HONOLULU — When much of the Hawaii football team scattered at the conclusion of the 2021 season — players either fed up with the coaching staff or seeking to better their own position — one position group clung to a simple mantra.
Hold the line.
That’s what the Rainbow Warriors’ experienced offensive line did, by and large, in providing a constant for UH’s assorted returnees until the Timmy Chang coaching regime settled in place, and until the roster could be infused with more than 50 newcomers for fall camp this week.
Now fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-year players like right guard Micah Vanterpool, left tackle Ilm Manning and center Eliki Tanuvasa are being given a spotlight, and microphone, usually reserved for flashier skill-position players at this stage of camp.
Between December and January, when UH lost many of its most talented players to the transfer portal before and after the resignation of Todd Graham, there were plenty of negative feelings to go around.
Tanuvasa, a Saint Louis School graduate who came to UH from Eastern Illinois in 2019, said the O-line refused to add to the sentiment.
“There was a lot of guys who … had to do what was best for them,” Tanuvasa said after Thursday’s practice, no bitterness detectable in his voice. “When we had tens of guys leave, when things looked like there was no light at the end of the tunnel, when it got the hardest, that’s when we settled down. When we knew that, if we leave, it’s going to get worse. Something gotta stay the same, something gotta hold it together. And the O-line, we do all the dirty work. So we might as well do it on and off the field.”
Or, as Vanterpool put it, “O-line, those are always the first guys in, last guys out. Always the first guys to get blamed, the last ones to get praise.”
Vanterpool, a natural talker from Phoenix (he does a podcast, "Big Mik Takes the Mic," and was one of two UH player representatives at the preseason Mountain West Media Days in Las Vegas) said the upperclassmen at their position were bonded through a full range of emotions developed over multiple seasons. They won games they should’ve lost and lost games they should’ve won. They beat a player who was eventually taken No. 2 overall in the NFL Draft, BYU’s Zach Wilson, at the 2019 Hawaii Bowl.
“When you go through so many emotions with your brothers and your family, how could you really switch up and go anywhere else?” Vanterpool said. The feeling was shared by his brothers in the trenches before the "Braddahhood" slogan was adopted by multiple players to declare their allegiance to the program, he added.
As a result, they were the rare unit to grow in numbers in the offseason, not shrink.
Even the second unit of O-linemen has had an established veteran over the first few days of camp in Solo Vaipulu, who has spent most of his UH career as a starting right guard.
Vaipulu’s 42 career starts are second only to the 47 of Manning, the left tackle from Glendale, Ariz.
Manning, who arrived at UH in 2018, is like several of the linemen in that they’ve been through two coaching transitions — Nick Rolovich to Todd Graham and Graham to Chang. He considers it his responsibility to shepherd the flock. On offense, UH is especially inexperienced at quarterback and receiver.
Manning realizes experience — their experience — is at a premium for a young team with few veterans. There are as many newcomers as the 60 returnees.
“Every day here is my last day now, so I’ve got to be accountable for picking guys up and having fun with it,” Manning said.
“We drive the team. We’re the engine of the team. We’ve gotta pick stuff up when things are down. Keep our mind in the right focus," he added.
Other O-linemen with considerable experience are returning seniors Austin Hopp, Stephan Bernal-Wendt and Ra Elkington. UH also picked up transfers in Micah Mariteragi (Virginia), Luke Felix-Fualalo (Utah) and JoJo Falo (Cal Poly).
“That’s the group that stayed together the most through the transition, and those guys are the guys we’re going to lean on moving forward,” offensive coordinator Ian Shoemaker said. “They’re busting their tails, they’re leading by example, and I know they’re doing their work in their meeting rooms to bring those guys up and running. “We’ve got enough young guys in that group that they still have to do some work to get guys ready to go.”
One lineup featured so far has been Manning and Hopp at the tackles, Bernal-Wendt and Vanterpool at the guards and Tanuvasa at center.
Tanuvasa said the collective mood of the team has transformed, despite UH being predicted to finish last in the Mountain West’s West Division.
“When things get tough, it just means so much more seeing how happy everybody is,” Tanuvasa said. “Just seeing the change over the last couple months, it’s crazy. We formed a family bond like no other.”
Camp continues Saturday with the first practice on the artificial turf of the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex. The first session begins at 5:45 p.m. with the second at 7:50 p.m.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii.