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Nine days after scoring on a kickoff return in the New Mexico Bowl, Hawaii’s Calvin Turner tweeted a more impactful return.
“Back for more!!Unfinished Business,” Turner wrote of his decision to return to the University of Hawaii football team for the 2021 season.
Turner transferred to UH after Jacksonville dropped its football program following the 2019 season. Turner, who was Jacksonville’s quarterback for three years, had a breakout 2020 season for the Warriors, playing receiver, running back, wildcat quarterback and returner. Turner led the Warriors with 133.4 all-purpose yards per game and scored a team-high 70 points (66 of them on his 11 touchdowns).
In response to the coronavirus pandemic, the NCAA approved a waiver allowing players to retain their 2020 class standing in 2021. That meant Turner, who was a senior in 2020, will be a fifth-year senior this coming season. Turner spurned the option of applying for the 2021 NFL Draft.
UH coach Todd Graham said Turner will benefit from another year of Division I football.
“Calvin’s a guy, to me, who will be the most dynamic guy in the league next year,” Graham told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in a telephone interview. “He can be a first-team All-American. … I’m looking forward to coaching him and the rest of the guys, and competing for a championship in 2021.”
Turner’s decision jump-started the new year for the Warriors.
“I think 2021 has a chance to be special,” said Graham, whose first season at the UH helm ended with a 28-14 victory over Houston in the New Mexico Bowl on Christmas Eve. “We’ve laid a great foundation, and we’ve got a lot of momentum going into the offseason to build a program that’s about winning championships. That’s our focus. We couldn’t have finished (the 2020 season) in a better way.”
A UH defense that dominated Houston limited nine opponents to 27.8 points per game, the lowest since 2014.
The run-and-gun offense did not operate at the rapid beat that Graham set at four previous coaching stops. But quarterback Chevan Cordeiro and Turner emerged as playmakers, and the offensive line reshaped the tackle box into the octagon. “(Houston) was a team that was very talented, big and physical,” Graham said. “We went out and out-physical’d them.”
Thanks to the NCAA’s eligibility-clock waiver, Cordeiro will be a fourth-year sophomore in the fall. Cordeiro completed 62% of his passes, and led the Warriors in rushing with 657 non-sack yards.
Graham praised Turner’s work ethic. “I know every day this (past) week, he’s working hard, training, getting ready to play in 2021,” Graham said. “l think he’s going to be a guy who really does some special things in 2021. I’m looking forward to him, as well as our other guys, coming back. We’ve got great leaders. We’ve got guys who want to be here and represent this state and university and want to be what we’re all about.”
The Warriors are seeking to expand their power game with schemes that will complement three-, four- and five-receiver sets. Kolby Wyatt, who signed with UH in December as a graduate transfer from Georgia, is the Warriors’ first multi-purpose tight end since Metuisela ‘Unga and Dakota Torres in 2017.
“We got a heck of a player there,” Graham said of Wyatt.
Jonah Laulu projects as a two-way player this coming season. As the wide-side defensive end/tackle, Laulu, who is 6-6 and 275 pounds, gave blockers fits with his quickness, strength and reach. In the New Mexico Bowl, Laulu also played tight end for 50 snaps. He scored a touchdown off a shovel pass.
“I’m telling you, he played outstanding (at tight end),” Graham said. “He picked it up like he’d been playing it all year long.”
Laulu had not played on offense since 2017, his senior season at Centennial High in Las Vegas. Graham, who was hired a year ago, had studied video of every Warrior, dating to their prep games. The evaluation was Laulu was deserving of a shot at tight end. But in an abbreviated eight-week season, there was no bye to re-acclimate Laulu to offense.
With the two-week gap between the regular-season finale and the bowl, Graham recalled, “we said, ‘we’re going to move him over there.’ He started full-time at tight end, and played a few plays on defense. Eventually, he’ll do both for us. He’s a great talent. He went over there (to tight end) and played outstanding in the bowl game, like phenomenal for a guy who had not played one snap all year at tight end.”
Last year, the pandemic cut short the Warriors’ offseason strength/conditioning program, forced the cancellation of spring training, and delayed the start of training camp. When the 2020 season was approved, the Warriors were diligent in embracing Graham’s call for “elite discipline” — minimizing penalties and self-inflicted mistakes — and following health and safety protocol. The Warriors were one of 17 FBS programs not to cancel or postpone a game because of coronavirus-related circumstances.
“We wanted to play football, we wanted to compete,” Graham said. “And we wanted to do it safely. We were able to do that. We played nine games.”
Graham said the next phase is to improve personnel through the offseason strength program and recruiting. The Warriors signed four pass rushers in December. They are seeking cover defenders for the February signing period.
“People are excited about our brand of (defensive) football,” Graham said. “If you want to sack the quarterback, if you want to get TFLs (tackles for losses) and takeaways, this is a place you can do it. We’re going to develop our personnel. We’re going to recruit personnel who fits what we’re doing, and fits our culture, and the whole idea of getting better every week. We have a lot of momentum going into spring ball.”
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