Being a human slot machine paid off for University of Hawaii football player John Ursua.
At Sunday night’s team banquet, Ursua, a junior slotback, received the Alec Waterhouse Award as the Rainbow Warriors’ player of the year.
Ursua overcame last year’s ACL surgery to take the national lead in touchdown receptions (16) this season. Ursua tops the Warriors in catches (89), receiving yards (1,343) and scoring (104 points).
It was a circuitous route for Ursua, who was reared on the Big Island, attended high school in Utah, worked for a year, and then served a two-year mission in Paris before joining the Warriors in 2015. He redshirted that year, then emerged as a go-to target the next three years. Ursua made an easy adjustment to the expanded use of run-and-shoot concepts in the Warriors’ reconstructed offense this year.
Ursua has aligned as a slotback, wideout, in-motion back and, in Saturday’s 31-30 victory over San Diego, as the starting “quarterback.” He took UH’s first snap as the wildcat quarterback.
The actual No. 1 quarterback — Cole McDonald — received the Coach June Jones Award as the most valuable offensive player. McDonald has completed nearly 60 percent of his passes for 3,790 yards and 35 touchdowns against eight interceptions.
Middle linebacker Jahlani Tavai earned the Bob Wagner Award as the Warriors’ top defender. Tavai has played in eight of the 12 games, missing the past three after undergoing surgery for a season-ending shoulder injury. But his 82 tackles is tied for second among the Warriors.
Linebacker Paul Scott, a second-year freshman, was named the winner of the Coach Dick Tomey Award as the top special-teams player.
Defensive end Kaimana Padello, who has a team-high 11.5 tackles for loss, including 7.5 sacks, was named recipient of the Ben Yee Award for most inspirational player.
The banquet celebrated the Warriors’ first winning regular season since 2010. At 5-3, they also had their first winning league record in seven years of Mountain West Conference membership. The Warriors appear to be a lock to play in the Dec. 22 Hawaii Bowl at Aloha Stadium.
Following Saturday’s game, many of the assistant coaches remained on the mainland to recruit. Saturday was a joyful time for Abraham Elimimian, who coaches the UH cornerbacks. In the final drive of regulation, UH cornerback Rojesterman Farris II was penalized for pass interference.
But on the final play of overtime, Farris successfully defended SDSU’s 2-point pass, sealing the Warriors’ first road victory over the Aztecs since 1988. Elimimian was the first to greet Farris.
“He went up and contested the ball,” defensive coordinator Corey Batoon said of Farris. “I was really happy for him to make a game-winning play after he felt so bad about the other call. It was huge for him to rally and make a play at the end for us.”
