Five players to watch for Hawai’i in critical road trip to Fresno State

HONOLULU – Still breathing. 

The University of Hawai’i celebrated homecoming weekend in a big way, blowing out the Nevada Wolf Pack (3-6, 0-3 Mountain West) last Saturday, 34-13. It was the first FBS victory of the year for the Rainbow Warriors, who had struggled to get the running game going this season until breaking free for a season-high 242 yards against Nevada. 

Brayden Schager tied a UH quarterback program record with four rushing touchdowns in the win and running back Landon Sims added another 82 yards on the ground with only nine carries for the Rainbow Warriors. Hawai’i (3-5, 1-2 Mountain West) set a season-low in passing attempts (25), turning more to the running game in the Run-N-Shoot by totaling a season-high 42 carries on the ground. 

The win kept the slim bowl hopes of the Rainbow Warriors alive, needing to win the remaining four games to be eligible for the postseason. The next challenge awaiting Hawai’i after finally winning an FBS contest is taking down an opponent on the road as they travel to the continent to face off against Fresno State. 

With another game that is a “must have” and a new chance to snap the road losing streak, here are five players to watch this weekend as Hawai’i visits Fresno State. 

QB Brayden Schager 

The reigning Mountain West offensive player of the week following his four-touchdown performance at home against Nevada, Brayden Schager seems to have his swagger back. After back-to-back physical, rough outings against Boise State and Washington State, Schager came out with a vengeance in the running game as he set a new career high of 120 yards on the ground. 

The senior QB, who will tie program legend Colt Brennan for 2nd-most career starts (35) at the signal caller position for UH with a start on Saturday, began his career against Fresno State in 2021, leading the Rainbow Warriors to a 27-24 upset over the 18th-ranked Bulldogs in his first college start. While Fresno State is not the ranked beast that it has been before, the Bulldogs are still one of the top teams in the Mountain West and just dismantled San Jose State last weekend. 

Schager has talked in the past about his desire to win and frustrations with loses over the previous few seasons and has drawn the ire of fans for inconsistency. The Texas-native has long been one of most talented quarterbacks in the Mountain West, but his talent has not always led to wins in crunch time. 

With his back against the wall for a chance to play in a bowl game before his college eligibility trickles out, Schager and his re-found swagger will have a crucial role in any Hawai’i road upset hopes. 

WR Jonah Panoke 

The old man in the crowded wide receiver room, Jonah Panoke started the season slowly in a heavy rotation of pass catchers. Panoke never wavered despite his slow start, continuing to grind in run blocking snaps while getting only 15 targets in the first five games for the Rainbow Warriors. 

The Saint Louis School alum spent five years dealing with a multitude of injuries, never playing more than 280 snaps in a single season for the Rainbow Warriors. This season has been different for Panoke, playing a career-best 295 snaps across only eight games and pacing for nearly 450 total snaps at his current pace. 

That stability has been important for Hawai’i, who have seen the WR room decimated in other ways since spring practices ended with injuries to Pofele Ashlock, Dekel Crowdus and the absence of Steven McBride. After his limited role during the first few games, Panoke has quietly become one of Brayden Schager’s favorite targets and a key to the run blocking on the outside for UH’s offense. 

He had a pair of tough games against SDSU and Boise State with a few drops but has come back strong. Saturday was one of his best games of the year with five catches for 58 yards to lead the Rainbow Warrior receiving corps against Nevada while posting his best run blocking grade (78.9 via PFF) of the year. 

CB Caleb Brown 

Playing across from Cam Stone on the Hawai’i defense can sometimes mean a busy day on the way. The man who has held down that role (when healthy) this year for UH is Caleb “C-Bo” Brown, who has been graded by PFF as the 4th-best defender overall (74.6) for the Rainbow Warriors.  

He has been productive against opponents, ranking 2nd behind Stone for total passes broken up with four this year. After returning last week from an injury, Brown will likely see even more action on Saturday against Fresno State, the 3rd-most productive passing attack in the Mountain West Conference this year.

The Bulldogs average 261.3 yards per game through the air, spreading the ball around to a bevy of talented receivers each game. Mac Delena, Jalen Moss and Raylen Sharpe each have tallied over 380 yards this season for Fresno State and Stone won’t be able to cover all three of them at the same time. 

Luckily, Brown’s excellence can help calm the worries about what happens with the other receivers along with a talented coverage group for Hawai’i. They will need him and the entire group ready to go against an aerial attack that goes to the air 34 times per game. 

S Peter Manuma 

A usual mainstay in the Hawai’i defensive backfield, Peter Manuma missed the first two games of his college career against WSU and Nevada after suffering an injury in the opening snaps against Boise State in Week 7. The safety was back in action at practice this week for the Rainbow Warriors, a good sign in his eventual return to games. 

It has been a replace-by-committee approach for the Hawai’i defense in the two games since, seeing Kona Moore, Meki Pei, Justin Sinclair, Kilinahe Mendiola-Jensen and Matagi Thompson all taking turns in Manuma’s spot. The results have been a mixed bag, seeing plenty of struggles against Washington State’s high-powered offensive attack before settling down against Nevada. 

The defense finally broke the no-takeaway streak against the Wolfpack with a pair of turnovers forced, helping the unit look closer to the group graded as the best among all Mountain West teams by Pro Football Focus. Depending on Manuma’s readiness to return to game action, that defense could get even better for a critical stretch run. 

K Kansei Matsuzawa

One of the most famous stories among special teamers in the country, Kansei Matsuzawa learned how to kick from watching YouTube videos and narrowly won the starting kicking job in preseason camp for Hawai’i over Kai Kluth. His first year as the place kicker for the Rainbow Warriors has had a few bumps, making 8-of-11 field goal attempts and just 4-of-6 tries away from the confines of Clarence T.C. Ching Complex. 

Matsuzawa, or anyone who would have filled the role, always was entering a tough place attempting to follow Matthew Shipley’s strong career for the Rainbow Warriors. After the longtime kicker transferred to Arkansas in the offseason, Hawai’i was in a tough spot with little experience remaining on the roster. 

The junior from Japan saw his first miss on the road against Sam Houston and briefly struggled in a two-week stretch against Boise State and Washington State with a pair of miscues from 28 and 39 yards, respectively. Despite the FG misses, Matsuzawa was automatic on both extra point tries in those contests. 

The struggles were in the rearview mirror last week for Matsuzawa, who was perfect on six different kicks (2 FG, 4 PAT) in Hawai’i’s win over Nevada. This week’s matchup on the road almost promises to be a tight contest where kickers might prove to be the difference and if Matsuzawa has gotten his confidence back, he can be a tremendous help in keeping bowl hopes alive for UH one more week.