Every day is alumni day (and other UH football practice visitors)

University of Hawaii football practices with Nick Rolovich as head coach are like they were when June Jones held the post: You never know what star, past or present, might show up to watch.

San Diego Chargers linebacker and Heisman Trophy runner-up Manti Te’o from Kahuku and Punahou was there today with Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett, MVP of this year’s Pro Bowl. Bennett is married to a local girl and lives in Hawaii Kai.

Bennett and Te’o are off-season training partners.

“We met each other four years ago and we’ve been training together for awhile,” Bennett said.

“I’m always with Mike. He wanted to come watch so I joined him,” Te’o said.

Bennett, who lined up on offense and had a long apparent touchdown run called back by the officials in the Pro Bowl, half-jokingly said his goal is to score two touchdowns as a running back in the upcoming season.

Many of Rolovich’s former UH teammates (and those of his assistants Abraham Elimimian, Brian Smith and Craig Stutzmann) and other Rainbow Warriors have been showing up to watch the morning workouts.

Kynan Forney, Shawn Withy-Allen, Bryant Moniz, John Veneri, Jeremiah Cockerhan and Matt Wright were among the former UH players watching Thursday’s two-hour workout at Cooke Field.

Linebacker Solomon Elimimian, UH’s career-leading tackler and a star in the CFL, was among those who visited Saturday’s practice.

Spring practice sessions, which started last week, have been well-attended by all kinds of spectators. And Bobby Curran , KKEA’s voice of the Rainbow Warriors, did his daily morning radio show on location at today’s practice.

“They want to see what this team is all about,” Rolovich said, speaking not only of the NFL and former UH players. “I didn’t know Manti was coming. They came because they love college football.”