Don’t panic yet. But it is just 11 days and a wake-up until the University of Hawaii football team’s first game. If we get to game week of the opener against USC and UH’s first three or four running backs are still not between the white lines, then it will be time for concern.
Joey Iosefa, the returning starter, remains out with a foot injury and iffy for the Trojans. The smart long-term move is to hold him out Aug. 29 at Aloha Stadium unless he’s close to 100 percent. Yes, the idea is to put your best on the field to win the game. But risk and reward must be weighed. Iosefa’s availability throughout the fall for winnable games, plural, must be a major consideration.
The coaches know that, and so does he. "I don’t want to rush; it’s a long season," Iosefa said after Saturday’s practice.
Running backs coach Chris Wiesehan said Iosefa has "done everything he can" to rehab the foot. "It’s in God’s hands and the doctors’ hands," he said.
We knew that was the situation, it’s up in the air. And we also knew highly touted freshman Diocemy Sainte Juste has been nursing something since early in camp. But Saturday saw the next two backs on the depth chart, Steven Lakalaka and Aofaga Wily, also sidelined.
This is at least partly the result of a physically intense camp that featured three scrimmages within six days. When you play tackle football, people are gonna get banged up, and those people are often running backs. The other position groups have been more fortunate.
"In the scrimmages everyone gets bruises," said Wily, a freshman from Kahuku. "I sat out a little bit just to rest."
Especially with Lakalaka out for a couple of days, the coaches see no reason to keep throwing Wily into the fire.
"Nah, he’s fine, just a little bit sore," Wiesehan said. "We wanted to take a look at (Jason) Muraoka, wanted to take a look at (Josh) Gonda. He’s got some physical skill. No injury issues."
Holding Lakalaka and Wily out now is sensible because, as one veteran observer noted, "The job now is to get everyone you need to the opening game."
That brings us to Willis Wilson. Somebody had to be the No. 1 back Saturday.
"Guys have been going down a little bit," said the 5-foot-10, 180-pound Washington transfer. "That’s camp life, you need guys to step up. You’ve got to be able to step up to the plate when it’s your turn."
Wilson got extensive action in the first scrimmage last week, but coughed up the ball several times. No such problems since.
"I was a little nervous, trying too hard to make big plays, overdoing it a little bit," he said.
Wilson played high school ball in Seattle with UH cornerback Dee Maggitt, who suggested he transfer here. Wilson’s father, Jack, played for UH, and Willis was born here and has family on Oahu.
"He’s got a lot of energy, a lot of positive energy," Wiesehan said. "Great quickness and he’s an intelligent kid."
Wilson is easy to root for.
He’s a good story. But an even better one for UH fans would be a full stable of healthy running backs to start the season a week from Thursday.
Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783 or on Twitter as @dave_reardon.
