HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i football team started the countdown to the new season with the first practice of the 2024 fall camp on Wednesday at Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex.
 
"There's a buzz in here, always when the first practice comes around," Hawai'i head coach Timmy Chang said. "These guys are excited. We want them to keep that energy. It's a process, the consistency to stay through and to keep it all the way to game one. Game one is a little ways away, so as long as we're getting better every day, the energy is high and the want-to to get better is there, they're gonna be fine."
 
Five months after the end of spring football, the players were raring to get back on the football field.
 
"It felt great," UH starting quarterback Brayden Schager said. "It's been a long time. It always goes by quick. It's crazy how fast everything flies by. I'm just ready, and everyone's excited. You can feel the energy out there. It's like waking up on Christmas morning."
 
"First day back was great," safety Peter Manuma added. "It was great to have everybody out running around, communicating pre-snap post-snap. For us to come out with the amount of energy that we did have today, it's great.."
 
For Manuma, the start of fall camp represented a welcome return to the field after being limited with injuries throughout spring camp and the offseason.
 
"I've been in the books more than probably the last two years," Manuma said about resting due to injury.
 
That extra prep has paid off for Manuma, who was able to integrate that off-the-field training into his routine on the field.
 
"Just translating everything I've learned from my playbook and from what coach (Dennis) Thurman and coach (Nick) Locher have been coaching us up on and just applying it on the field today," Manuma said of the transition. "Just running around and getting loose again."
 
Manuma isn't the only player on defense making his long-awaited return. After a breakthrough season in 2022 during which he led the team with 85 tackles, standout linebacker Logan Taylor had his 2023 season cut short when he tore his ACL just three games in against Albany. Like Manuma, Taylor was limited in the spring as he continued to recover from his injury.
 
"It's great to have Logan back," Manuma said. "Hearing his voice it's always gonna hype you up. Having him out there is like a race, a high-motor race. Whoever keeps their energy up the highest and who gets to that ball first. It makes it more fun, and way better for us."
 
Manuma and Taylor are making their return at the perfect time, as the Rainbow Warriors look to break in their new defensive system under defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman.
 
"Coach Thurman has his defense that he wants to run," Chang said, "and it's gonna be specific to getting after guys, flying around, keeping it simple but changing it up. (We're) making sure that we're getting after the quarterback. The biggest thing that we're really focusing on is just the fundamentals and the details and the technique. Coach knows what he wants to do. That's what he's here for."
 
The Rainbow Warriors also got a big return on offense. After briefly testing the waters of the transfer portal, Schager decided to return to UH for his senior season. In his first year running the Run-and-Shoot offense in 2023, Schager put together the best season of his career. He finished with a career high 3,542 passing yards and doubled his touchdown tally from his sophomore campaign with 26 passing touchdowns in 2023. But if Chang is to be believed, Schager has even more room to improve.
 
"Brayden is gonna continue to get better," he said. "He went through the fire his first year in the Run-and-Shoot. He's continued to get better. We're just building off of that progress. Him understanding his receivers, him having a better relationship and how they go and do their things, the timing of it all, it all helps."
 
"Every year you have in the Run-and-Shoot it becomes better," Schager added. "The little things I see Pofele (Ashlock) do, that I can know what he's doing before he does it, that's when it starts to get good. I'm anticipating what he's doing, getting the ball out earlier, getting my feet to be quicker. Those little things carry big weight."
 
As Schager continues to improve, he will have plenty of help. Five of the top six UH receivers from 2023 are set to return, along with some dynamic new faces.
 
"It's a deep group," Chang said about the receiver room. "Tylan Hines is out there, Alex Perry comes back, Jonah Panoke comes back, we have Dekel (Crowdus) out there, a transfer from Kentucky, Spencer Curtis, a transfer from Nevada. Those guys are getting better, and I look forward to watching them go out there and compete. The group is deeper, and they're older. They have more experience in this offense. I expect them to do well."
 
Hines, who spent his first two years at UH as a running back, will make the transition to wide receiver for the 2024 season.
 
"It's interesting," Schager said of Hines' transition. "It's different, but it's good. He brings a lot of speed, he's a dynamic player, and it's good to get him out there running routes for us and get him more involved. He brings a lot of speed that defenses are gonna have to look out for."
 
Ashlock, who finished with 832 yards and a team-high nine touchdown receptions as a redshirt freshman in 2023, leads the pack of returning receivers.
 
"With us having a lot of receivers, there's a lot of things that Brayden sees," Ashlock said. "It's not only gonna happen in practice, you have to go outside of practice and make sure he understands what I'm doing as well. It's all in body movement, it's deeper than just the route. Brayden understands that and we have good communication with everything we're doing."