Hawaii football player Terrence Sayles’ career might have taken a different path if not for the wisdom of Solomon.

It was in 2013 when Sayles and his Army friends were spending the evening in Honolulu. “I ran into, at the time, just ‘Solomon,’ ” Sayles, now a junior, recalled. “I didn’t know anything about him. I just knew he was a guy named Solomon. He was cool.”

After fulfilling his six-year military duty, which included tours in Iraq in 2009 and Afghanistan in 2011, Sayles enrolled at UH in January 2014. While on campus, he ran into that old acquaintance — Solomon Elimimian, a former UH linebacker who was training in Hawaii. During their chat, Sayles expressed an interest in trying out for the Rainbow Warriors. Elimimian asked Sayles to follow him to the office of Norm Chow, who was UH’s head coach at the time.

“In my head, I was saying, ‘Why am I coming with him?’ ” Sayles recalled. “I didn’t know about his (football background). He took me right up to the coach’s office. I talked to Coach Chow. (Elimimian) told him I was a good guy. That’s how I got a tryout.”

It also was when Sayles learned that Elimimian held the UH record for career tackles and, as a B.C. Lions linebacker, was the Canadian Football League’s most outstanding defensive player.

Sayles aced the tryout — he ran 40 yards in 4.4 seconds — and was added to the Warriors’ roster. After redshirting in 2014, Sayles moved back to Texas because of the financial constraints of living in Hawaii. A few months later, he returned to Hawaii after learning he had a place to stay and that Army benefits would pay for tuition and expenses. But he missed the deadline to play in 2015, and officially rejoined the Warriors in 2016. He was allowed to practice but not play in games last year while earning enough credits to coincide with his eligibility clock.

He also moved from wideout to cornerback, where he encountered another a-ha moment. Defensive backs coach Abraham Elimimian is the older brother of Solomon Elimimian.

“I didn’t tie it together, even with the last name,” Sayles said, laughing. “It wasn’t until I saw them together in the parking lot. I said (to Abraham), ‘You know Solomon?’ He said, ‘This is my brother.’”

Sayles describes Abraham Elimimian as a mentor who stressed “being a good person, doing right and believing in something.”

Elimimian said he implored Sayles to play in control. “He had to learn when to show up in a gap and when not to because that wasn’t his gap,” Elimimian said. “When you try to be a hero, that’s when you forget your own job and get into trouble. That’s what we had to clean up with him. He’s fast and he feels he can do his job and help out. But before you know it, he forgets his job. For the most part, he’s come a long way.”

Ten days ago, Sayles earned his first start since he was a Kerens High senior in 2007, when he opened at cornerback against San Jose State. He made four tackles, including three solo stops.

“He did a good job,” Abraham Elimimian said. “He’s a great tackler. He loves to tackle. He loves to hit.”