Sidelines
Injuries make
defensive pool shallowHERE is the stat of the month: Hawaii's defense was on the field for 97 snaps a little more than a week ago at BYU. Pisa Tinoisamoa played in 96 of them.
"We cannot put him on the field for 96 plays," says UH defensive coordinator Kevin Lempa, who did just that. "There's no human that can play 96 plays, as hard as he plays. He played hard, now. He wasn't dogging it. Ninety ... 96 plays!"
This was going to be the season in which Hawaii's defense was going to have depth. Two games have gone by.
"We've got no depth," Lempa says.
Wait, correct that. "I mean, we have depth if everybody stays healthy," Lempa says.
"Once one person gets hurt, we have no depth."
That would be a problem.
This doesn't sound like depth in the traditional sense, and it isn't. UH isn't bracing itself for the worst, it isn't setting up a system where depth is a counter to injury. To Lempa, depth means playing two players for every position right now, as an everyday thing, as a matter of strategy, as a matter of making it through the game.
When you take the field this often, when you blitz all the time, depth isn't Plan B.
The number of defensive snaps is climbing, approaching 100 now, and the majority of Hawaii's defenders are still far too human to play every one.
FIRST OF ALL, Lempa isn't sure where the rumor got started that Hawaii would be stacked beyond its first line of defense. "We are trying to attain depth," he says. "We're trying to get better. I don't know who thought we were going to be Miami or Oklahoma."
Still, it looked promising. The starters were good, the backups were good recruits. Yes, the early scrimmages said the backups needed work. But they would get it. And they would get there. It would develop. Hawaii's defense would be one gamelong tag team.
But then injuries struck. First one, then another. Then the first game, and comeback kid Lui Fuga -- a defensive cornerstone at defensive tackle -- is out. And just like that, depth was gone.
"Lui got hurt, then we had to move Hyrum (Peters) to safety, because of Leonard (Peters). And then (Matt) Manuma got ... it only takes one, and there's a domino effect," Lempa said.
Hawaii's coaches were scrambling and shuffling. Preseason plans were scrapped. Redshirts were shed like Leslie Nielsen's suit in "The Naked Gun." You could almost hear the Velcro rip as the invisible jerseys were torn away.
Trying to save a season of eligibility for linebacker Chad Kalilimoku? That didn't even last through the first game. When Fuga was out, freshman Abu Ma'afala was in. Then freshman corner Kenny Patton lost his redshirt, too.
This week, freshman Tala Esera was the latest to be called up.
"He was a guy that we were planning on redshirting," Lempa said. "But we need to have eight bodies up front. Now, two of them are freshmen."
Doesn't matter. Guys have only so many snaps in them at full speed. Lempa needs bodies. Three players are banged up at the safety position alone. Tinoisamoa is playing 96 plays.
This week's bye couldn't have come at a better time. For resting. For healing. For figuring out how the heck this lineup is going to fit together.
UH coaches are hoping linebacker Ikaika Curnan might be back for next week's game at UTEP. They had been hopeful safety Leonard Peters might return as well, but now he'll probably need more time. That tends to happen when your injury includes the words "ruptured spleen."
Hawaii's defense played well at BYU. Well enough to win, but UH didn't. And there were more bruises to boot. Now, UH goes to UTEP, a long trip, a tough trip, where the Miners will attempt to grind out the time of possession by running the option. "Our favorite offense," Lempa says wryly.
UTEP has a good quarterback and a stacked backfield. It'll be a tough assignment for a two-deep spotted with former redshirts.
Fear not. Hawaii has reshuffled again. You want depth? UH has it.
As long as nobody gets hurt.
Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com