Cam Barfield waited patiently for his opportunity.

After two quiet seasons at Boston College, the former Bishop Gorman standout transferred to the University of Hawaiʻi hoping for a fresh start. His first season with the Rainbow Warriors hinted at his potential before a breakout season in 2025.

The 5-foot-7, 190-pound senior played in all 13 games last year, emerging as one of the Mountain West’s most versatile offensive weapons with 944 all-purpose yards. Barfield rushed for 371 yards on 80 carries while averaging 4.6 yards per attempt, caught 27 passes for 257 yards and three touchdowns while earning second-team All-Mountain West honors as a kick returner after averaging 28.7 yards per return.

Entering his final year of eligibility, Barfield is ready to do more for the program that gave him a chance.

“I said to myself, ‘Okay, that was a good year. How do I improve? How do I make myself better for this team? How do I do everything that I can to make it possible for us to win or make it possible for us to make a large run?'” Barfield told Hawaiʻi Sports Radio Network during Mountain West Football Media Days.

For a Rainbow Warriors team coming off a breakthrough 9-4 season and a victory in the Sheraton Hawaiʻi Bowl, Barfield believes the next step is bringing home the Mountain West championship.

“We were so close last year,” Barfield said. “How do I make that stretch for this team? What do I have to do to make that happen? That’s what I’ve really been focusing on.”

As a junior, Barfield consistently delivered in the biggest moments.

He scored eight total touchdowns — four rushing, three receiving and one on a kickoff return — with five of those touchdowns covering at least 20 yards.

When Barfield reached the end zone, Hawaiʻi usually won. The Rainbow Warriors posted a 6-1 record in games in which he scored.

Hawaii RB Cam Barfield leaps for the pylon to score his first touchdown against Portland State. | Photo credit: Rayden Aoki

His coming out party came early in the season against Portland State, catching four passes for 50 yards and two touchdowns in a 23-3 victory.

A few weeks later against Air Force, Barfield turned a short pass into a 59-yard gain on the opening possession to set up the game’s first score. He later broke loose for a 27-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter that helped seal a 44-35 road victory.

Perhaps his signature moment came against Colorado State.

Facing fourth down on the road, Barfield burst through the line for a 35-yard touchdown, powering through a defender on his way to the end zone. The score helped lift Hawaiʻi to a 6-2 record while clinching the program’s first bowl berth under head coach Timmy Chang.

His versatility surfaced again against San Diego State when he opened the second half with an 86-yard kickoff return touchdown in a 38-6 victory, the Rainbow Warriors’ first win over the Aztecs during Chang’s tenure.

He finished the regular season by recording career highs with 15 carries and 77 rushing yards while scoring both a rushing and receiving touchdown in a 27-7 win over Wyoming.

Hawaii RB Cam Barfield scored on a receiving and rushing touchdown in the Rainbow Warriors’ 2025 regular season finale against Wyoming. | Photo: Rayden Aoki

Even in the Sheraton Hawaiʻi Bowl, Barfield made his presence felt.

Trailing California by 21 points, Hawaiʻi mounted one of the program’s most memorable postseason comebacks. Barfield caught the game-tying two-point conversion early in the fourth quarter before the Rainbow Warriors completed a 35-31 victory to cap their nine-win season.

Despite the production, Barfield believes he has only scratched the surface.

“We’ve had talks and they’re expecting more,” Barfield said of Hawaiʻi’s coaching staff. “I showed quick flashes of it last year, and with me being one of the only returning backs really, it’s just, ‘How do we get you more? How do we get you more and how do you make these plays?’ They’re expecting more, and I’m going to do that for them.”

Quarterback Micah Alejado expects Barfield to answer that challenge.

The two have known each other for years after starring together at national powerhouse Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas. Alejado, the reigning Mountain West Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, has witnessed Barfield’s growth firsthand.

Hawaii QB Micah Alejado hands the ball off to RB Cam Barfield in a 2025 Mountain West game against Utah State. | Photo: Michael Lasquero

“He’s a guy that you rely on. Big-play guy,” Alejado said. “That’s the type of guy he is. Mentally, he doesn’t get rattled, but when it’s time to go play some ball, he’s one of the ones that is going to go play some ball and go win us some football games.”

As valuable as Barfield has become with the football, teammates believe his greatest impact this season may come without it.

With former starting running back Landon Sims graduating, Barfield has inherited leadership responsibilities within one of the team’s youngest position groups.

