Part #1: Quarterbacks | Part #2: Offensive Line
University of Hawai'i's season opener against Southern California is less than a month away, and with fall camp underway, HawaiiAthletics.com will breakdown the 2013 Rainbow Warrior football team, position-by-position. Today's feature is the UH running backs and fullbacks.
VIDEO: Coach Wiesehan on the Backfield
Starter Returning: Joey Iosefa
Starter Lost: None
Letterman Returning: Justin Vele (FB)
Others Returning: Dustin Elisara (FB), Marcus Langkilde (FB), Jason Muraoka, Penitito Faalologo (FB)
Redshirts: Steven Lakalaka
Newcomers: Max Broman, Josh Gonda, Diocemy Saint Juste, Willis Wilson, Aofaga Wily
With the injury to Joey Iosefa, the University of Hawai'i's top returning running back back, the competition for the starting position is heating up during fall camp. The junior from Pago Pago, American Samoa, suffered a foot injury just before the start of fall camp and is targeting the season-opener against Southern California as a return date.
Iosefa has started 18 of 21 career games with 1,011 yards rushing and eight touchdowns during his two seasons at Manoa. Last season, he split the load in UH's two-back set and finished with 463 yards on the ground and 153 yards receiving. At 6-feet, 240 pounds, Iosefa also saw time at fullback last season, which gave the Rainbow Warriors another threat in the backfield while teamed up along with a speedier back.
Redshirt freshman Steven Lakalaka is pushing for extended playing time. The Honolulu native had an impressive spring, and rushed for 43 yards and a touchdown in the "Warrior Bowl" intrasquad scrimmage. With Iosefa out, Lakalaka has the leg up in fall camp in a competition that includes a pair of true freshmen.
Freshmen Diocemy Saint Juste and Aofaga Wily were gems of the 2013 recruiting class. Saint Juste, of Boynton Beach, Fla., rushed for 1,243 yards and 16 touchdowns at Santaluces High School. Wily was rated one of the state of Hawai'i's top recruits out of Kahuku High School, where he was a three-time all-state pick and finished his career with 4,205 career rushing yards, second most in Hawai'i high school football history.
Converted linebacker Justin Vele spent his first year at fullback last season. The sophomore from Honolulu was thrust into action after Dustin Elisara suffered a season-ending knee injury in the spring. Elisara, a junior from Kapolei, O'ahu, returns to the lineup after a year of rehab.
Walk-ons Marcus Langkilde and Jason Muraoka both sat out last season after transferring from small colleges and were impressive enough to secure spots on the fall roster. Langkilde, a senior from Oxnard, Calif., transferred from Whittier College while Muraoka, a sophomore from Honolulu, came to UH by way of Franklin College in Indiana.
Converted defensive lineman Penitito Faalologo made the switch to fullback during camp. At 5-feet-11, 250-pounds, the freshman from Pago Pago, American Samoa has the size and agility to play the position.
Other newcomers in the mix are Willis Wilson, Josh Gonda, and Max Broman. Wilson, a junior from Lakewood, Wash., was a back-up for two seasons at Washington before transferring to UH. Wilson's father Jack played for UH in the late 1980s. Gonda, a sophomore from Waimanalo, O'ahu, is a 2011 graduate of Kaiser High School in Honolulu while Broman, a freshman from Draper, Utah, was high school teammates with Rainbow Warrior wide receiver Ammon Barker at Alta High School.
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