Young tackles will compete to be starters

As redshirts, John Wa’a and Elijah Tupai picked up what they could from the periphery of practice in their first fall with the Rainbow Warriors.

Their education in the spring will be far more hands-on.

The freshmen have shed their redshirt status and opened spring practice as contenders for the tackle spots on either side of Hawaii’s offensive front.

Tupai lined up at left tackle with the first unit during Tuesday morning’s practice, with Wa’a on the right. While the competition for starting positions will pick up in earnest in August, they’ll have ample opportunity in the spring to get up to speed with the Rainbow Warriors’ blocking scheme.

"With spring ball, the most important thing is when you work on your technique," UH offensive line coach Chris Naeole said. "Trying to stress technique, coming off the ball, staying low, finish, and then eventually when we get to (fall) camp, that’s when you’re really going to start to compete and the cream will rise to the top and we’ll see who the starting five is going to be."

Wa’a, an All-State performer at Kahuku in 2012, acknowledged having to work through some jitters in his first practice working with the "ones" instead of against them. He was named the offense’s top scout player in the fall and is immersed in learning UH’s system rather than simulating an opponent’s.

"I’ve been looking forward to it," Wa’a said of the start of spring practice. "There’s always something to learn."

Tupai made his practice debut on Tuesday, the first of the Rainbow Warriors’ 15 sessions this spring, after sitting out the fall to rehab a shoulder injury.

"It feels just new to me," said Tupai, who played on the offensive and defensive lines at Cottonwood High School in Utah.

While he couldn’t participate in drills, Tupai said he studied the playbook as he worked his shoulder back into shape. Based on his showing in the team’s offseason training program leading into spring practice, Naeole said Tupai "could wind up being one of the most explosive guys up front."

"Elijah’s probably one of our best athletes all-around up front," Naeole said.

"He has good knee bend, good lower-body power."

Wa’a is listed at 6-foot-4 and 310 pounds and Naeole would like to see him develop an edge to his on-field persona as he sets the edge on his side of the line.

"John is a good-size athlete; he just has to get nasty and want to mix it up," said Naeole, himself a part of Kahuku’s legacy of producing offensive linemen. "We adjusted some stuff from last year, so there’s going to be a little bit of a (learning) curve for him."

While Wa’a and Tupai are inexperienced, the rest of the offensive line is not. Junior center Ben Clarke is entering his third season as a starter, flanked by senior guards Kody Afusia and Dave Lefotu.

Frank Loyd started seven games at right tackle last season and was also part of the rotation on Tuesday with sophomore RJ Hollis.

Senior Sean Shigematsu, who started seven games at three positions along the offensive line last season, and sophomore Leo Koloamatangi are nursing injuries this spring, which should give some of the unit’s younger members more learning opportunities.

"Any time you get these young guys I just need them to build their confidence, I need them to become leaders," Naeole said. "I don’t care how young you are, if they want to step into that role they have to (step) it up. They have to learn quick and learn on the run."