Aches, sprains, colds and a poked eye have been no match for Hawaii football player Ilm Manning.

Since enrolling at UH in June 2018, Manning has not missed any classes in the 223 school days when the Rainbow Warriors were in town.

“Perfect attendance,” said Manning, a sophomore from Arizona.

Manning also has a perfect record as a left tackle, starting all 19 games of his NCAA career.

“It’s a lot of work keeping your body well and healthy in order to keep playing,” Manning said.

The ironman club includes nose tackle Blessman Ta‘ala, right slotback Cedric Byrd, and cornerback Rojesterman Farris II.

Ta‘ala, who was born and reared in American Samoa, has made every start of his 19-game UH career. Byrd, who transferred from Long Beach City College in January 2018, has started 18 of 19 games. Against Duquesne last season, Byrd was held out of the opening series because of a minor infraction, but rejoined the lineup for the Warriors’ second possession. Farris has played in 44 of 45 games, with 35 starts. He has started in 25 of the past 26 games.

The four concede the most difficult days are the Sundays after a game. It was particularly uncomfortable for Manning on last weekend’s return flight from San Francisco. Because the initial plane was replaced because of a malfunction, the re-booked flight forced Manning to squeeze his 6-foot-4, 290-pound frame into a middle seat between a young girl and another offensive lineman.

“That trip was tough,” Manning said.

But Manning persevered, just as he did when his left wrist was injured from a collision with a teammate, and the two times he was poked in the eye.

“Once last year, once this year,” Manning said of the eye jabs. “That hurts. It really hurts. The whole finger, in a glove, is on your eye.”

As a Faga‘itua High senior in 2017, Ta‘ala underwent surgery for an ACL injury in his right knee. The operation was performed at Shriners hospital, with Ta‘ala splitting his rehabilitation sessions between Honolulu and Samoa. Ta‘ala delayed enrolling at UH until January 2018.

“Last year was kind of hard getting used to playing full games coming back from my injury,” Ta‘ala said. “This year, I’m better at coming back faster (from games) because I get treatment after. My knee is pretty good.”

Two months after Byrd arrived on campus, slotback Dylan Collie announced he would transfer to Brigham Young after earning his degree at the end of the 2018 spring semester. Even without Collie’s departure, Byrd had set a goal of winning that slotback’s job.

“I came in with the mind-set I was going to compete for the starting job from just Day One,” Byrd said. “I wanted to come in and compete.”

As the Warrior with the most game experience, Farris has learned to adapt to football’s weekly cycle. “You’re going to have your bumps and bruises after a game on Saturday,” Farris said. “It’s all part of the game. I get treatment, and I try to keep my body right so I can play every game.”