Sidelines
Marketing of
Manuwai too lateWITH notepads and pens and a "too cool" ESPN friendly nickname, the University of Hawaii has finally launched its Vince Manuwai for Outland campaign.
UH is doing all the right things in this age of image and information, taking Manuwai to Boise to meet the press, printing up brochures and putting together slick Web site logos and packages. Suddenly, Manuwai, the quiet giant, is being marketed in hopes of making him not just a known name, but a brand name.
And this is what you have to do these days if you want to come from nowhere to win a national award. Especially from Hawaii. Especially for an offensive lineman. This is what UH should be doing.
One problem.
This is what UH should have been doing last year.
Good idea. But even though it's not yet August, it's already too late.
This is not to say that Manuwai absolutely won't win the Outland Trophy, the award given to the nation's best interior lineman.
But don't bet on it.
Voters tend to reach for a name they've seen before (they once heard a "Game Day" guy say, "so-and-so is the best tackle in the country"), to a school or conference known for producing great linemen. Writers, broadcasters, viewers and fans generally don't know enough about line play to do otherwise. Stats are mostly meaningless or nonexistent. Highlights -- all but the most crushing blocks -- are frequently too rare and too subtle for the untrained eye.
Reputation wins the Outland, and that reputation needs to be strong, established, in place.
Lineman awards are won by guys from great teams with familiar names who are in the top five on the watch list before the season even starts. Big awards are won with momentum left over from the year before, and the finalists are set by September.
UH has the right idea. But it's too late for introductions now.
You don't generally get to jump from second team All-WAC to the Outland Trophy in a single bound.
IT'S SURPRISING THAT UH took so long to put together an "official" campaign for Manuwai, considering that coaches June Jones and Mike Cavanaugh have been beating the drum about him for years. (This week, Jones once again made the claim that Manuwai could have played in the NFL at age 18.) The problem is getting everyone else to believe them.
Other conference coaches haven't thus far, keeping Manuwai on the second team of All-WAC honors at the end of each season. On the "What they're saying" segment of Manuwai's Web site, only two people are quoted -- Cavanaugh and Jones. Lee Corso would have been nice.
With three UH games to be broadcast nationally by ESPN this year, Manuwai certainly has a chance to woo some votes, build some buzz, if he's visibly, absolutely dominant.
If the cameras isolate on him. If the announcers rave about him and point him out. If someone on "Game Day" mentions his name.
If those pens and notepads aren't too late after all.
Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com