It never fails.

A flash mob of football players and coaches will converge near the end of every Hawaii spring practice with the intent of menacing place-kicker Tyler Hadden.

Hadden rarely fails, ignoring the chaos to convert kicks.

“He’s doing a good job, even with all of the pressure we’re putting on him,” UH head coach Norm Chow said of Hadden’s success in the drill.

The tough-love tactic, orchestrated by special teams coordinator Chris “Demo” Demarest, is part of the Warriors’ preparation for their Sept. 1 season opener against Southern California in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

“Coach Demo wants to put the pressure on me in practice so when we go into the Coliseum and I have to make a kick, I’ll feel like I’ve been in the situation before,” Hadden said.

Hadden redshirted as a freshman in 2010 and had to overcome a hip-flexor injury in 2011, when he was used mostly on kickoffs and long-distance attempts.

The UH athletic trainers and conditioning coach Tommy Heffernan put Hadden on an intense rehabilitation program. Hadden said he was pain-free following the Christmas break. In spring training, his kicks have had more oomph.

“Spring has been really good,” Hadden said. “I’ve been kicking the ball really well.”

Kyle Niiro is the backup kicker, and Edgar Castaneda joins as a preferred walk-on this summer. Hadden is hopeful of being the primary kicker for the opener. He said it is a “dream” to play in the Coliseum.

“I grew up a Trojan fan,” Hadden said. “Now I’m a Warrior.”

Hadden’s 37-yard field goal concluded a limited-contact controlled scrimmage on Wednesday. The Warriors worked mostly on specific down-and-distance situations, as well as red-zone plays.

David Graves, the No. 1 quarterback, completed 14 of 17 passes in 7-on-7 drills but was 1-for-5 in the scrimmage.

“Graves has been up and down,” said Chow, who calls the offensive plays and coaches the quarterbacks. “I told him my expectation level is very high. I’m going to keep pushing it until he is where he is supposed to be.”

Graves admits he’s going through “growing pains.”

“It’s a transition into the new offense,” Graves said of the switch from the four-wide attack to a pro-set scheme. “A lot of times I was seeing plays for the first time. I was going through my progressions wrong. But I’m getting it. I’m slowly starting to get how the system is working. I like this new offense a lot.”

Tavita Woodard, who is projected to be in the rotation at defensive end, was at tight end for the second consecutive practice. He is expected to return to defense for Friday’s scrimmage.

Receiver/returner Samson Anguay, who missed the 2011 season because of a torn ACL, suffered an undisclosed injury Wednesday and was taken by cart to the training room.