He credits Sims for preparing him for the role.

“He was such a great leader,” Barfield said. “He taught me things that I don’t even think I would have been able to be taught. Just taking everything that he’s taught me and figuring out how to instill that into the guys now.”

That room now includes Kansas State transfer Devon Rice, another Bishop Gorman graduate, redshirt sophomore Sitani Mikaele of Farrington High School and true freshman TJ Fo’ilefutu.

Barfield already sees pieces of each player’s potential.

“We do have a couple of dudes,” Barfield said.

Of Rice, he said, “I played high school with Devon Rice. He was younger than me, so just having that chemistry with him and (me) trying to be that role that Landon was for me.”

On Mikaele, Barfield added, “He’s grown so much over these years. I can’t wait to watch him go out there and spin it.”

Fo’ilefutu, meanwhile, brings a different style.

“TJ’s a dog,” Barfield said with a smile. “He’s big. He’s going to run somebody over. He’s going to break those tackles.”

Alejado believes Barfield’s willingness to mentor younger teammates has become just as important as his production on Saturdays.

“He’s a humongous piece of our offense,” Alejado said. “Especially him being one of the older guys, taking that leadership role for him this year was humongous. He’s a guy that knows the program well, knows the culture well, and he helps younger kids get acclimated to it.”

Hawaii RB Cam Barfield returns the second-half kickoff for a score against San Diego State on a rainy November 2025 night. | Photo: Michael Lasquero

Hawai’i fans can expect to also see more from Barfield in the return game in 2026.

Although Barfield averaged nearly 29 yards per kickoff return last season and led all Mountain West returners during conference play at 34 yards per return, Hawaiʻi often took a conservative approach early in the year after a costly special teams mistake in the season opener against Stanford by a player no longer on the team.

Barfield spent much of last fall lobbying Chang and special teams coordinator Thomas Sheffield to let him attack more kickoffs.

“Last year we were a lot more conservative,” Barfield said. “Closer to the end of the season, I started going to Coach Chang every day saying, ‘Please let me rock, coach.’ I’d go to Coach Sheffield too. They kept telling me, ‘We’re going to let you.'”

When the opportunities finally came, Barfield capitalized.

“I was able to make something happen,” he said. “With the few opportunities that I got, I became one of the best returners in the country. They’re going to let me rock a lot more this season.”

Among the four kick returners recognized on the 2025 All-Mountain West team, Barfield is the only one returning to the conference this season. Despite that, he was omitted from the league’s preseason all-conference team, where newcomer Jackson Williams of North Dakota State earned preseason recognition.

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Another year, more history made for Micah Alejado.

After becoming the first UH player to earn Mountain West Freshman of the Year honors in 2025, the sophomore quarterback is back with sights on even greater heights in 2026. Alejado was picked as the conference’s Preseason Offensive Player of the Year on Wednesday morning, marking another first in the Mountain West for the Rainbow Warrior football program.

“It’s super cool,” Alejado said after becoming the first sophomore to ever receive preseason OPOY recognition in the Mountain West. “You’ve got to go out there and prove it and I understand that … I’m excited with the challenge. Obviously, it brings a lot of attention and [puts] a target on my back so I’m excited for it. I’ll take it and I’ll go out there and prove it this year.”

Hawai’i burst into conference title contention last season on the back of Alejado’s breakout, seeing the southpaw signal caller pace the Mountain West with a freshman-record 24 touchdown passes to go with 3,106 yards through the air as UH danced to a 9-4 record and a bowl game (and win) for the first time under head coach Timmy Chang.

His return to the Rainbow Warriors for the 2026 campaign firmly secured Hawai’i’s spot in the conversation for the new-look conference’s most elite squads. Along with Alejado, Hawai’i had WR Pofele Ashlock, LB Jamih Otis and DB Elijah Palmer finding spots on the preseason All-Mountain West squad.

UH was tied for third-most preseason all-conference team selections with four players between the offense, defense and special teams units. New Mexico and UNLV led all programs with five selections each while Nevada and newcomer North Dakota State also each placed four different players on the preseason list.

For Alejado and his army of talented teammates, the focus remains on one place.

“Last year, we knew we could [compete for a conference title] and we were chasing a championship and fell short,” the star sophomore said. “The expectations for us this year are high. We’re not settling for nothing we shouldn’t be settling for, right? Championship – hosting a championship, go win a championship and put ourselves in the best spot for the [College Football Playoff spot]. That’s always our expectation.”

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