When it was an SP-50 day, the mercury was kissing the 90s and Hawaii football players were grousing to themselves — “why, why” — the reasoning for those summer workouts would be answered during Saturday’s practice on the Manoa campus.
The final day of UH’s training camp was set to match the rat-a-tat pace of Arizona, the Rainbow Warriors’ season-opening opponent on Aug. 24.
The Wildcats operate one of college football’s quickest offenses. “That’s their thing,” UH coach Nick Rolovich said. “We have to be ready for it.”
To simulate — and, perhaps, exaggerate — Arizona’s offense, the Warriors faced two scout units during Saturday’s defensive drills. A UH scout unit would run a play and, soon after, a second scout team would come in to run another play. And so forth. The setup-to-snap time averaged eight seconds.
“We utilized those two huddles, and really cranked up the tempo,” defensive coordinator Corey Batoon said. “We got to the point today where it wasn’t even realistic. We were shooting plays at them so they could get used to that type of tempo. We tried to go faster than it was legal in a game, and that way when the game shows up, we can mentally be able to slow it.”
Graduate assistants Jack Perez and Rafael Aguilar were in charge of prepping the scout-team offense. During pre-practice meetings, the scouts will be shown each play, then see the X’s and O’s on large cards, then watch actual video clips of the plays. Freshman quarterbacks Boone Abbott and Zach Daniel each led a scout huddle.
“They’re doing a great job picking it up,” said Perez, noting it is a no-fault offense for the scout quarterbacks. “The biggest thing is we’re telling them they’re not going to get judged on interceptions or incompletions. We want to push the (defensive backs), push the tempo. We’re trying to get (the defensive players) out of their comfort zone a little bit, get them on their heels.”
On Saturday, the defense was able to keep pace. A few times, there were countdown-to-kickoff shouts of, “seven days away!”
“We have to bring that juice every day,” safety Ikem Okeke said, “and hope every day we get better. … We can’t be tired. We have no time to be tired. We’re playing a tempo offense.”
For the Warriors, the training for training camp began during the offseason. Dwain Bradshaw, the first-year director of football athletic performance, implemented a program that was tailored for overall team fitness and strength, as well as individual needs.
“I always remind the guys, we’re not just doing it to do it,” said Bradshaw, who previously worked at Texas Tech, USC, Auburn and Arizona State. “I always have on the video board and the weight room, ‘outwork your opponent.’ It’s easy to forget in the middle of June or middle of spring ball because they’re all trying to survive. But I try to tell the guys, ‘Every night, when you look in the mirror, did you work a little bit harder than the receiver you’re going against?’ These guys put all the work in. The hay’s in the barn. It’s time to go.”
Saturday’s practice was the 20th of the preseason. Although there were various wind-down stages — the final full-contact scrimmage a week ago, the creating of depth charts and scout teams, lastWednesday’s moving day — Saturday marked the official end of training camp.
“It was pretty good,” Rolovich said of his fourth training camp as head coach. “It was fairly injury free.”
A notable injury was to receiver Kumoku Noa, who is expected to miss some games after suffering a “tweak” during practice, according to Rolovich. Noa had been practicing as a backup to Jared Smart at left wideout, and Jason-Matthew Sharsh and Melquise Stovall at left slotback.
