How the University of Hawaii and Colorado State football teams match up

Oct. 21—For the second half of on-campus practices on Tuesday and Wednesday, the offense moved from the grass practice field to the Ching Complex. Head coach Timmy Chang believed the new-look offense, which incorporates run-and-shoot concepts, needed more room to work on vertical routes.

For the second half of on-campus practices on Tuesday and Wednesday, the offense moved from the grass practice field to the Ching Complex. Head coach Timmy Chang believed the new-look offense, which incorporates run-and-shoot concepts, needed more room to work on vertical routes. "He wants us airing it out, " quarterback Brayden Schager said of the former record-setting UH passer. "It's fun to come on the (Ching Complex ) turf and air it out. It's every quarterback's dream to throw the ball deep." Zion Bowens, who has caught scoring passes of 66 and 48 yards in the two games since recovering from a leg injury, has provided vertical options. Schager, who has improved his accuracy to 33 % on throws of 20 yards or more from the line of scrimmage, has benefited from Chang's tutorials. Schager also is no longer fun company at Dallas Cowboys viewing parties. "I'm always watching what the defense is doing, and seeing where the ball should go, " Schager said. "It makes watching football a little different." Schager is becoming quicker at reading all 11 defenders, as well as scrambling away from pressure and knowing when to ditch a pass. He has been sacked twice in the past 100 pass plays. "You've got to see the whole field, " Schager said. "That was something (Chang ) was good at his whole career. I'm at the office all the time trying to pick his brain." Running back Dedrick Parson has learned to know the blocking scheme, read the linebackers and spot the free hitter. Parson also has worked on maintaining his speed while double-gripping the football.

The "terrible twos " stage was the start of weak-side linebacker Logan Taylor's physical education. "I was probably 2 when I first tackled my (older ) brother, " Taylor said. In elementary school, Taylor and his friends played football on the asphalt court. "We got scraped up, " he recalled. "We weren't supposed to tackle, but we did, and I fell in love with it." Defensive coordinator Jacob Yoro noted Taylor does not have a pause button. "He practices full throttle, where I've got to tell him to slow it down in practice because he's over there tackling guys, " Yoro said. When linebacker Isaiah Tufaga exited with a knee injury last week, Taylor stepped in and played a season-high 62 defensive snaps, a total that does not count his work on all the special-teams units. "It was a lot, " Taylor said, "but I was prepared for it. It wasn't like, 'Oh, shoot, I should have prepared more for it.'" Defensive end Andrew Choi has averaged 46 snaps in the two games since succeeding Mataio Soli, who has medically retired. Choi has helped set the edge to narrow the running lanes. The past two games, the Warriors have allowed an average of 102.5 non-sack rushing yards. Choi has played defense since his days with the HALOS youth league. Jared Ikei and then Matt Faga, a former UH defensive lineman who died last year, taught Choi the different D-line techniques. Choi did not play in 2021 after suffering a torn triceps in his left arm during the first week of UH's training camp. "Just a speed bump in my life to get over, " Choi said.

Earlier this season, Matthew Shipley's toughness was evident when he missed a week of practices because of a groin injury, then kicked and punted against Western Kentucky. Suffering from a stomach flu, he sat out the final practice ahead of the Michigan game, then played the next day. Special teams coordinator Thomas Sheffield rewards Shipley's grit and athleticism with the green light to take off on fake punts, as he did against Nevada. "We gave him the freedom to make the check, and he made the check and ran, " Sheffield said. Freshman Nicholas Cenacle impressed as a receiver last week, and might get another shot at returning punts.

Head coach Jay Norvell has implemented the Air Raid, a one-back, spread scheme that he ran at Nevada, where he coached for five years through last December. Offensive coordinator Matt Mumme, whose father, Hal, is co-creator of the Air Raid, and line coach Bill Best joined Norvell in relocating from Nevada. There are 11 former Nevada players on the CSU roster, including quarterback Clay Millen, wideout Tory Horton and running back Avery Morrow. Millen was completing 73.9 % of his passes when he suffered a shoulder injury four weeks ago. The understudies completed 42 % the past two weeks. All signs point to Millen taking the shotgun snaps against UH. Millen's father, Hugh, was Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway's backup with the Denver Broncos in 1994 and 1995. Horton welcomes Clay Millen's return. Horton is a triple threat as a receiver (averaging 15.3 yards on team-high 32 catches ), jet-sweep sprinter and option passer. But without Millen last week, Horton did not have a catch on eight targets. Freshman George Miki-Han's emergence at center led to Nevada transfer Jacob Gardner moving from snapper to left tackle last month. In the past two games, Morrow has rushed for 168 and 116 yards. Morrow was admittedly frustrated at his early workload (22 carries in first four games ). "My thing was, when I got my turn, I wasn't going to give it back, " Morrow said. In addition to team workouts, Morrow does ladder drills and sprints on his own. "The biggest thing is to run full speed all the time, " he said of his personal training. "That's how you get better playing fast."

After a year at Montana State, in which the Bobcats reached the FCS championship game, defensive coordinator Freddie Banks reunited with Norvell. Banks was Norvell's cornerbacks coach at Nevada in 2020. Banks has implemented a scheme that is a blend of aggressiveness and caution. In the 4-2-5 base, the corners will play jam-and-pester coverage while nickelback Angel King and safeties Henry Blackburn and Jack Howell often form a triangle zone in the back end. Against Utah State last week, one of the three aligned 18 yards from the line of scrimmage. Howell's father, John, was a safety on Tampa Bay's Super Bowl XXXVII championship team, and his sister Jaelin is a two-time winner of the Hermann Trophy as the country's top college soccer player. The Rams have made interceptions in five consecutive games. Shutdown corner Chigozie Anusiem, who transferred from California, signed a non-binding scholarship agreement with UH last Dec. 15. He then changed his mind, and committed to the Rams. Rutgers transfer CJ Onyechi and Mohamed Kamara are stunt doubles who are skilled on loops and stunts as stand-up ends. Ten of Kamara's 21 tackles have been in the backfield. He has 4.5 sacks and eight hurries. Freshman 3-tech Grady Kelly has developed a club move through boxing training with Howell and hitting inanimate objects. "There's nothing in the world I can't find something to train on, " said Kelly, whose favorite target is a backyard pine tree.

Since taking over the point-scoring kicking, Michael Boyle has converted four of six field-goal attempts. In 2018, Boyle was Hawaii's kickoff specialist for three games. He then suffered an injury and received a medical hardship. He did not play in any games in 2018, and transferred after that. Of freshman Henry Katleman's 18 kickoffs, 15 were touchbacks and one a fair catch. His average hang time is 3.7 seconds.