2016 Hawai'i Football Fall Camp
Day 1: Into The Fire: Football Opens 2016 Camp With Strong First Day
Day 2: Football Building The Team Behind The Team
Day 3: Shells On And It's Sweet Home Hawai'i For Football Staff
Day 4: Summer Dedication Paying Off As Football Camp Rolls Into Day Four
Day 5: Football's Offensive Line Leading The Drive Into 2016
Day 6: Experienced Outside Receivers Unit Looking For Big Plays In 2016
Day 7: Returning Inside Men Provide Versatility For Football's Offense
Day 8: 'Bows Rise To Meet Challenges
Day 9: Deep, Experienced Running Backs Look To Propel Offense In 2016
HONOLULU – The fall camp portion of August practices is in the books and the 'real' practices begin next week for the University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football team under the guidance of first-year head coach
Nick Rolovich. UH is off the field on Sunday, but work continues in the meeting and film rooms for the Rainbow Warriors.
As we look through each position group this fall, it's important to stop and take a look at one of the most crucial, yet often overlooked components of football success—the specialists and their respective units. It's a simple fact that field position and having a healthy kicking game can make all the difference, and it's a battle that UH expects to win in the 2016 season.
Led by first-year special teams coordinator
Mayur Chaudhari, the Rainbow Warriors look to continue the special teams progress made last year and win more battles in the 'game within the game' of hidden yardage. A year ago, UH improved dramatically on kick returns, moving from an NCAA ranking of 104th in 2014 to 60th, and jumping up from 12th in net punting to sixth in the nation. The biggest turnaround is hoped for kickoffs, in which UH ranked near the bottom of the nation for the second straight year.
"Our goal is to be assignment-perfect, play penalty free and make a lot of winning decisions on the field," Chaudhari said. "We're trying to teach them how to play smart and fast, but on the edge at the same time."
A unit of complete uncertainty heading into last season, the kicking and return game are segments of the team with little doubt heading into the current campaign. Leading into 2015, a key question was how to replace all-everything special teamer Scott Harding, as well as long-term placekicker Tyler Hadden. Harding led UH to a national No. 2 ranking in punt defense with his rugby-style kicks.
The answer arrived in July with the introduction of Hamilton City, Calif. kicker
Rigoberto Sanchez. Brought aboard to serve as a punter, Sanchez quickly excelled and shot straight to the top of the depth chart for every kicking role for the Rainbow Warriors.
One of only five kickers in the nation to serve all roles, Sanchez nearly reached Harding's punting records in his first year at UH, booting 74 times for 3,335 yards and a UH program fourth-best 45.1 yards per punt. Ranking third in the Mountain West and 13th nationally on averages, he recorded 25 kicks over 50 yards and placed 28 punts inside the 20-yard with 18 fair catches. He made his way onto the Ray Guy watch list last season and will be among that targeted group again this preseason.
"Rigo is a guy that's training for all three spots," Chaudhari said. "I have all the confidence in the world in him. He's got a big leg, incredible work ethic, is very detailed in his approach and is very natural at it. If the offense and defense can put him in a position where he can make some kicks that matter, he'll come through for us."
In the scoring game, Sanchez converted on 8-of-11 field goals and 23-of-24 extra points. His long over the course of the season, he hit from 50 against Nevada and twice from 47 yards. While
Mauro Bondi began the year with the kickoff duties, Sanchez took the reins in the fifth game, the conference opener, registering 14 touchbacks in 22 attempts, posting a 64.2-yard average.
"I took a lot from the experience I had last year playing at this level, with that pressure I also learned more that technique is everything in our kicking life," Sanchez said. "I went to a couple of camps in San Diego with an NFL Veteran over the summer trying to get my technique down and trust the process every kick. I took it to heart what I did last year, but I just want to get better this year and prove it every time out."
Working into the mix to ensure the kicking game at UH will be secure for years to come, All-American local punter
Alex Trifonovitch is coming off a redshirt season a year ago and has been active in all three facets this fall. Trifonovitch averaged 47.8 yards per punt as a senior at Punahou School. Joining the team in 2016 is freshman placekicker
Stephen Yaffe, a record-setting, all-state kicker in Florida's largest division, 8A. As a senior he hit 7-of-10 field goal attempts and punted as well for Plant High School.
