At an early age, Hawaii wideout JoJo Ward learned the importance of a precise route.
The 12-year-old Ward awakened at 4 in the morning, accompanied his mother to the distribution center, placed each edition of the Waco Tribune-Herald in its own plastic bag, then delivered the newspapers on a route that covered more than 100 homes in Central Texas.
Ward never imagined parlaying those skills — speed, route detail and weather apathy — into the tools necessary to flourish in the Rainbow Warriors’ run-and-shoot offense.
Despite joining the Warriors a few days before the start of the 2018 training camp, Ward seized the right wideout’s job, then pieced together a breakout season. Ward averaged a team-high 16.96 yards per catch. When he was not used as a decoy to lure defenders away from slotback John Ursua (now with the Seattle Seahawks), he turned the lane along the right sideline into Ward Avenue. Of his 51 receptions, 67 percent resulted in first downs and 18 percent went for touchdowns. He also had nine receptions of 25-plus yards, and averaged 5.7 post-catch yards.
Ward began walking when he was 1, and five years later, he ran competitively.
“My brother ran track,” Ward said. “I looked up to him. Whatever he did, I did. He motivated me to join.”
At Midway High, the track coach renamed Joseph Ward as JoJo, which then became “GoGo” JoJo. It matched Ward’s speed: sub-10.8 seconds over 100 meters, 21.9 seconds over 200 meters, and sub-4.5 seconds over 40 yards. Soon, the way he was greeted — “yeah, Joe” — became the way he was cheered, and eventually his Twitter handle.
After two seasons at Tyler (Texas) Junior College, Ward transferred to UH. But he kept his Southwest workout regimen of training during the warmest part of the day. He squeezes fistfuls of uncooked rice to strengthen his grip, catches tennis balls fired from all directions to improve his tracking, and welcomes surprises to maintain his awareness.
“Sometimes, I’ll be walking around campus or I’m in the locker room,” Ward said, “and somebody will have a football and they’ll say, ‘Think fast,’ and throw it. I’ll catch it.”
This offseason, he focused on catching passes thrown at different arcs and with different backdrops. “It’s really about your focus and having trust in your hands,” Ward said. “Every ball coming your way, you just have to catch it.”
He also is emphasizing improving his leg strength. This offseason, he back-squatted 450 pounds. At 5 feet 9 and 175 pounds, he can dunk a basketball and do 10 consecutive hand springs.
“It’s all in the legs, being able to run and jump,” he said.
No. Wideout Ht. Wt. Cl. Hometown
9 JoJo Ward 5-9 175 Sr. Waco, Texas
23 Jared Smart 6-0 190 Jr. Dublin, Calif.
15 Jonah Panoke 6-2 185 Fr. Honolulu
80 Mekel Ealy 6-3 180 Fr. Antioch, Calif.
No. Slotback Ht. Wt. Cl. Hometown
6 Cedric Byrd 5-9 175 Sr. Los Angeles
3 Jason-Matthew Sharsh 6-0 190 Sr. Honolulu
10 Melquise Stovall 5-9 190 Jr. Lancaster, Calif.
14 James Phillips 5-9 155 So. Menifee, Calif.
Quote:
“Sometimes you feel like you don’t have enough (receivers). But when you look at film and see each guy get better every day, it’s a good feeling. If a guy went down, there’s a guy who can step in, and we won’t lose a beat.” — Andre Allen, receivers coach.
SCOUTING REPORT
The Warriors have moved quickly to replace right slotback John Ursua (now with the Seattle Seahawks) and possession wideout Marcus Armstrong-Brown, who fulfilled his eligibility. Slotback Cedric Byrd moves from the left to form a speedy right-side tandem with JoJo Ward. Jared Smart appears to have secured the left wideout spot. Jason-Matthew Sharsh, who can play inside or outside, and Melquise Stovall, who played his first two NCAA seasons at Cal, are battling at left slot. James Phillips, who joined in January after just a season in JC, is a quick-cutting option at both slots.
