With a mix of returning receivers and new, Hawaii is building a diverse offense

On paper, the University of Hawaii receivers group is complicated.

The wide receivers and tight ends are two of the position groups that have a good number of returning players — a combined 13 — on a Rainbow Warriors football team filled with new faces. Those who are returning, however, only make up about 25% of the offensive production from last season.

On the field, the group has been building on the momentum created in the spring and developing the returning players and the newcomers.

“One of the big things that we had was a great spring ball, and we were able to build some confidence in the guys that we had,” UH wide receivers coach Jared Ursua said Friday. “What we’re able to do in the summer now is bring those other new guys and help them really understand how we do things.”

Through three days of fall camp, there have been some notable plays for the wide receivers and tight ends — James Phillips and Chad Owens Jr. each won a jump ball throw in 1-on-1 drills and Caleb Phillips had a touchdown to close out Friday — but most of the attention with the receivers has been working on the fundamentals.

“Most plays are lost in the first, and how your stance starts, what your first step is, and learning to read that,” Ursua said. “That’s what the stress has been, and it’s going to continue to be that we’ll get that going over the next little bit, but what’s most important right now is that these guys feel that they have a sound footing, a good foundation, because when you have the foundation, you can build.”

Working on fundamentals is critical, even more so for those who have made position changes such as Devon Tauaefa. The 6-foot-4 true freshman has been practicing as a tight end for the first time, converting from wide receiver.

“Going from receiver to tight end is a long learning process,” Tauaefa said. “It takes some getting used to, learning and getting the full work down, but it’s going good.”

Tauaefa said route-running is easier for him to get down than the blocking on the line, which the Saint Louis graduate, who is listed at 190 pounds, finds difficult.

“It’s still a learning process for me, but just stepping out here getting to know the coaches and learning from them, it’s been a good experience — and it’s only day three,” he said. “We’ll see how it goes until week four. Everything’s going good so far.”

Two wide receivers — converted tight end Steven Fiso and Koali Nishigaya — who were on last year’s roster were held off the fall camp roster due to injury. Ursua did not say what the timetable is for either of them but expressed his excitement to have them rejoin the receivers room.

“Koali is up there as far as production in the group coming back, so I’d love to have him back,” Ursua said. “Fiso’s a jack of all trades — he’s played every position on the field and contributed a variety of ways, so we need him back.”

The UH offense is listed as a spread formation in the school’s media guide, but the mixture of concepts from the run-and-shoot and the run-pass option among other systems was explained by Ursua with a local analogy.

“It’s the perfect plate lunch. We got a wide variety of everything that we do, and we have to keep people honest. That’s really what the basis of good offense across the country is,” he said.

“We watched Alabama go from multiple Heisman running backs to, now, top receivers winning the Heisman. Well, why is that? The game’s evolved and continued to change. What we are is a bit more variety, but what we’ve got to do is make sure our fundamentals are good and our execution is high.”