Three plays into Saturday night’s 47-27 loss to the University of Hawaii and UC Davis players were already pointing at defensive lineman Kennedy Tulimasealii with animated urgency.

Not that No. 90 is easy to miss on a couple of fronts these days.

He is often the first UH player in the opponent’s backfield — as he was with two tackles for loss and a quarterback hurry against the Aggies — and the only one on the field with knee pads hiked well up past bare knees to the quadriceps.

"Kennedy’s rugby pants," as Oceanic Cable analyst Leonard Peters describes the way they are pulled up his 6-foot, 1-inch, 285-pound frame.

Tulimasealii is increasingly coming into his own as a ferocious, disruptive force on the line in this, his junior year, and bringing with him a unique fashion statement.

Call him the Rainbow Warriors’ quad-zilla.

Or, as UC Davis coach Ron Gould labeled him, "Just a guy who just wrecks havoc on offenses."

Gould said, "We (gained) a lot of respect for him watching him play against Ohio State."

Tulimasealii was in the Buckeyes’ backfield so often he and Ohio State quarterbacks J. T. Barrett and Cardale Jones had a running conversation. They did most of the running. "Nothing too bad, just a little talking back and forth," Tulimasealii said.

The out-manned Aggies of the Football Championship Subdivision, however, were in no mood to have their quarterback, Ben Scott, become conversant while staring up from the artificial turf at Aloha Stadium at Tulimasealii after the Waianae High graduate stormed the backfield to crash a third-and-4 situation on the first drive that went for an incomplete pass.

Thereafter they proceeded to double him up and run away from him, preserving quarterback and running back life and limb. "We knew going in that to run our scheme we’d probably have to run away from him, double him, hold him up, do something," Gould said.

"He’s an NFL player. I think he’s one of the best players in college football," Gould said. "He’s not only good and athletic, he’s tenacious. He plays every down as hard as he can. That’s why we have tremendous respect for what he can do."

"As long as he stays humble and keeps working hard he has a bright future," Gould said.

That has not been lost on his UH teammates. "Some of the guys, the linebackers, are asking me, ‘Are you really comfortable with your pants and pads up like that,’" Tulimasealii. "I tell them that I am, that I feel better and play better that way. It is just something I started doing a while ago. I’m not sure when."

Once upon a time the equipment rule was that the knee pad had to actually be on the knee, UH officials said.

"I think they changed the rule recently," Chow said. "I think they gave up and said as long a you have the pad on, somewhere, it is OK now. I’m not sure."

Or, maybe, it is just a matter of nobody wanting to tell Tulimasealii, ‘no.’

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.