During a team meeting, head coach Nick Rolovich asked the Hawaii football starters to stand.
“And sit down,” he told the first-team players, “if you’ve ever played on the scout team.”
Rolovoch said: “Most of the guys sat down.”
That part of football life was crystallized this week with the formation of the scout units that will simulate opposing teams’ offenses and defenses during UH practices.
“It’s part of the growing process,” Rolovich said of designating developmental players to the scout teams, also known as look or service units. “It’s part of the hierarchy of football. The best guys play. As you’re developing, you’re trying to help teammates get better for the game.”
Of the 22 potential starters on offense and defense, 13 began their UH careers as scouts.
“Newcomers ask me all the time, ‘did you go on scout team?’” quarterback Cole McDonald said. “Heck, yeah, I did. That’s really where you hone your skill, hone your craft. As a quarterback, that’s where you become more accurate, where you learn to command a huddle.”
Scout units are viewed as apprenticeships.
“It’s kind of been a rite of passage,” defensive coordinator Corey Batoon said. “Most guys who have been around any program long enough, whether it be high school or college, has worked on the look teams one way, shape or form. It’s so critical in terms of giving us a great look.”
For the Aug. 24 opener against Arizona, the Rainbow Warriors have used central-casting details to portray the top playmakers — quarterback Khalil Tate and running back J.J. Taylor — and the Wildcats’ offensive schemes during defensive drills.
“The positive end of it is, if I’m on the look team, I’m working against the best we’ve got on the other end of it,” Batoon said of the scouts’ practicing against the top UH units. “When we send our DBs down there (on the scout team), it’s, hey, you’re going against (slotback Cedric) Byrd, and you’re going against the best quarterbacks we have. You look at it as a positive. Never look at it as an opportunity to be stagnant, but an opportunity to improve. I think our guys have done a good job with that.”
Rolovich said every rep in practice is recorded on video and then reviewed. Last year, linebacker Kana’i Picanco made the jump from scout player into the top rotation. After two years on scout team, quarterback Justin Uahinui is taking reps as the No. 3 quarterback and is poised to make the travel roster.
“They move on,” Rolovich said of players who excel on scout teams. “Coaches notice that. Coaches notice who gives a good look, a good effort. It’s not hard to see. Fans see that. It should be pretty simple for a coach to see.”
Rolovich said the sessions involving scouts will continue to expand as the Warriors go deeper into their preparation for Arizona.
“The guys are working,” Rolovich said following Tuesday’s 16th practice of training camp. “You’re getting closer to single digits before you play. At one point, it was 30 days. Now, it’s what, 10, 11 days? That’s the way the season rolls. It comes quick.”
