Breakout season for Hawai’i deserves historic Mountain West honors discussion

HONOLULU – The Mountain West Conference has never been very kind during awards season to the University of Hawai’i.

Since taking up football-only membership in 2012, the Rainbow Warriors have brought home one (1) total conference Player of the Year award across the offensive, defensive and special teams categories.

Any prognosticators or historians care to cast a guess on what player, year or which of the three phases it was?

If you said kick returner Mike Edwards winning the 2012 Mountain West Special Teams Player of the Year in UH’s inaugural season in the new conference, congratulations on being the first pick of your friends for an invite to a trivia night!

Adding in the Coach and Freshman of the Year categories, only Nick Rolovich’s 2019 Mountain West Coach of the Year award from the run to the conference championship game populates UH’s trophy case with the award Edwards won after the ’12 campaign.

It’s time for some friends.

Hawai’i should have cases for four of the five awards by season’s end – the lone exception being the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year award, which should go to San Diego State CB Chris Johnson. In nine games this year, the standout defensive back ranks near the top of the conference in interceptions, passes defended and is among the best cover corners in the country according to PFF.

The Rainbow Warriors could very well see their end-of-season awards luck change by the conclusion of 2025 and UH’s best year since before the pandemic deserves the conversations for the highest honors possible. While he won’t be the favorite, head coach Timmy Chang should get consideration for Coach of the Year honors along with New Mexico HC Jason Eck and San Diego State HC Sean Lewis for leading his alma mater back to relevance and beyond.

Hawai’i does have the two players who should be considered the favorites to take home the Special Teams and Freshman of the Year awards in senior K Kansei Matsuzawa and redshirt freshman QB Micah Alejado, who have continued breakout campaigns while returning UH to bowl eligibility for the first time in five years.

Matsuzawa took the college football world by storm in Week 0, hitting the game-winning field goal for the Rainbow Warriors as time expired to complete a perfect 3-for-3 kicking performance against Stanford on national television.

His celebrity has only grown in the weeks since, gaining traction nationally with his unique backstory and “Tokyo Toe” nickname while breaking every UH program kicking record along the way. Matsuzawa was named one of 20 semifinalists for the Lou Groza Award on Tuesday and enters Week 13 as one of three placekickers nationally without a field goal miss this season (22-for-22).

Alejado presents an even more interesting case, contending for two different awards that would put him in company all his own for the program and conference. The southpaw should run away with Freshman of the Year honors, hinted to by his conference-high five Mountain West Freshman of the Week awards with two weeks to spare.

The conversation around Offensive Player of the Year, however, is a bit more interesting.

The Mountain West is loaded with talent, from SDSU RB Lucky Sutton and his conference-leading 1,048 yards on the ground to SJSU WR Danny Scudero and his league-pacing 72 receptions, 1,155 yards and 10 touchdowns over 10 outings for his hometown Spartans. Both players should be considered alongside UNLV QB Anthony Colandrea for the conference’s most prestigious honors for an offensive player, but Alejado has also built a strong case since returning from an ankle injury he suffered during the non-conference slate.

Alejado has been the best quarterback in the Mountain West play, posting a conference-high 2,013 yards, 16 passing touchdowns and 66.2 completion percentage across six games for UH. After a putrid outing against Fresno State opened the league slate, the redshirt freshman has gone to another level with five straight games throwing for three or more touchdowns, piloting the Rainbow Warriors within striking distance of a berth in the conference championship game while entering his name in the record books alongside program legend Colt Brennan.

Colandrea has a case for the same honors, posting 1,587 passing yards and 16 total TDs (10 passing, 6 rushing) for the Rebels since Mountain West competition began while leading UNLV to an identical 4-2 record and a conference-best 36.5 points per game. When accounting for the full season, two extra games for the UNLV gunslinger have helped build a lead of 146 extra passing yards over Alejado while tossing the same number of scores (18).

Scudero would make history if he were to be selected as the Mountain West’s best offensive player for 2025. In the 26-year history of the Mountain West conference, no true wide receiver has never won the Offensive Player of the Year award and a quarterback has taken the honors on 17 occasions and a running back secured it in the other nine instances.

(Note: Air Force RB/WR Chad Hall was named the conference’s top offensive player in 2007 after rushing for 1,478 yards and 15 TDs and leading the Falcons with 524 yards receiving.)

Sutton’s case is helped by San Diego State sitting atop the league standings with two games left, along with leading the conference in rushing yards (1,048) and yards per game (104.8) in 10 outings. His nose for the end zone has also been an indicator of success for the Aztecs, who have yet to lose a game in 2025 when he scores a touchdown.

Should Alejado continue his torrent stretch of offensive production over the final two weeks and lead the Rainbow Warriors on Friday to the program’s second win in Las Vegas since the start of the Obama administration, the case strengths for the lefty to take home the OPOY hardware along with a Freshman of the Year honor.

Since joining the Mountain West, Hawai’i has been held out of any Offensive Player of the Year honors despite a few excellent seasons in the 13 years of membership. Additionally, the conference has never seen a player younger than a sophomore be named the overall Offensive Player of the Year.

To be fair, personal end-of-year awards are for winners and Hawai’i hasn’t been within the inner circle in more than a half-decade in the Mountain West. With less than a month to figure out regular season positions, UH is finally at the adult’s table with a chance at trophies on top.

With that, one question remains to be asked.

Why shouldn’t it be Hawai’i’s year to take home some hardware?