HONOLULU – After months of anticipation, the University of Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors signaled the start of the 2019 college football season with its first practice of Fall Camp on Friday morning at Cooke Practice Field.
 
The Rainbow Warriors held the first of 20 practices leading up to its season-opener August 24 versus Arizona at Aloha Stadium. As one of just four teams to play in Week Zero, they are among the same select group to strap on their helmets and get to work in July.
 
For head coach Nick Rolovich, who has guided the Rainbow Warriors to the Hawai'i Bowl in two of his first three seasons, the first day of training camp is always exciting for coaches and players alike.
 
"I was pleased with the energy, pleased with the effort," Rolovich said. "We gotta lot of work to do, we gotta get in playing shape, but they gave us a lot today."
 
UH has its entire coaching staff back intact. But what pleased Rolovich the most were the extra coaches on the field in the form of veteran players – a benefit of not only having an experienced squad (18 returning starters), but also a mature one.    
 
"The best thing I saw was (senior) Cedric Byrd taking (freshman) Chance Beyer and coaching him and (senior) Kalen Hicks taking (freshman) Steven Fiso and coaching him up," he said. "That's an ownership you like to see in a program and really in your community, when you have people who care about others and are trying to get the team (to be) as best as they can (be)."
 
Byrd headlines a deep and explosive receiving corps that should fuel one of the top offenses in the nation. But while UH's high-octane offense often gets the headlines, it's the defense that continues to play with a chip on its shoulder.
 
"I thought the defense competed and ran around really well today,"  Rolovich said. "Once we get the pads on we'll see what we got going on up front too. The defense wants to be bigger contributors to wins and the success of this program. I have no doubt about the effort of the coaches and the players. We just gotta go out and make some plays now."
 
The Rainbow Warriors are back to work at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday at Cooke Practice Field. All practices until Saturday, Aug. 3 are open to the public. Visitors are not permitted to take pictures or video during practice, including on mobile devices.