HONOLULU – The 2025 Hawaii football training camp is underway, kicking off the second year of the Rainbow Warrior defense taking direction from longtime NFL veteran defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman.

The second-year leader of the Hawaii defense addressed a group of media members during his first availability of fall camp, discussing a variety of topics ranging from what he wants to see over the first few weeks of practice, his view on leadership and much more as the 2025 season gets underway.

Below is a transcript of his seven-minute Q&A with local media after the second day of practice.

Q: Your thoughts on just what you see here the first couple of days?

Dennis Thurman: “Well, I’ve seen athleticism. I’ve seen size. I’ve seen height, weight, speed. It just all has to come together. We get it together, we bring it together, I believe we have a chance to be infinitely better than we were a year ago.”

Q: First week, what’s the objective? Is it more evaluation-like? What are you trying to get accomplished here the first few days?

Thurman: “Well, we pretty much evaluated the guys coming through spring and summer. It’s really a matter of refining, of tightening things up. Seeing what we like, seeing what we don’t like and making sure our guys begin to understand situations. Because we’re a situational football team.

And we’re going to play to what we believe is coming by situation. So I’m trying to get these guys more advanced mentally. The physical part, that’s going to take care of itself. The mental part in the game is where I want these guys to elevate their game. And when we do, after we do, then we’re going to be able to do that.”

Q: At the end of last season, you talked about the reaction time for guys. That’s the thing you’re most impressed with as far as your development goes. How much has that grown even through this off-season and here in this training camp?

Thurman: “Oh, it’s grown. I mean, it’s obvious that you came out and watched practice a year ago and you had to come out and you watched practice and you listened.

Our communication is superior to what it was last year. The guys, I think, are better prepared. They understand defense better. And so now, they have more freedom to express themselves. And the more knowledge they have, they carry out on the field with them about what we are to do.

They learn that first, then they spend the rest of their time learning about the offense is going to do. And when we get to that point, we are now studying other team’s offense because we don’t have to worry about what we’re doing? We’ll see a dramatic change for the better.”

Q: You talk about studying other team’s offense, right? Second year in your scheme, last year you mentioned not having a player do something they can’t do, right? Year two, what’s the evolution of this defense? 

Thurman: “Making sure that we put people in position to do things they can do and understanding who we have, what we have, what our strengths are when we have players out there in certain situations.

Just make sure we have the right players on the field in the right situation. Otherwise, we’re asking them to do things that they probably can’t do. And that’s not fair to them. That’s how I would expect them to be.”

Q: Can you speak to some of the player leaders on the defensive side? Guys like maybe Peter [Manuma], Jamih [Otis], Elijah [Palmer]?

Thurman: “I mean, we have a number of leaders. I mean, I don’t, I’m not a guy who singles out individuals as leaders.  

Because people lead in a lot of different ways. You have your vocal leaders, you have your quiet leaders, you have guys that go in that locker room and demand things in the locker room that we never see or hear about.

So I don’t really anoint players. I allow guys to lead in their own way. And when they do, it’s great. Okay, as long as it’s positive, as long as it’s positive. We’re all making progress.”

Q: Talk about some of those guys that are returning under your scheme and how much easier it’s been this time around. Last year, they were learning it themselves. Having them fully a part of your scheme and adjusted to your language and how you want those run. How’s that been working with them?

Thurman: “It’s improved. The thing, they haven’t been here long enough to regurgitate at all, as if they were NFL players or pro players. But the fact that they’ve grown in terms of knowledge of the scheme and understanding what they do has improved, I mean, tremendously.

And so, I’m not uncomfortable, this year, right now, putting 11 guys out there that I don’t believe all 11 of them know the defense. That’s not the case. Did that happen some last year? Yes, okay, but so far, so good.”

Q: Coach, what has the adjustment been like from the spring when there were a couple of players that were on the team in the spring, but not anymore due to, whether it’s eligibility not getting renewed, or entering the transfer portal and stuff like that? 

Thurman: “They graduated. They left. I mean, you can’t worry about who you don’t have, you take care of the ones you do have. And so our focus is on the guys that we have.

Hey, feel bad about some of those guys who thought they might have a chance to come back and then were told that they weren’t coming back, but the guys that graduated, God bless them, you know? They contributed a lot to our team last year, but football is a game of evolution, life is evolution, we just got to keep moving forward.”

Q: Coach P.J. Minaya, he was a quarterback in high school, but he’s a cornerback coach. You pushed some duties to him, kind of talk about his development as a coach and what he brings, having the offensive side, switching the cornerbacks?

Thurman: “Well, I was a quarterback in high school too, so what are you trying to say?

No, I’m just kidding. I’m just kidding. No, I mean, it’s really not that much different. I mean, you just flip the game and the knowledge of what he is inputting with our young guys has been tremendous.

He understands it because once you play quarterback, your job is to study the defense and understand what the defense is doing. So, it’s not like he hasn’t studied defense before, he has. That’s why he’ll make a phenomenal secondary coach one day.

And he’ll probably do it at the highest level. He is very, very talented and our guys are buying into him. I don’t go into the room anymore, it’s his room and he is the leader of that group. And he’s putting his stamp on it.”

Q: Wynden Ho’ouli’s move from the defensive line to linebacker, what do you see out of him and why do you think he can thrive in that position?

Thurman: “A big guy with talent, bringing physicality to the position. Coming downhill, he’s pretty good in his pass drops, he’s got some things to learn. But having a big, strong, physical body inside is gonna be a blessing for him.”

Q: Similarly, can you talk about getting a guy like Virdel Edwards [II] back? A medical hardship last year, a bigger body out back in the defensive back field that might have a couple of roles to earn?  

Thurman: “Well, yeah, I mean, he’s a veteran. He’s played, he’s experienced. Having a guy back like that is always gonna be healthy for us, good for us. The expectation is he hadn’t played in a year, we understand that.

So, game reps and practice reps are entirely different. So I anticipate him getting a lot of scrimmage work. But the most important thing is getting to him to the game. August 23rd, gentlemen.”

Q: For you, Coach, you’re well into your second year being out here in the islands. How is your personal acclimation to this place going?

Thurman: “Man, I can’t be telling you about my personal life. Can’t be telling you about that, I get in all kinds of trouble, okay?

*chuckles*

But I’ve acclimated.”

Q: Coach, you said August 23rd – your Week 0 opponent, Stanford, their interim head coach is Frank Reich spent a lot of time in the NFL, you spent a lot of time in the NFL. What do you remember about those battles?

Thurman: “I don’t. [It’s] not gonna have anything to do with what happens on August 23rd.

We’re gonna compete, we’re gonna compete. Somebody’s gonna win, somebody’s gonna lose, and our job is to be better. Thank you, gentlemen.”