More health issues might have an impact on the Hawaii football team’s travel roster for Saturday’s road game against Idaho.
Left wideout/returner Allen Sampson is undergoing medical tests after being struck on the right knee during an end-around run in the 45-34 victory over New Mexico State. In that game, he made a juggling 25-yard touchdown catch, and had two kickoff returns totaling 42 yards.
The Warriors were short-handed at left wideout because Darius Bright was suffering from flu-like symptoms. Bright also has a turf-toe injury on his right foot, and a sore left foot.
In the second half, true freshman Trevor Davis was activated to ease the workload for right wideout Royce Pollard, who has a tight right hamstring.
Davis played one series at right wideout, then moved to left wideout, where he has not practiced this year. But Davis caught two passes, including a 40-yarder along the left sideline.
UH coach Greg McMackin said the initial emergency plan was to move Pollard to left wideout. But McMackin and offensive coordinator Nick Rolovich believed Davis would be able to make a quick adjustment to the left side.
Davis was on the travel roster for the first three trips. McMackin said those extra practices on the road and mentoring from Pollard helped prepare Davis for his first UH game.
“We’ve taken him on the road because we knew that if there were injuries, he would be the next up,” McMackin said of Davis. “He’s one of our top receivers. That (40-yard) catch he made he makes all of the time in practice.”
McMackin also said relinquishing a redshirt year would not hinder Davis’ progress toward earning a degree. Davis accumulated six credits attending the bridge session this past summer, and UH will pay for Davis to attend two classes each summer for the next three years.
“He gets an extra year (of credits) when you add up those four summer-school sessions,” McMackin said.
McMackin added: “If a freshman is good enough to play and help us win, we’ll let him play.”
McMackin said Kenton Chun, who converted three point-after kicks Saturday, aggravated a sore knee on his final attempt. Tyler Hadden was summoned for the next two PAT attempts. On the first, Hadden’s kick struck the upright. On the second, the snap was dropped.
McMackin said Chun hurt his knee during practice last week, when the Warriors were trying to solve place-kick problems.
“He sort of tweaked it in practice because we were kicking so many extra points and getting that together,” McMackin said. “He thought he was OK, then he kicked, and hurt his knee in the game.”
For the past trip, UH brought Chun and Hadden.
McMackin also said he was “kidding” during a radio interview and postgame news conference when he said he would oversee kick-scoring drills in practice.
“No, no, it’ll (still) be Dick’s call,” McMackin said, referring to special teams coach Dick Tomey.
