With 15 practices complete, the focus turns to the next three months.

The Rainbow Warriors’ final practice of the spring featured big plays from both the offense and defense and hot tempers under the midday sun at the Clarence T.C. Ching Complex on Saturday.

With all three phases of the team under new leadership, installing the packages was the main thrust of the spring and offensive coordinator Don Bailey and defensive coordinator Tom Mason were pleased overall with the progress of their respective groups after Hawaii wrapped up its final practice before heading into the summer.

"We implemented some schemes. I think we found out who we can count on. I thought it went very well," UH coach Norm Chow said after the practice, which included a dust-up between the units. "It escalated with some competition, but you expect that, these are very competitive young men. We have a lot to do and a lot to accomplish, but overall it was a good 15 days."

The coaches will have to wait until training camp in August to get back on the field with the players. The Warriors will spend the summer putting in the physical preparation for a 13-week schedule that opens Sept. 3 against Colorado with trips to Ohio State, Wisconsin and Boise State awaiting over the following four weeks.

Seniors Ben Clarke, Ne’Quan Phillips, Lance Williams and Max Wittek were voted captains by their teammates last week and their leadership duties now extend into the summer as the Warriors shift gears into their conditioning program and player-led workouts.

"(Strength coach) Gary (Beemer) becomes very critical to what we’re trying to get done and they have to rally around the captains," Chow said.

Wittek, who redshirted in the fall after transferring from USC, continued to run first in the quarterback rotation, followed by incumbent Ikaika Woolsey and freshman Beau Reilly. But Chow stopped short of bestowing the starting label to go along with his role as captain just yet.

"We’ll see what happens," Chow said. "Obviously people think a lot of Max and he had a good spring."

Wittek was intercepted twice early in Saturday’s practice, linebacker Julian Gener coming up with the first after a pass bounced off a receiver’s pads and Williams jumping a route for another. But he ended the day by leading the offense to the end zone, capping a 10-play drive with a touchdown pass to Duke Bukoski.

"I think they’re all coming along," Bailey said of the quarterbacks. "I think their footwork is very good, their decision-making is getting better. It still needs to be better, a lot of them need to make more consistent decisions. But I like the progress where we’re at.

"We threw over 500 competitive snaps for the spring and we’re completing probably 65 percent of those. That’s been very good even with some absence of some of our really good receivers. That tells me we’re throwing the ball accurately and we’re making good decisions along the way."

Senior wide receiver Ryan Pasoquen turned in two of the offense’s biggest plays on Saturday on throws from Woolsey. He got behind the secondary on a hitch-and-go for a 99-yard touchdown and scored on a tunnel screen in a red-zone period.

"It’s always nice to finish on a good note and hats off to the other guys," Pasoquen said. "I’m just out there catching the ball and working with the concepts and Coach Bailey has a great scheme. I’m just doing my part to make them look good."

Bailey pointed to the development of the offensive line as a bright spot for the spring, even though the group was down to seven healthy linemen.

"We have some young guys up there and I think they really started to play well together as a unit toward the end of spring," Bailey said. "So I was really pleased with that, even with Ben Clarke out, Dejon Allen out. The young guys got a ton of reps and I was really pleased to see our pass protection was really good this spring."

Bailey said the lack of numbers up front created a challenge in implementing his up-tempo style, "but I think our guys handled it well and I think they now have an understanding of what we expect and they’re trying to meet that … and they’re having fun, I think that’s a big part of it."

Likewise, Mason was encouraged by the progress of a defensive front led by junior Kennedy Tulimasealii. He also noted the play of linebacker Simon Poti and a secondary featuring returnees in Phillips and Nick Nelson at the corners and Trayvon Henderson and Marrell Jackson at the safety spots.

"We kind of figured out who our playmakers are. My last couple or three practices all I was looking for was let’s develop some really quality backups because I think our front-line guys are pretty good football players," Mason said.

Mason has said he prefers to keep the schemes relatively simple and saw the players pick up the tempo as the spring progressed.

"The thing you really look at in my defenses is are they moving around, are they where they need to be before the ball is snapped and disguising things, and I saw a lot of that today," he said. "So I think we’ve grown a long ways in the last 15 practices."

Building on those gains will be the emphasis for the summer with a challenging fall just beyond.

"I always say the biggest growth for most of these players will be from spring ball to fall camp," Mason said.