After injuries reduced him to an ex-starting receiver last year, Hawaii’s Marcus Kemp is now back as the No. 1 “X” receiver.

Kemp suffered a torn MCL and hyperextension in his left knee in the Rainbow Warriors’ fourth game last season. Instead of surgery, Kemp opted to “play through it.” He did not start in the following week’s game against Boise State, but entered in the second half. That became the strategy for the rest of the season.

“In practice, I wasn’t as quick as I should have been or making the moves I should have been making,” Kemp recalled. The coaches “felt I might not need to start the game because I wasn’t 100 percent. They felt if they needed me, they’d throw me in there and I could produce what I could produce.”

Kemp finished as the Warriors’ leading receiver with 36 receptions. He averaged 15.6 yards per catch.

After the season, he took a break before resuming an intensive training schedule. “It healed slowly,” he said of his left knee, “but it healed.”

Kemp said he maintained the 205 pounds on his 6-foot-4 frame while gaining strength and reducing his body fat, which now is at 6 percent.

Kemp, who never redshirted, said he had to “learn on the fly” after joining the Warriors in 2013. “I feel everyone grows throughout their years at this level,” he said. “I’m about to be a senior. I feel I’ve grown as a person and as a player. I feel I have a lot more confidence and I’m a lot more technique-oriented.”

Another Rolo shuffle

In a random encounter at the UH athletic complex on Wednesday, head coach Nick Rolovich asked Terrence Sayles: “Have you ever played (defensive back)?”

“I was like, ‘No,’ but he said I have the physique and speed for it,” Sayles recalled.

And that’s how Sayles was reassigned from wideout to cornerback on Thursday.

“He has some stuff you can’t teach,” said cornerback Jalen Rogers, who serves as Sayles’ mentor. “He has height and speed. Once he gets his techique down, he’ll be pretty good.”

Sayles initially joined the Warriors after excelling at a walk-on tryout in 2014. But after that season, Sayles, a former Schofield soldier, decided to move to Texas because of Hawaii’s high cost of living. Later, he learned he was entitled to more benefits. He moved back to Hawaii, but not in time to rejoin the Warriors for the 2015 season.

With a shortage of cornerbacks, the coaches decided Sayles would be a suitable candidate to move from receiver. From his first practice on defense, Sayles said, “Running backward is harder than I thought. I give the DBs more credit. I thought it was easy. It’s not.”

Lewis leads the way

When roll is called, safety Daniel Lewis usually is the first to say “here.”

“I try to lead by example,” Lewis said. “I try to be the first guy in the drills. I can’t be hypocritical, telling them to be tuned in and then I do something different.”

The secondary has been thinned with the departures of cornerbacks Ne’Quan Phillips (graduation) and Nick Nelson (transferring). Dany Mulanga, who is recovering from a leg strain, moved from safety to linebacker. Safety Trayvon Henderson is recovering from a knee injury.

“When I was coming up, I had a lot of older guys help me with different techniques,” said Lewis, who will be a fourth-year junior this season. “I feel it’s my duty to pass on that knowledge.”