The University of Hawaii football team will be without one of its best defensive players for the rest of this season.
Eugene Ford, a defensive back and co-captain, suffered a lower-leg injury on the third play of this past Friday’s 31-7 road loss to Wyoming. There is a likelihood Ford will undergo surgery.
“He’s done for the year,” head coach Graham said. “That was a tough loss. What a great kid. He’ll bounce back. He’ll be fine. He’s a champion.”
The Warriors are 1-1 in this abbreviated eight-game season, all against Mountain West Conference opponents.
Teammates had selected Ford as one of four co-captains. Ford plays the hybrid-safety position known as bandit. Ford, a senior, has not used a redshirt year, which now could be applied to this injury. In addition, the NCAA also has granted each football player an extra year of eligibility.
“He’ll bounce back, and he’ll be back next year,” Graham said. “And he’ll be leading our team every day. I had him out on the field (on Monday) coaching and coaching up the safeties. Great person, team captain, tremendous person of faith. I’m really proud of him. I told him, ‘life happens like that. You get knocked down, just get yourself back up. The good Lord ain’t going to give you too much you can’t handle.’ ”
Donovan Dalton and Sterlin Ortiz will rotate at bandit. Dalton started at free safety in place of Kai Kaneshiro, who was ineligible for the first half against Wyoming because of a targeting violation a week earlier. When Ford was injured, Dalton moved to the bandit. Ortiz, who was not on the two-deep chart two weeks ago, played free safety until Kaneshiro was activated in the second half. Dalton finished with nine tackles and two breakups. Ortiz had seven tackles.
Ford has played every position in the secondary since joining the Warriors in January 2017. Graham said he expects Ford to continue to lead in his new role. Graham said: “I admire him for the first thing he said today: ‘Coach what can I do to help? I want to help.’ ”
The Warriors returned to Honolulu early Saturday following the 10-day road trip to Fresno State and Wyoming. Because the NCAA is prohibiting team activities today because of the election, the Warriors staged their usual full “Tuesday” practice on Monday.
“I thought (Monday) was one of our best practices we’ve had in a while,” offensive coordinator G.J. Kinne said. “We’ve got a lot of veteran leaders on this team. We’ve got six more opportunities. They know they’ve got to go out and prove it every day. We had a great day.”
The Warriors could not overcome the same glitches against Wyoming that they did in the season-opening victory against Fresno State. Penalties, overthrown and dropped passes, and missed tackles were costly against Wyoming. Graham noted UH’s defense was on the field for 25 plays in the first quarter.
“We’ve got to bounce back and learn.” Graham said. “We had a great practice. I hate learning from having to lose a football game. We’d rather learn, and the biggest lesson we learned is you have to understand things. You have to have a passion to get better every day.”
