UH football opens camp with new faces, higher expectations

HONOLULU – Football has arrived.

The University of Hawaii football team took the field for the first time as a full unit on Wednesday, officially beginning a 2025 season that brings heightened expectations alongside many new faces hoping to contribute.

“This our team, this is Hawaii’s team,” head coach Timmy Chang opened his first media availability of the season with. “The team that we have now is a contribution [from community members] helping us in retaining and recruiting our players.”

The fourth-year head man went on to thank Rainbow Collective, Braddahhood Grindz and Allied Universal among multiple groups of people for helping the program keep players from leaving and bring in more talent via the portal.

The Rainbow Warriors brought back 14 starters from the 2024 campaign and other returners boast varying levels of starting experience, leaving a solid baseline to build off of after an exciting finish to an otherwise tipsy-turvy season that ended without a bowl.

While he isn’t a returning letterman, no name has been a hotter topic entering camp than redshirt freshman quarterback Micah Alejado. The lightning-fast processing left-handed quarterback burst onto the scene in the final week of the regular season last year, posting UH freshman single-game records in his first career start with 469 yards through the air and five passing touchdowns in a bowl-spoiling win against New Mexico.

That game was a springboard for the former Bishop Gorman star, leading to an offseason of vocal growth as a leader as the team becomes more “player-led” on both sides of the ball. Much like the rest of the roster, Alejado also appears to have put on muscle on his lower half while preparing for a bigger workload in 2025.

“Everybody took the offseason serious,” Alejado said after practice. “A lot of the leadership took place this offseason and a lot of guys rose to the top … I believe the more leaders you have on a team, the better and stronger your team is going to be.”

Poised to point guard the Run-N-Shoot offense, the young signal caller has a pair of preseason all-Mountain West selections to sling the rock to in wideouts Pofele Ashlock and Nick Cenacle. Wednesday was the first chance to see the plethora of other options hoping to be the next pass catcher to pop in the system for Timmy Chang while a pair of freshmen in Kainoa “Kai Kai” Carvalho and Titan Lacaden also try to sneak onto the field early in their college careers.

Kentucky transfer Brandon White flashed solid hands – or a solid hand – with multiple casual single-arm snags on the first day as the four UH quarterbacks worked to get calibrated to open camp. The 5-foot-8 speedster will look to step into a similar role that fellow Kentucky transfer Dekel Crowdus vacated after transfering to Wisconsin after the spring semester.

Kentucky-transfer Brandon White brings speed to the receiver room for the Hawai’i football team. | Photo Credit: Michael Lasquero, HSRN

Chang, who enters his fourth season leading his alma mater, sees a team with the most collective talent since taking over the program. Anthony Arceneaux, who oversaw the running back room in 2024 for the Rainbow Warriors, was promoted to the offensive coordinator position after Dan Morrison’s retirement and former UH player and Bishop Gorman coach Chad Kapanui was brought on as the new QB coach.

Offensive coordinator Anthony Arceneaux coaches a drill during a Hawai’i football practice. | Photo Credit: Michael Lasquero

Dennis Thurman returned to the program for another season after helping pilot the defense to one of the best seasons in more than a decade, allowing the fewest total yards in a full season by a UH defense since 2012. The defensive unit went to another level when protecting Clarence T.C. Ching Complex, allowing under 20 points in four of six games at home last year.

The defense did lose starting defensive backs Cam Stone (pro) and C-Bo Brown (transfer) along with seven bodies from the defensive line room but reloaded in the transfer portal with Utah transfer Ka’eo Akana, Minnesota transfer Luther McCoy and others while getting back Virdel Edwards II from a season-long injury to help the DBs restock.

Thurman will have plenty of youthful defenders trying to make their presence undeniable, including local product Zaden Mariteragi. The Farrington alum and son of former UH defensive lineman Rocky Savaiigaea, Mariteragi enrolled early and joined the Rainbow Warriors for spring practices, giving him a head start on adapting to the college level before his first fall camp as he transitions to the linebacker position.

Freshman LB Zaden Mariteragi goes through a positional drill during Hawai’i football’s 2025 fall training camp. | Photo Credit: Michael Lasquero, HSRN

While there are multiple starting spots in the defensive backfield open, senior safety Peter Manuma is back to patrol the final line of the defense and feels much more comfortable going into the second season under Thurman.

“I feel like the whole team is comfortable,” the multi-time all-Mountain West honorable mention safety said when asked about the difference in this year’s unit. “We don’t need the coaches to tell us what to do now, we can make the adjustments on the fly on the field.”

Returning coaches and players, mixed with some exciting additions via the transfer portal, helped Hawaii check in with the highest Mountain West preseason predicted finish under Chang at seventh out of the 12 teams. Vegas win totals also believe in the ‘Bows taking a step up this season, setting the line at 5.5 wins with the over as the minus-money bet. UH has not had a .500-or-above season (non-COVID) since the 2019 campaign when the program went 10-5 and beat Zach Wilson and BYU in the Hawaii Bowl.

“The team looks really good,” Alejado said. “For us, it’s just coming out and starting out fast like we said earlier and being able to put everything we went through in the offseason on the field and show everybody that we are the team that we say we are.”

Fourth-year head coach Timmy Chang demonstrates a stance during a University of Hawai’i football practice. | Photo Credit: Michael Lasquero, HSRN