Plenty UH takers for Harding’s old jobs

The improved job market on the University of Hawaii football team can be attributed to Scott Harding’s departure.

Harding, who completed his NCAA eligibility at the end of the 2014 season, was the Rainbow Warriors’ punter, punt returner and slotback last season. The positions still have not been filled officially.

Alex Trifonovitch, a 2015 Punahou graduate, and Rigo Sanchez, who joined the Warriors as a placekicker, are competing for the UH punter’s job.

Dylan Collie, who returned from a two-year church mission in December, has practiced as the No. 1 slotback this training camp and is the presumed starter for the Sept. 3 opener against Colorado. But Quinton Pedroza, who has practiced as the No. 1 right wideout, still is a consideration to play in the slot.

“We’re both very talented at the position,” Collie said. “Q has the experience. He’s a senior. He’s very good at it. … Whatever happens, I’m ready for it.”

Collie, Pedroza, and running backs Paul Harris and Pereese Joas have rotated at punt returner in the first eight practices of training camp. On Thursday, cornerback Ne’Quan Phillips joined the competition.

Asked why Phillips was summoned, special teams coordinator Jake Cookus said, “He picked himself.”

Phillips concurred, saying: “I put myself in the race. I went back there to show coach what I’m capable of.”

Cookus said Collie and Pedroza are the most consistent at catching punts.

Pedroza practiced as Utah’s punt returner as a freshman and sophomore. He was projected to be the Utes’ punt returner before leaving the program and transferring to UH in 2013.

“I’ve never done it in a college game, but I’m real comfortable with it,” Pedroza said. “The coaches see it. All the guys back there are good, fast guys with good hands and good hand-eye coordination. It’ll be interesting come Sept. 3.”

Collie said he began working on his catching as the self-styled, 4-year-old manager of the Folsom Junior Bulldogs, a Pop Warner team his father coached. “I’d catch as many balls as I could out there,” Collie said.

Collie was used on punt returns in high school, then practiced at that position while redshirting as a freshman at Brigham Young in 2012.

Cookus said Harris, a transfer from Ventura College, is a “returner by nature.” He was named to a junior college All-America first team as a kickoff returner in 2014.

Cookus said Phillips wants to “moonlight” at punt returner. “I can do it,” Phillips said. “I’ve got a little niftiness to me.”