On the other side of the punting game, UH's only personnel loss is in transfer
Nick Nelson, who took the lion's share of returns for the Rainbow Warriors, averaging 7.4 yards on 19 returns with a long of 37. However, the Warriors have some shifty, quick returners waiting in the wings in 2016. Two players who took returns last year are back with the squad; senior
Makoa Camanse-Stevens and sophomore
Dylan Collie. There are a solid round of options with Collie, freshman
John Ursua, senior
Samson Anguay and
Paul Harris all possible options.
"We have some good returners and we're trying to find the right guys to get the job done," Chaudhari noted.
Aiding Chaudhari with returners on both units is wide receivers coach
Kefense Hynson, who has boosted ball security and field vision for both the return men and his position group, the wide receivers, during the past few months.
On kickoff returns, the Warriors return two years of proven experience in
Keelan Ewaliko. The Wailuku Maui native returned one kick 98 yards for a score last season against Mountain divisional champion Air Force. He almost made it two on the year, toeing the sideline a little too closely against UC Davis. Across two seasons, Ewaliko has racked up 1,167 return yards for a 22.8 average. Harris could also be a factor, coming to UH as a junior college All-American returner with a 35.1-yard average and three touchdowns. Ursua and Collie could also come into play in that facet as well as senior
Isaiah Bernard.
"Keelan has shown he can do it in games and has the speed, but there's a lot of guys back there that can get it done," Chaudhari said. "That's great because it keeps them all hungry to make sure they keep their jobs and they're very unselfish in the way they work back there."
"Everybody wants to know who the starting kick and punt returners are, but the truth is that depending on who we're playing, that could change every week," Chaudhari continued. "Those guys understand that because they understand the most important thing is playing as a team and together."
The units also return a pair of players who got after it as kick blockers, with Ewaliko setting up UH's first score of the year on a blocked punt versus Colorado, and
Dejaun Butler blocking another into the endzone for a score against UC Davis.
"There's a lot of athletic guys on this team and a lot of want-to," Chaudhari said of the unit's plans to attack kicks.
Holding the most returning starts on the entire UH squad at 38, senior short snapper
Brodie Nakama leads the most crucial and often overlooked aspect of the game. Friday evening during a pool outing, the Santa Clara, Calif. native was awarded a scholarship for his final season. He has been credited with not recording a bad snap in each of the past three seasons. On Friday, after the players underwent a swimming test, everyone was ordered out of the pool. Rolovich told the players he wanted to challenge someone to jump from the 10-meter high diving platform--that's 33 feet up from a 17-foot deep pool for those wary of heights—that's 33 feet up from a 17-foot deep pool for those wary of heights. His selection, Nakama, who climbed the multiple ladders to reach the platform. There he found an envelope with his name on it, containing a typed letter telling him he would be placed on scholarship. He then made the jump and his teammates quickly rushed to him in the pool. Check out the video below of the entire event.
In the punting game, UH also brings back sophomore long snapper
Noah Borden, who started 11 consecutive games after incumbent
Brian Hittner sustained a career-ending injury at Ohio State. Easy to spot at practice working on all aspects of his role and proving a self-motivated worker, Borden used his speed and background as a linebacker to tally four punt team tackles last year.
"It's important for everybody doing their assignments—the blocking, the snapper and the holder," Sanchez said. "At the end of the day, they have to do all that stuff before I kick the ball; all the credit goes to them. If I get an extra point, a field goal in or a great punt, it's because of them."
A daily emphasis for the Rainbow Warriors from day one of fall camp, the special teams units are in good hands on both the coaching and personnel side, and expect to turn some heads this season in helping the Rainbow Warriors.
The Rainbow Warriors are off today and get back to work with closed practices and game preparation on Monday at 6:30 a.m., focusing now on their season-opening matchup (August 26, 4:00 p.m. HT) with California in Sydney, Australia.
#HawaiiFB
