Dazzling in the drizzle a year ago, University of Hawaii running back Diocemy Saint Juste raced 46 yards for a touchdown in a scrimmage-like session at Aloha Stadium.

The forecast soon turned cloudy. Saint Juste suffered a hamstring injury during the run that would turn his junior season into a redshirt year.

This evening — 358 days after that incident — the Rainbow Warriors return to Aloha Stadium for a full-pad, intrasquad scrimmage. This training camp, the Warriors are taking more precautions with Saint Juste and the other running backs.

“There are different days when different backs are getting off of team reps,” offensive coordinator Brian Smith said. “There are days when they’re getting a large load of it.”

In particular, the Warriors are being careful with how Saint Juste, who has emerged as the No. 1 back, is being used. A week ago, he was held out of a scrimmage. On Thursday, he had two carries in a 48-play situational scrimmage.

“We’re trying to be smart with him,” Smith said, a reference to Saint Juste’s history of hamstring issues.

Saint Juste has an uncommon problem: He is too strong for his body. His hamstrings are not as strong as his quadriceps, a discrepancy that stresses the ligaments. Stretching helps; keeping hydrated helps even more. Saint Juste said he buys bottles of water each morning. He said he probably drinks 21⁄2 gallons each day.

“Sometimes your stomach is full, but you have to force yourself to get water into your system,” Saint Juste said. “If you don’t hydrate, it goes back for me. I constantly force myself to hydrate.”

He said he finds motivation from last year’s idleness. “I felt people had high expectations for me, and I let everybody down,” Saint Juste said. “As soon as I got back on the field, I was determined to prove I was still here and still able to contribute to the team.”

Defensive coordinator Kevin Lempa expressed the difficulty in trying to stop Saint Juste. If practices were flag football, Lempa joked, defenders would not be able to “grab his flag.”

In a team drill this week, there was a gap narrowing, similar to elevator doors closing. Saint Juste surveyed his options, then burst through the gap.

“He’s very decisive,” Smith said. “Once he does see an opening, he’s able to hit the hole and get through pretty quickly.

Saint Juste said: “To use an old terminology my previous coaches taught me: ‘Slow to the hole.’ You have to be slow to the hole, read your blocks, trust and believe your linemen, trust the hole will be there, and just accelerate through it.”

Although Saint Juste ran track in high school, his zero-to-blur acceleration might be a genetic gift from his father. “He was a pretty good athlete,” Saint Juste said.

Saint Juste, who is 5 feet 8, weighed 175 pounds when he first enrolled at UH in June 2013. He said he added weight and strength to transform into a multi-skilled back. He now weighs 195.

Smith said Saint Juste runs with a low stance — low hips, in football parlance — that helps with quickness and change of direction. Saint Juste’s acceleration also is useful on pass protection.

“He’s not compact, but he’s not small,” Smith said. “There’s a lot of power with him. He can pick up in (pass) protection. That’s what being a complete back is.”