HONOLULU — By the day, the bridge gets closer to completion.
The Hawaii football team’s three-man weave of three-star freshmen from Las Vegas prep powerhouse Bishop Gorman —defensive back Elijah Palmer, linebacker Jamih Otis and defensive tackle Aiden McComber — is a work in progress. But it’s one that could be called upon in the near term and pointed back to in the long term.
UH linebackers coach Chris Brown calls them “the bridge” for the latter reason.
Brown, a former Gaels defensive coordinator who helped recruit the three to his alma mater, recalled what he said to the nascent UH coaching staff when it came together under Timmy Chang in January 2022.
“I tried to express that to the rest of the coaches — just trust me when we get these kids, you’ll see what I’m talking about, and so far so good,” Brown said. “They’ve seen exactly what I’ve been talking about. I’m trying to explain to them that if we can get more of these kids, as much as we can, we’re going to have a really good football team.”
The Rainbow Warriors have verbal commitments from two Bishop Gorman players from the class of 2024: quarterback Micah Alejado, an Ewa Beach native; and running back DeVon Rice. UH also had two defensive standouts from Bishop Gorman in the recent past in Kalen Hicks and Ikem Okeke. Brown also helped facilitate them to his alma mater.
Gorman, which has won 12 Nevada state titles in the last 13 years, has a reputation for discipline that is carried forth by its players to the next level. They showed it in person in the islands with their rout of Saint Louis at Mililani last September, with all three future UH players contributing to the win on defense.
One of the first things that Otis, McComber and Palmer did upon arrival at their Manoa freshman dormitory this summer was bust out the playbook and compare notes on the same plays, but at each of their positions.
Brown said the freshmen, particularly Otis and McComber, are in the running for playing time based on the current depth chart.
Otis, at 5-11 and 215 pounds, has competed at middle linebacker with the comfort that his old high school position coach will be on him to tell it to him like it is. Brown’s moniker of the “Lion’s Den” for the linebackers was true at Bishop Gorman, as well.
“Coming in, we just had a certain mindset for what we want to do and how we want to help this team,” said Otis, who had a team-high 23 tackles for loss for the Gaels in 2022. “We didn’t want to just be looked at as freshmen. We want to actually have people rely on us. We want to take that role and understand the playbook early so we can make an impact on this team.”
Palmer, a 5-8, 175-pound nickelback in UH’s base 4-2-5 defense, answered questions about his stature his whole prep career and finished with an invitation to the Under Armour All-American Game.
Now that he’s in the back of the seniority line again, he’s not shied away from asking his elders for pointers.
“Some of them come through many journeys that I would have no idea about if I didn’t ask,” Palmer said. “So I feel like that is probably the best thing that’s happened.”
The 6-foot, 255-pound tackle McComber said he’s trying to approach each practice from the standpoint of trying to provide value to the team. McComber was co-MVP of Gorman’s defense after compiling six sacks and 19 tackles for loss as a senior.
He said he takes pride in being part of the first Gorman wave with this UH staff.
“It means a lot. This can really start a pipeline. We’ve had guys in the past who came, but especially C.B. here, Coach Chang, they really can build something and start bringing a lot more kids from mainland, especially Gorman and Vegas in general,” McComber said.
His Gorman training helped him consume extra film as a habit, he said.
Here’s what Brown had to say on each of the three in the second week of fall camp.
On Palmer: “You talk about a student of the game. Even when I was his defensive coordinator at Gorman, that was the smartest player I’ve had. So, he takes it upon himself. He’s not a very loud guy. He keeps to himself. But great all-around kid. He’s here for work. His goal is to play in the NFL one day, so he’s not going to stop until he reaches his goal. His entire life, he was told he was too short, too small. He’s coming out here, and he’s going to say, ‘Well I’m going to get the edge on you.’ How? Physically and especially mentally.”
On Otis: “Jamih has the tools. He just has to catch up with the playbook. He knows the playbook, but it’s just putting it out on the football field. You can write it on the board, but when you actually see it, it’s a lot faster. Once he can do that, Jamih has twitch and moves that not a lot of guys have. Being able to fit into little holes and sniffing out plays, and just being a good ballplayer, he’s real different than some of the other guys.”
On McComber: “Aiden was the defensive player of the year twice at Bishop Gorman. There’s a reason why. He has a natural ability to feel things out. His twitch is unbelievable. But his get off on the ball and just being able to find the ball carrier or quarterback. It’s that Aaron Donald undersized speed, and using the size of the offensive line to his advantage. Countering moves. He has that about him. … You can see it right now. He’s watching the older guys, but now he’s starting to really take it into his own. That’s when he’s really going to play his best, when he’s comfortable.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.