Rainbow Warriors looking to start fast, be better at the details

HONOLULU — There were two main points of emphasis on day one of Hawai’i football’s 2025 training camp — start fast and attention to detail.

The Rainbow Warriors began its fourth training camp under head coach Timmy Chang on Wednesday at the T.C. Ching Athletics Complex with a later than usual practice start time of 11 a.m.

But while the practice itinerary was pushed back, the Hawai’i football team is making sure it won’t fall prey to a slow start.

“Starting fast is a big emphasis for us this year,” said starting quarterback Micah Alejado, who also credited the addition of new head and strength conditioning coach Bobby Thomas in instilling that in the locker room and weight room.

“Last year if you look at our games, we came out really slow in the first quarter and first half, but we always end off somewhat strong in the second half so we’re just trying to see what kind of team we can become if we play a strong four quarters and we think we can be a better team than last year if we start off fast this year.”

The numbers back this up.

Hawai’i was 4-1 in 2024 when leading after the first quarter and 4-1 when the Rainbow Warriors’ opening drive ended in a touchdown. The one exception was against UCLA when Hawai’i needed a fake punt to extend the opening series to help roll to a 10-0 halftime lead before losing, 16-13.

The 2025 schedule also doesn’t leave any room to catch a breath in the beginning of the season as Hawai’i will play half of its 12-game season before the first bye week.

“We have six off the bat before our first bye that are important to us,” Chang said after the first day of practice.

“Everything that we’ve done in the offseason until this point now is about starting fast and being ready being prepared, being available. Tomorrow’s practice will look a little different, but today they got off to a great start.” 

Hawai’i had a chance to become bowl eligible in 2024, but dropped three total games by a score of three points or less and finished the year with a 5-7 record.

Chang is hoping that better attention to detail in fall camp can help swing those close games in favor of the Rainbow Warriors in 2025.

“For our first practice in helmets coming out here, we really wanted to be detailed in our fundamentals and our technique and the the simple things that are going to win us games,” Chang said.

“We have a slogan of ‘be great at simple’ and that’s what we wanted them to do today; paying a lot of attention to the littlest of things, their stance, their first two steps, their eyes, their feet, their hands and those are the little things in the battles that they’re going to need.”