While college football programs have been taking the field for spring practices across the country, don't expect the University of Hawai‘i football team to strap up the pads any time soon.
Hawai‘i held the first of its 15 permissible spring practices on Feb. 3, then wrapped things up on March 6. For the fourth year in a row, the Rainbow Warriors were one of the earliest teams in the nation to hold spring ball.
The rationale behind the early start was intentional. In splitting up its spring semester, UH was able to hold practices in the first part of the semester. The 'Bows, who recently returned from UH-Mānoa's spring break, are set to begin the program's their offseason strength and conditioning regimen this week. With football reps under their belt, the Rainbow Warriors will be able to immerse themselves in getting in top shape heading into the summer.
UH head football strength and conditioning coach Bobby Thomas has been in Mānoa for less than a year but has earned the full trust of the team. The Rainbow Warriors know they will be pushed but understand that the team's unique spring process has earned tangible results.
"College football is such a long year and it gets broken up. But for us, doing it this way, we roughly get seven weeks to the end of semester," Thomas told Aloha State Daily. "And then we're right back to it. We're not missing out on much, and there's not a big opportunity to lose what we have gained. You go right into summer, and then we get into fall camp."
With a better understanding of what the players he has at his disposal go through during the season heading into his second year, such as the rigors of the pass-heavy run-and-shoot offense on receiver, Thomas plans to tailor specific training towards certain players.
"They know what's coming. They remember that conditioning day that we had the first time. That's all they ever talk about, is that first day we ran conditioning," Thomas said. "It's always about learning, growing and improving. And we've added some things and changed some things, but the base of our program will continue to be the same. We're still going to have our speed days, linear speed, change of directions, and we're going to have our conditioning."
Part of the strength and conditioning program also involves reintegrating players who missed spring practices due to injury. Star quarterback Micah Alejado and standout nickelback Elijah Palmer were among the starters who were sidelined. For Alejado in particular, who played the vast majority of the 2025 season hobbled, Thomas sees an opportunity to build Alejado back up for 2026.
"I think for Micah, he really showed toughness to play through some stuff. I don't know if he was ever truly 100% throughout the rest of the season, but nobody's really 100% once you get going. He showed a lot of toughness and grit and played through some things," Thomas said of Alejado. And so now for him, we've given him some time off to try to get everything back to normal. I fully anticipate him to be involved with everything that we're doing. I don't see too many limitations from him."
One of the first things Thomas noticed about Alejado a year ago is the gravitational pull he attracted from teammates despite heading into the 2025 season with just four games under his belt as a redshirt in 2024. As the Rainbow Warriors head into a critical part of their offseason, Thomas knows he can count on him to lead by example again.
"He's QB1, so our guys naturally gravitate towards him, and I thought he did a really good job last year, and it's still improving. He's earned that respect from everybody. He's a guy that knows we talked about bulking him up a little bit to get prepared for the demands of being, a DI quarterback, and he's done a good job. He's progressing in the right direction. He's doing really good in the weight room.
"He knows that we want to get a little bit bulkier, a little bit bigger, just trying to help him put on that body armor, because you do get hit, so it's just him taking the next steps and your leadership role and your voice and your presence, and pushing the guys, and then understanding your maturation process, as far as building and getting stronger. He knows what to expect, and we've had good conversations."
Alejado has readily accepted that challenge thus far, knowing the work put in will come to light in the fall.
"We talked as a team, talking about being committed, and what that looks like, and we know the difference between last year what we want to be this year," Alejado said. "Just tackling this full goal 100%, we can't look back. Just being dedicated, holding ourselves accountable, and getting into that mindset to go attack and go kill and start fast. Attacking the strength and conditioning program, it makes us a lot faster, a lot better."
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Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
