen leaning sometimes, but his base, he was so sturdy. Our rushers were like, ‘We can’t move him and can’t get around him.’“To be that big, I said, ‘Oh, this kid is the real deal.’ Great technique and raw, natural genetic gifts. Scary good.”Ross said most linemen of Ioane’s size are usually slow.
The athleticism was what set Ioane apart. It’s why he’s NFL bound.“Usually you can’t move your feet that well when you’re that big,” Ross said. “He was impressive.”Former Emerald Ridge coach Adam Schakel — who coached wide receiver Denzel Boston, who is also part of this year’s draft class — said when the Eagles needed a first down, they looked to Ioane.“When they needed yards they ran behind him,” Schakel said.
“Everyone knew and it didn’t matter.”Ioane also played on the defensive line. Schakel’s son, Jake, played quarterback from Emerald Ridge. He still remembers a hit he took one time from Ioane.“Jake said it’s the hardest hit he’s ever taken,” Schakel said, laughing.
“I saw the train coming (from the sideline) but I don’t know if Jake saw it coming. But he felt it.”The 2021 Eagles went on to win a postseason game against Georgia 7A state champion Collins Hill — which featured a young Travis Hunter — in Las Vegas in the GEICO State Champions bowl series game, capping off a 15-0 season and putting 2021 Graham-Kapowsin in the conversation of the best teams to ever come out of Washington.A 6-foot-4, 330-pound lineman, Ioane started 11 games at left guard for Penn State in 2025 and was a first-team All-Big Ten selection and a second-team Associated Press All-American. He projects as a guard in the NFL, as well.