Sidelines
Lempa’s loving
his big secretTEN plays. That's how long we got to look at Hawaii's top defense at the big UH football scrimmage yesterday. Ten. What can we learn in 10 plays? Not much. Except that perhaps Hawaii defensive coordinator Kevin Lempa has already seen everything he needs to know.
There is a difference to this defense. Or at least the perception of it. No longer are Lempa's troops lamented as the weak link. Now Hawaii fans are defense fans. Now defense is listed as a positive. Now expectations are on them.
Bring it on, Lempa said. It's better than the alternative, better than years past, better than being battered and blamed. He'll take the affirmative attention and the pressure that comes with it, take it happily. His guys will, too. They have their own expectations as well.
"Our players have a lot pride and they feel that they're good players," he said. "And that they're going to compete. And we're going to win some games on defense."
They already know the feeling. Hawaii won some games on defense last season, too. Defense carried that team in midseason, in fact. Through the stretch that turned a season around guys believed, stars were born and Lempa became a new man. He was magically transformed from goat to genius, and you could see the change in him. It was wonderful to watch.
So now he enters this season with confidence, with the cupboard full. His defense went through several looks in those 10 plays, something last year's team couldn't have grasped at this time. This defense, in those 10 plays, was smooth and sharp and on schedule. On paper, this defense should be good. From what he has seen so far, Lempa said, things are starting to come together.
But then he stopped himself. He's a coach. He knows better. Projections? Ha! All of this stuff doesn't mean a thing until that first Saturday night.
"I don't know how good we're going to be," Lempa said, and the tone in his voice told you it was true. "You know? But I think we're experienced. We have some good veteran players. We've got a couple of All-WAC players."
And then he leans in close, almost whispering this last part.
"And the key for us is to stay healthy.
"You remember last year when we lost Pisa (Tinoisamoa) and (Travis) Laboy, we were a different defense."
That was true, too. Luckily for them, by then Ashley Lelie was rapidly rising in NFL mock drafts and Nick Rolovich was on the verge of offensive nirvana. Yesterday, while Lempa needed just 10 plays to see what he was looking for, June Jones kept giving quarterbacks Jason Whieldon and Shawn Withy-Allen one more shot.
There will be games when Hawaii will need to win with defense again.
No, the UH defense doesn't need anyone to get hurt. Not when they're needed. Not with everything already clicking. Ten plays. Get them in, get them out. Keep the unit intact until that first game, and then see how good these guys really are.
"Now, the second and third groups, we need some work," Lempa said. "Clearly we're a little rusty. Because we threw a lot at them. We do a lot of different defenses."
The first group knows them all.
But it is not just his starters that have found their niche. Lempa has settled into his style, found his role, embraced his identity. He knows what he needs to do, and knows if he does it he'll be successful.
"Here's the defensive philosophy for the University of Hawaii," he said. "Get the ball back to the offense."
He thinks this group can do that. His defense was burned twice by Withy-Allen for long completions over the course of the entire scrimmage. "That'll happen," he said. But for the day, Lempa counted three fumbles and two interceptions. He'll take that trade. His aggressive, gambling, defensive equivalent of the run-and-shoot was working just fine. The first group sharpest of all.
Ten plays. Not much, not at all. But they told Lempa all he needed, which tells us quite a lot.
Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com