This football season, Hawaii’s Taaga Tuulima is the center of retention.
Tuulima, a sophomore from Iolani, has made every offensive snap in the Rainbow Warriors’ eight games. That amounts to 558 plays in 4 hours, 1 minute, 44 seconds (plus five untimed overtimes).
“I enjoy it,” Tuulima said. “It’s fun to me.”
Tuulima will make his ninth consecutive start in Saturday’s game against Nevada at Aloha Stadium. It is a don’t-pinch-me streak for a former ‘Iolani offensive tackle who joined the Warriors as a defensive lineman. Tuulima, who was put on scholarship in the spring, is a trusted lineman who makes the blocking calls and anchors the resurrected run-and-shoot offense.
“I trust them, they trust me,” Tuulima said of his offensive teammates. “Those are my brothers, as is everyone on this team.”
Tuulima redshirted in 2016, spending the season on the scout team defense practicing against the Warriors’ top-of-the-depth-chart offense. Last year, he was summoned to the offense.
“Then I was snapping,” Tuulima said. “That was it.”
He began the 2017 season on special teams before joining the rotation when injuries and ailments impacted the offensive line’s depth. His first career start was against UNLV in November 2017.
In the offseason, Fred Ulu-Perry accepted a medical retirement. This summer, Asotui Eli, who had started 31 UH games at center, opted not to play this season while recovering from a knee ailment. Tuulima was practicing with the second team when he was elevated to starter late in training camp.
“It just happened,” Tuulima said of the promotion. “My name got called, and I went in there.”
In Tuulima’s nine career starts, the Warriors are averaging 35.0 points and 443.3 yards. This season, the Warriors’ offense has been penalized 1.9 times per game.
Tuulima said his teammates, friends and family have been helpful in his preparation. “I’ll snap to anybody,” Tuulima said. “Me and my family go out and train. I’ll snap with my brother, my friends, my cousin.”
In some backyard workouts, Tuulima will snap to a cousin and then go one-on-one against his brother, Tao. When Tuulima’s father, Wayne, acts as a pass rusher, his mother, Puanani, will take the snaps as the quarterback.
“I’m grateful for them,” Tuulima said.
Between his studies, Tuulima, a mechanical engineering major with a near-perfect GPA, logs time on field work, practicing his snaps, steps, blocking schemes and reaction. “If people are around, I’ll work with them,” Tuulima said. “If nobody is there, I’ll work out on my own.”
After each game, he studies No. 63.
“I go through the game film to see what I was doing, what I can improve on,” Tuulima said of the self-scouting. “That’s what (upcoming opponents are) going to be seeing on me. I like to know what I have to do to get better. After that, I’ll take lessons from those previous games, and clear it, and step up to the next team.”
Since the start of training camp, Tuulima has snapped to six different quarterbacks in practices. He has played with three quarterbacks in games.
“Each quarterback is different because of his height,” Tuulima said. “Some people want the ball at certain places. That’s part of the relationship thing. It’s a special relationship between center and quarterback.”