In the Muasau family’s dining area in Ewa Beach, there was a table of football content. It was where Matt Muasau and his sons exchanged strategies and training suggestions.

“Our dining table was our meeting table,” Hawaii linebacker Darius Muasau recalled. “For dinner, we’d get together, have a little family meeting, talk about our day, and our discussions ended with how we can improve our games.”

When Darius was in the third grade, his father and friends assembled the Waikele Wildcats, who competed in a sixth grade league in which pulled flags were tackles and full contact was the blocking style.

“I was one of the smaller guys on the team,” Darius said. “It taught me how to handle football.”

The Wildcats initially began with the Muasau brothers and relatives.

“And then we grabbed a bunch of other local boys and made a team,” Darius said. “It was a little family-and-friends kind of deal. My dad was my coach.”

Muasau had shoulder-length hair, just like his heavy-hitting idol, safety Troy Polamalu of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He eventually trimmed his hair while developing a linebacker’s heat-seeking mentality.

“I miss those times,” Muasau said of the long mane, “but I kind of like the breeze in the back of my head now.”

Muasau starred at Mililani High, earning a spot on the All-State first team as a senior linebacker in 2018. The Trojans also used Muasau as a power back. He was recruited to UH as a linebacker.

“I had no problem with that,” he said. “I grew a love for linebacker because it’s more physical than running the ball. I like to hit people now.”

He had 61 tackles as a UH freshman in 2019, then parlayed a league-high 7.6 solo tackles per game into a berth on the Mountain West Conference’s 2020 first team.

“I don’t like to think of it as solo tackles,” he said. “I think of it as team tackles. My D-line and my DBs are setting me up for nice open-field tackles.

“The quarterback just scrambles to me, or the running back runs straight into me. It’s a team thing — and a fun thing.”

Muasau said family activities sparked his competitive drive. Matt Muasau set aside time for his family to play basketball, kickball and tennis. Darius had to restrain from smacking tennis balls over the fence. Muasau also excelled in chess.

“Chess helps me out in football, in a way,” Muasau said. “You have to think ahead. As a linebacker, I think about what the offense will do. I think about the plays they’ll run if we show this play or if we show that play.”

SCOUTING REPORT

The Warriors’ priority is to stuff the run after opponents averaged 5.0 yards per carry and converted on 48.3% of third-down runs in 2020. The front alignment comes in two forms: an even look in which Blessman Ta’ala and Justus Tavai attempt to detonate the interior, or an odd front featuring bullish ends.

Linebackers Darius Muasau and Penei Pavihi can set up in the middle, the flats, on the edge or even as stand-up interior linemen.

The Warriors brought in O’Tay Baker and Zacchaeus McKinney to rev a pass rush that averaged a sack per every 15.7 pass plays.