The kicker graduated. So did the holder. Meanwhile, the punter transferred to the defending national champion.
In 2026, the University of Hawai‘i football team will have the tall task of replacing former kicker Kansei Matsuzawa, the program's first-ever consensus All-American. Matsuzawa graduated and is currently going through the NFL Draft process. Additionally, punter Billy Gowers, after earning freshman All-America honors from Pro Football Focus, decided to take his talents to Indiana via the NCAA transfer portal.
The Rainbow Warriors were one of the first teams in the country to begin spring ball, starting practices on Feb. 3. New faces include freshmen Gannon Miller and Gehrig Heil, a Texas transfer originally from Arizona. The youth infusion is quite the contrast from last year, back when Matsuzawa was 26 years old and Gowers was 29, making their kicker and punter combo older than that of 10 NFL teams as of Week 1 of the 2025 NFL season.
Hawai‘i special teams coordinator Thomas Sheffield says he'll take his time in assessing his young unit.
"You're just getting to evaluate the new faces, kind of learn what they can and can't do, and giving them the opportunity to bring more value to our football team," Sheffield said. "It's been really good. What we did in the portal and what we did with our high school recruiting, we brought a lot of great football players into the mix.
"Obviously, there's a learning curve anytime you change schools, from high school to college, but we got the best coaches in the country, and we're doing a really good job of just slowly integrating them, slowly teaching them, because we don't play until August, so we got time to make sure that we get all the little details, all the techniques and fundamentals put in place."
Because of a successful freshman campaign in which he averaged 46.2 yards per punt, Sheffield thought the Rainbow Warriors had their punter of the future. But after Gowers entered the portal shortly after the Hawai‘i Bowl, the 'Bows are back to square one at the position.
"It's the business. College football has changed, and it continues to change, it just is what it is, and that's a nice way of saying it's not a great situation, but it is what it is," Sheffield said when asked about Gowers' departure. "We wish him the best of luck. But our focus is going to be on our players now and the guys who have stuck with us and who decided to make Hawai‘i home."
Miller has been getting repetitions at punter, while Nick Pang and returning starter Jack Mowrey are splitting the reps at long snapper. Sean Olvera-Harle, who began the 2025 season as the team's kickoff specialist before yielding to Matsuzawa, has been reinserted into the placekicker competition. Additionally, Tama Uiliata, Cam Barfield, Titan Lacaden and Kainoa "Kaikai" Carvalho were some of the names seen getting punt return reps.
Heil, meanwhile, is who Sheffield calls the "Swiss Army knife" of the group.
"He'll compete for the punt job. He'll compete for the field goal job with Sean, and he'll compete for the kickoff job with Sean, and then he'll also compete to hold for field goals, and so just constant competition with Gehrig," Sheffield says of Heil.
Heil walked-on at Texas to begin his collegiate career in 2025 but chose to enter the transfer portal after he was not awarded a scholarship following the season.
"I entered the portal, and coach (Sheffield) just really sounded like he believes in me, and that's why I chose Hawai‘i," Heil said. "Hunger and knowledge for the game, like I just really want to be the best that I can be. Just help the team out however I can, whether that's punting, field goals, holding, kicking off, whatever it is."
Competition for the team's placekicker position will carry over into the fall when Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) graduate Hudson Borsari enrolls as a true freshman.
"Hudson will be here in the fall, and then we're going to throw him right into the mix to compete," Sheffield said. "I really like Hudson's mentality. Hudson's got an obsession, almost like Kansei or Billy Gowers at a young age. And so I love seeing that. ... I just think that kid's going to have a very bright future. I do expect Hudson to come in here and compete and have the mentality to go take a job as soon as he comes in as a true freshman."
Whoever wins the kicking job will have large shoes to fill. Sheffield will be watching the start of Matsuzawa's professional career from afar, confident that his former pupil will continue to be among the best in the sport.
"Kansei is going to be taken care of. Multiple teams have reached out to me specifically to talk about him, and so Kansei is going to control his own destiny, just like he did when he was here, and he's always going to work," Sheffield said. "He's got the mindset, he's got the leg. He's a very special kid, and whatever NFL team decides to take him, they're going to be really lucky and very happy that they did."
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Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
