UH Warriors prepare to go against Louisiana Tech’s Jaylon Ferguson

The University of Hawaii football team is setting its sights low for the Dec. 22 SoFi Hawaii Bowl at Aloha Stadium.

The Rainbow Warriors have been working on below-the-waist blocking to counter Louisiana Tech’s Jaylon Ferguson, one of the most prolific pass rushers in NCAA history.

Ferguson is a 6-foot-5, 262-pound defensive end who has amassed an NCAA-leading 15 sacks this season. With 42.5 career sacks, Ferguson needs 1.5 sacks to tie the NCAA record set by Terrell Suggs. He also is second nationally with 23.5 tackles for loss.

“He is an outstanding pass rusher,” UH offensive line coach Mark Weber said.

Head coach Nick Rolovich said Ferguson is “definitely going to pose a challenge.”

In preparing for Ferguson, the Warriors have practiced cut blocking, a below-the-waist technique. Linemen are permitted to cut on the line of scrimmage. Running backs may cut in the box — the imaginary rectangle bracketed by the offensive tackle — if they target between a clock’s 10 and 2 positions.

“It’s a common tactic in football,” Rolovich said. “We can’t let (Ferguson) dictate the game. There’s usually a guy in most games you want to worry about. (The Bulldogs) have a few of them. He’s definitely one. If we can’t drop back and throw, then don’t have much of an offense. Keeping him on his toes is going to be important.”

The Warriors have worked on the proper cut-blocking form. One of the no-nos is the high-low block in which a defender who is engaged with an offensive lineman is hit low by a second blocker.

“The issue with it is you’ve got to get your head in front,” Weber said. “You can’t high-low, so everybody has got to cut. We’ve had a few high-lows (in practices). We’re trying to clean it up. I think it should be good. We’ll have it ready to go by bowl time.”

By qualifying for a bowl, the Warriors were granted extra practices to prepare.

“The advantage of having 15 extra practices, you get to work on techniques and fundamentals you haven’t had as much time to work on during the (regular) season,” said offensive coordinator Brian Smith, who also coaches the running backs. “The offensive linemen have been working more on cut-blocking both in the run game and (pass) protection. The backs have been working it, as well. We got to spend more time on that.”

Instead of simulating contact, the Warriors have been cut-blocking at game speed.

“With the 15 practices, we’ve been able to have some periods where we’ve had a chance to work on that stuff live,” Smith said. “You don’t like working on that during the season as much because you can get high-lows, guys can get hurt. But when you get extra time like this, you get a chance to work those in during good, live sessions. At least the high-lows you can get ironed out before this game.”

Rolovich said the Warriors also have experimented with different tempos.

“You’ve got to change it up — how you get the ball out, what’s the tempo of your release,” Rolovich said. “You can’t get (Ferguson) into a rhythm. We’ve got to quick-game (protection) or we can cut him down. There are some things in the run game we want to run.”

Weber said the cut blocks and quick paces are in the playbook.

“We haven’t faced (a defensive front) like this, so now we’re going to grease it back up,” Weber said. “It just takes some reps. We’re a little rusty right now, but we’ll get it better.”