The University of Hawaii football team’s blind-side blocker never lost sight of his goals.

While recovering from a season-ending shoulder injury last year, Josh Atkins learned the University of Houston was prepared to move on to other offensive line prospects. Atkins conceded there was disagreement on how to deal with the torn labrum he suffered ahead of his second season with the Cougars.

“I chose to get the surgery,” he said. “Whatever else happened, they looked at other (personnel) options.”

Last December, Atkins announced he was entering the transfer portal. “It was frustrating,” said Atkins, who did not play a down in two years at Houston after a decorated career in high school. “Your whole dream was to play D-1 football. It’s kind of different from what you thought when you got there. I don’t know if ‘mad’ is the word, but I wasn’t mad for long.”

He also acknowledged that his departure probably drew a “red flag” from other schools unfamiliar with his situation. Atkins said the thinking probably was: “He looks pretty good. His film looks pretty good. Why is he leaving?”

After vetting Atkins’ background, Hawaii head coach Timmy Chang and co-offensive coordinator Roman Sapolu, who coaches the offensive line, contacted Atkins. “We had some of the same visions,” Atkins said. “Coach Sapolu and Coach Chang gave me good energy from the jump. They had my best interest at heart, and that was important to me. And what better place to do it?”

Atkins then signed with Hawaii.

“From UH to UH,” Atkins said of the transfer from Houston.

Atkins, who is 6 feet 4 and 290 pounds, faced two challenges entering spring training in February. With Chang taking over the play calling, the Warriors were fully implementing the four-wide passing attack.

“I was making the adjustment to the run-and-shoot along with coming back from labrum surgery,” Atkins said. “That was in the spring. But the spring went well. For me, spring was gaining a lot of confidence in my shoulder, really just getting back into football. I feel fall camp, for me, was mastering the run-and-shoot and really getting comfortable in learning this offense.”

In most offenses, the blind-side tackle sets in a stance when the quarterback throws from the pocket. In the run-and-shoot, the quarterback often moves within the pocket. “Say the quarterback is rolling to your side, you can’t set as deep as you usually could,” Atkins said. “For me, it was an adjustment I had to make.”

But Atkins’ two-way power on run blocks and pass protection, athleticism, and footwork helped him ascend to the top of the depth chart at left tackle. Part of his agility stems from his jump-rope training. A few years ago, Atkins and his friend Dayton Robinson were in a gym when they noticed a female boxer doing speed and crisscross moves with a jump rope.

“She was doing all the combos,” Atkins recalled. From that day, he was determined to incorporate jump roping into his training. His mother bought him a jump rope, he said, “and I started teaching myself. I like to learn new things. I can learn them on my own if I just practice.”

Atkins said he studies videos of All-Pro Trent Williams of the San Francisco 49ers and Ilm Manning, whose completion of his UH eligibility at the end of the 2022 season opened the way at left tackle.

During the recruiting process, Sapolu and Chang told Atkins there were returnees and recruits that would compete for the vacated blind-side position. “They told me, ‘you don’t have a spot, but if you come in, you have an opportunity to compete,’” Atkins recalled. “That’s all I could ask for was a chance. Now we’re rolling up on week one.”