Hawai`i Prep Grad Unger Named to Second Straight Pro Bowl

Despite missing three games with various injuries, Hawai`i Preparatory Academy graduate Max Unger will return to Hawaii to play in the Pro Bowl.

The Pro Bowl rosters were announced Friday afternoon on the NFL Network. Rosters were determined by votes from players, coaches, and fans throughout the season.

Unger, in his fifth season with the Seattle Seahawks, missed a pair of early season games because of an upper-arm injury. The All-Pro center also missed a game last month because of a concussion.

Despite those injuries, he continued to anchor an offensive line that paved the way for the league’s sixth leading rusher, Marshawn Lynch. The bruising running back will also join Unger in Honolulu.

Unger made his first Pro Bowl appearance last season for the NFC in a game that his team won by the score of 62-35.

Because of the league’s new “unconferenced” format, the Kamuela native won’t know who he will be playing with until Jan. 22 when alumni team captains Jerry Rice and Deion Sanders will select players in the first ever “Pro Bowl Draft.”

Besides another injury, the only other thing that could keep Unger from returning to the islands is a trip to MetLife Stadium in New Jersey for the Super Bowl. By league rules, Super Bowl participants automatically give up their spot in the exhibition to prepare for the league’s championship game.

The draft will air live from Oahu’s Ko Olina at 3 p.m. Hawai`i time on the NFL Network. The Pro Bowl will take place four days later at Hawaiian Airlines Field at Aloha Stadium. It will be broadcast nationally on NBC at 2 p.m.