When it was time for the character of the 2025 University of Hawai‘i football team to be revealed, the Rainbow Warriors learned they're a resilient group that can still win games off the heels of disappointment.
After losing to Fresno State at home to begin conference play, an opportunity to take an early lead in the conference standings was missed. For its next assignment, UH was sent to Colorado to take on Air Force in altitude. A 44-35 win over the Falcons on Sept. 27 served as a valuable reminder to the Rainbow Warriors that they can still contend in the Mountain West Conference.
Perhaps no player's performance represented the team's one-week turnaround more than quarterback Micah Alejado, who struggled with three interceptions against Fresno State but recovered with a three touchdown, 457-yard day against Air Force that won him Mountain West Offensive Player of the Week honors.
"A lot of personal growth for me, mentally, for sure," Alejado said following Thursday's practice, the first of UH's bye week. "Just seeing how the resilience had to come and just seeing how I had to push through the last week, obviously wasn't the easiest week after Fresno State.
"Just everything leading up to Air Force for me, it was more so just seeing who I am as a person and how I can bounce back. On Saturday, it gave me much more confidence in myself, and it was a great learning experience for me, great personal growth and I loved the lesson."
Idle until Oct. 11 against Utah State, the Rainbow Warriors took the field at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex for their first practice of the week on Thursday. With no game to prepare for, the 'Bows still held an intense practice with the hopes of maintaining the progress they made as a team last weekend.
"I think these guys are hungry, and they have a desire to go out there and be successful. I think that's what drives them," head coach Timmy Chang said. "I think the experiences of just continuing, learning and growing from their past to where we are now, they want to be better, and we get to look at the things that we weren't good at this season and try to correct them and get better, and we want to continue to grow."
The bye week was also timed conveniently for standout receivers Nick Cenacle and Pofele Ashlock. Cencale, who has not played since the team's loss at Arizona on Aug. 30, continued to ramp up in an attempt to get back in the receiver rotation against Utah State. Meanwhile, Ashlock was sidelined during Thursday's practice. Additionally, breakout defensive tackle De'Jon Benton was a sideline participant after missing the Air Force game.
As for the players who did practice on Thursday, it was business as usual, even though there's not a game on Saturday to prepare for.
"We're built on toughness," running back Landon Sims said. "Mental toughness is pretty much the core of our team values. The military training, everything that we did in the offseason, we do some hard a** s***. We're tough guys, and I think I like to embody that in the way I play, in the way I block and run. The bye week's great but we'd be ready to go this Saturday if we didn't (have one), but it is a blessing. Right in the middle of the season, that halfway point where we can kind of get guys that are banged up back on the field ready to go for next week."
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Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
