Takai’s family to serve as UH honorary captains

Question: What are the plans for Saturday’s Military Appreciation Night?
Answer: The family of the late U.S. Rep. K. Mark Takai will serve as honorary captains for the UH-New Mexico football game at Aloha Stadium.
Takai, a UH graduate and former Rainbow Warrior swimmer, was helpful in several UH athletic projects while serving in the state Legislature for 20 years. In 2014, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Takai died in July. He was survived by his wife, Sami, and their children, Matthew and Kaila.
“We put the decals with his initials on the helmets, but we wanted to honor him at some game, and we felt like this was the one to do it at,” coach Nick Rolovich said.
Takai was a lieutenant colonel in the Hawaii Army National Guard. He worked as a preventive medical officer. He also was an Iraq War veteran deployed in 2009.
Rolovich said there will be a “surprise” for the players and fans “as far as helmet change.”
“Other than that,” Rolovich said, “I’m excited to get all the branches of the military at the game, and enjoy a game that is dedicated to them.”

Q: Each player received a Capri Sun juice box as a way to “bring the juice” to the road game against San Jose State. What did the team receive prior to last Saturday’s game against Air Force?
A: Nothing.
“We cut out their late-night snacks (on Friday night),” Rolovich said. “And they were pissed at me. I said they needed to wake up hungry.”

Q: After eight games, what is UH’s selling point to recruits?
A: “They’re starting to see Hawaii football is on an upward swing,” Rolovich said.

Q: How has Australia-raised Max Hendrie developed as a football player?
A: Even though Hendrie is an honors graduate of a highly regarded Australian high school, the NCAA did not fully acknowledge all his credits. He is attending UH this semester, but is not allowed to practice with the team this season. He trains on his own each day.

Q: How is Australia-raised Ben Scruton developing?
A: Scruton plays on the punt, kickoff, punt return and kickoff return teams. “He’s fast,” special teams coordinator Mayur Chaudhari said.
Defensive coordinator Kevin Lempa said he wished Scruton had practiced on defense earlier. Scruton did not join the Warriors until the week before the season opener.
“He’s a tough kid, and he can run,” Lempa said. “He’s very willing. He just has to learn. Before it’s over, he’s going to do something.”

Q: What changes were made so the Rainbow Warriors did not run out of gas against Air Force in the high altitude?
A: It was mind over matter. “They weren’t going to let (the thin air) be an excuse,” Rolovich said. “That wasn’t going to be an excuse for this team not to play as hard as they could for as long as it took. Nobody was going to let anybody down. There’s a strong bond on this team.”

Q: The Warriors defeated San Jose State for their first road victory in two years. The week after, the Warriors lost to UNLV at home. How will the Warriors avoid a letdown from the Air Force victory?
A: After the UNLV game, Rolovich said, the Warriors “got a little bit of a reality check that (in) this conference, anybody can beat anybody. Then we go up and win a tough one on the road. They know they have to bring it every week. UNLV will be a constant reminder for everybody on this team and for years to come that … when a team comes out and plays hard, probably harder than us that day, they can win.”

Q: Any marquee teams approached for week zero in 2017?
A: The 2017 regular season has 14 weekends. But Dec. 2 is reserved for the Mountain West championship game, reducing the regular-season window to 13 weekends. UH has agreements with four nonconference teams — Sept. 2 against Western Carolina, Sept. 9 at UCLA, Oct. 7 at UMass, and Nov. 25 against Brigham Young. With eight games against MWC teams, the Warriors are scheduled to play 12 games in 13 weeks. UH can take advantage of an exemption allowing it to play a week earlier, on Aug. 26, in what is termed week zero. UH has approached several teams about playing on week zero with no success. BYU also declined to move its game to week zero. UH athletic director David Matlin said he wants to keep a bye during the 13-week window, and only would consider adding a 13th opponent on week zero. “Unless we can fill week zero, we’ll plan on going with 12 games (for the regular season),” Matlin said.

Q: David “Maddog 50” Mutter, a former UH lineman, asked if Rolovich, a diehard San Francisco Giants fan, would consider rooting temporarily for the Chicago Cubs. Maddog said bears are feared by wolves. (New Mexico is nicknamed the Lobos.)
A: Rolovich said he rooted for the Cubs against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS. Mutter is “my dog,” said Rolovich, who invited the Illinois resident to address the team before the Arizona game. “He sent me a Cubs shirt for my son. … It arrived the day the Cubs eliminated the Giants (in the NL Division Series) …”