By Pete Pelegrin

Growing up in Kansas City, Missouri, Kai Absheer and many of his family members learned to play musical instruments. Music has sprouted from the family tree for a long time.

Absheer's uncle Rashan Roberson learned the trumpet. Aunt Britney and cousin Miles played the saxophone and Absheer's father, Richard played the flute.

Kai Absheer took up the saxophone when he was eight-years-old in fourth grade. It was around that time when Absheer found out he was related to a jazz trumpeter/singer with an iconic, deep raspy voice – the great Louis Armstrong.

Absheer's great grandmother was Naomi Ruth Wells Armstrong – Louis Armstrong's niece -- thus making the man nicknamed "Satchmo", the great, great, great uncle of Kai Absheer.

"When I found out that I was related to Louis Armstrong, I said 'Cool, I got something to brag about in school'," Absheer said. "My family has always been musically-inclined and they always played a lot of old jazz in the house so it was only a matter of time before I would end up playing an instrument."

Absheer has played the saxophone in concerts, including some solo performances, while in high school at St. Thomas Aquinas in Fort Lauderdale where the Absheer family moved after living in Kansas City for 14 years. Absheer said he doesn't play any of Armstrong's music on the sax but he sings "What a Wonderful World", one of Armstrong's most famous songs, all the time.

Since graduating from high school Absheer doesn't play the saxophone as much as he used to but he could still pick one up and play a tune if called upon.

Currently, Absheer is being called upon to man the starting right tackle spot on the FIU offensive line. Through the first week and a half of camp Absheer has moved past Edens Sineace on the depth chart at right tackle.

"Kai's progressed very well, not to my surprise, but to my pleasure," FIU offensive line coach Steve Shankweiler said. "He's obviously got no game experience and he's a redshirt freshman so it's going to be a learning curve that is going to be steep for him all year but he's got the intelligence and awareness as a football player to be able to adapt pretty quickly playing at this level."

Both Shankweiler and Absheer attribute the redshirt freshman's play in spring practice for the progress. Shankweiler had Absheer line up at every position on the offensive line except center during spring ball. The coach and player agree that helped Absheer understand the offense better.

Absheer also believes the offseason strength and conditioning program helped. Absheer remained between 295-300 pounds on his 6-5 frame, but he feels stronger and more agile.

"I've been able to stay a lot more square when I'm kicking back on my blocking," said Absheer, who played left tackle at St. Thomas. "I've been able to drop my hips and explode more for run blocks."

Absheer admits he struggled last year because he thought coming from a vaunted high school football program (St. Thomas is a perennial state championship contender) would make the transition to college football easy.

"The toughest part last year was understanding that I'm a freshman again," Absheer said. "When you come from a very successful high school program you come in thinking I'm going to play as a freshman but when you get into camp and start hitting you realize how much faster and tougher the college game is."

Absheer was born in Honolulu, Hawaii and his first name, Kai, means "ocean" or "big water" as Absheer will pronounce it in a Hawaiian accent. In front of Absheer lies an ocean of possibilities with a potential starting job on the offensive line for an FIU team trending upward.

To no surprise Absheer can relate playing the offensive line to playing the saxophone.

"You have to be patient with both," Absheer said. "You have to understand that you are not going to learn everything in an hour and get good at both without a lot of practice. Like the fingers on the sax you have to practice so much that you know where the fingers go without looking at them. It's like playing tackle. We have a spot that we kick to and you have to know where that spot is at all times. You have to keep kicking over and over again until it becomes second nature because if you have worry about that you can't focus on what the linebackers are doing or what the other offensive linemen are doing."

If Absheer and the rest of the offensive line can get in rhythm then what a wonderful world it would be for the FIU offense.