Twenty-three days before the first day of spring, the Hawaii football team completed “spring” training with a spirited situational scrimmage at the Ching Complex.

The Rainbow Warriors ran 60 plays divided into six 10-play segments during the 15th — and final — practice of spring training.

“I think we got what we wanted out of 15 practices, and it gives us a lot of time on the back end now to get them big and strong,” UH coach Timmy Chang said of next phase of the offseason.

The Warriors held out their starters and most experienced players, including No. 1 quarterback Brayden Schager, running back Tylan Hines, and receivers Steven McBride and Pofele Ashlock.

“You’ve got guys like Schager who’ve played 20 to 30 games already,” Chang said. “We’ve got guys who are a little more veteran and have the experience. The main attempt is to get bigger, stronger, faster, and develop into next season. We wanted to hold out (the starters) so we don’t get injured, so we’ll have all our bullets in the chamber when we fly around against our first opponent.”

The scrimmage was played with the basic rules: no blitzing, no tackling quarterbacks Micah Alejado or John-Keawe Sagapolutele. Both freshman quarterbacks entered with different paths. Sagapolutele, a 2022 Punahou School graduate, redshirted last season. While leading Bishop Gorman High to a 2023 national championship, Alejado earned enough credits to graduate a semester early and enroll at UH last month.

Sagapolutele completed 18 of 22 passes for five touchdowns. On one of his completions, Sagapolutele exited the pocket and, under heavy pressure, made a jump pass to wideout Maclane Watkins.

“I saw the defensive end coming in, and I tried to get out of there, and I jumped,” said Sagapolutele, noting the scrimmage “felt like it was practice. Just executing, I guess.”

Alejado demonstrated his strong left arm and elusiveness. “Every time I had to scramble, I scrambled,” Alejado said. “I got out of the pocket and made some plays.”

Alejado also perfected dashing just in front of the line of scrimmage and then unleashing a pass. On one scoring play, Alejado found the escape hatch and then found Tama Uiliata in the corner of the end zone for a touchdown.

“I thought they did a really good job,” Chang said of the two quarterbacks. “There’s going to be some good and there’s going to be some bad inside there. For the most part, I thought they were pretty composed under the lights.”

The scrimmage also provided refreshed opportunities for three receivers. Dekel Crowdus, who transferred from Kentucky last month, made two spectacular receptions. He made a one-handed grab near the sideline and later out-jumped a cornerback for a touchdown in the corner of the end zone. While the officials indicated Crowdus might have been out of bounds on both catches, he argued otherwise.

“I was inbounds,” Crowdus said. “They need a replay booth. They were all catches.”

Slotback Carlito Capanang ended a strong spring camp with several catches on Sunday. “I’ve been out for so long because of injuries,” said Capanang, who redshirted last season after suffering an ACL injury in his right knee. “I’m glad to be back. It’s truly a blessing.”

Uiliata was a standout quarterback, running back and receiver for Waipahu High. As a grayshirt who delayed enrolling at UH until last month, Uiliata spent the 2023 fall semester training under Waipahu coach Bryson Carvalho and working at Eggs ‘N Things in Ko Olina.

“That taught me a lot of patience and discipline and just doing my job right,” Uiliata said of his day job.

Uiliata said he suffered a pulled hamstring last month. “It was nice getting back on the field,” he said. “One thing that helped me when I was injured was the playbook. I learned it inside and out.”