SEATTLE >> The Hawaii football team will be without one of its most popular players for several games, including Saturday’s road contest against Washington.
Running back Dayton Furuta underwent surgery on Wednesday to repair an ankle injury suffered in last Saturday’s 31-28 victory over Oregon State. He was hurt during a 6-yard gain on a shovel pass in the second quarter.
Head coach Nick Rolovich kept open the possibility Furuta will play again this season.
Furuta earned the nickname “Froot Train” for using his 5-foot-11, 250-pound frame to barrel into defenses. During games at Aloha Stadium, each of his carries elicited chants of “Froooot!”
Furuta, a 2014 Mililani graduate, joined the Rainbow Warriors as a grayshirt in January 2015. He redshirted that year, then played in four games on special teams in 2016. He switched from linebacker to a hybrid position of fullback and H-back. In 2018, his first season at running back, Furuta played in 13 games, starting six. He averaged 4.9 yards per carry, and led the Warriors with 27 rushes for first downs.
In August, teammates selected Furuta as one of the four captains.
“He’s one of the guys who believed in what we were trying to do when I first arrived,” said Rolovich, who is in his fourth season as UH head coach. “He was a big part of the process. His confidence goes into other people. He does change the mentality of the locker room with his positiveness and his hard work.”
Rolovich said Furuta’s upbeat outlook “never flip-flopped from when I got here, even when he didn’t have a position or wasn’t getting any playing time. He was at the end of the line at linebacker. He got a little bit bigger role when we got to the 12 personnel stuff (one back, two H-backs). But he kept working the same every day. And then he found a real home at running back.”
Hekili Keliiliki, a 6-2, 225-pound sophomore, will move into the rotation at running back. “Hekili is our bigger back,” Rolovich said. “He’s had some improvement over the last couple of years. He’s also very physical when he runs.”
Miles Reed, a third-year sophomore, is expected to make his second consecutive start.
It was 20 minutes before last week’s kickoff when Reed was told he would be in the opening lineup for the first time since his senior season at Centennial (Calif.) High.
“It was nothing different from checking into a game and trying to do my job, whether it was the third quarter or second quarter,” Reed said. “It was all the same. Coming in and doing what I was supposed to do.”
This season, Reed has dazzled, with an 11-yard run on fourth-and-1, and a leap over a would-be tackler.
“It was either that or get sandwiched by two other guys,” Reed said of his vault. “I took the safer route, in my opinion. I took the high road, literally.”
Rolovich said he is exploring other possibilities to add to the running back mix. Furuta had followed a tradition of plus-sized backs that included West Keli‘ikipi, Reagan Mauia, Jason Laumoli, Penitito Faalologo and Nate Ilaoa. “There are a lot of body types in Hawaii who can take that role,” Rolovich said.
