Hawaii football: Jason-Matthew Sharsh prepares to step up

Sixteen touchdowns. One-thousand, three-hundred and forty-three yards. That’s what John Ursua did last season for Hawaii on 89 catches.

Ursua, who left Manoa a season early, was drafted in the seventh round by the Seattle Seahawks, leaving a hole in the Rainbow Warriors’ offense considerably larger than his 5-foot-10 frame.

A single player alone will not likely make up what Ursua did in the run and shoot. One of those who will try to defray his loss is fifth-year senior Jason-Matthew Sharsh, a 6-footer who was an understudy of Ursua’s at slotback last season but knows all four receiver positions.

>> 2019 FALL CAMP DAY 2 PHOTO GALLERY

So how does Sharsh — the second cousin of Chad Owens who used to go watch Owens’ UH games as a child, dreaming of being as good — plan to go about doing that?

“Catch every ball. That’s one of my goals,” he said Saturday at Day 2 of 2019 fall camp. “Catch every single ball that comes my way.”

Fifth-year senior Jason-Matthew Sharsh, a Moanalua grad, is in his third fall camp with #HawaiiFB. The slotback talks of filling some of the hole left by NFL draftee John Ursua and mentoring younger players as he goes. pic.twitter.com/I3oiVfmFDw

— Hawaii Warrior World (@hawaiiwworld) July 27, 2019

Sharsh caught nine balls for 152 yards and a touchdown last season, his first as an active player at UH. (The Moanalua graduate redshirted in 2017 coming out of Santa Barbara College as he recovered from a broken ankle.)

Much of that production came in the SoFi Hawaii Bowl with Ursua out of action.

His touchdown, a 24-yarder from Chevan Cordeiro, came in the second quarter, giving UH a 7-3 lead on Louisiana Tech that would not last. Sharsh finished with five catches for 67 yards.

A springboard, perhaps?

This camp he’s looking at “proving myself a little more.”

“I didn’t really get the opportunity last year. Playing behind John, you learn a lot,” he said. “You learn what worked, what didn’t work. Just want to capitalize off what I learned that will work throughout the season. Get better every day.”

What stood out about Ursua that he picked up?

“(It was) just his passion,” Sharsh said. “Before every game, I could see it in his eyes. Like, he was ready. I just want to take that into the season. That drive, that motivation to play your best every single play, no matter what. Come out with a chip on (my) shoulder, an attitude. Whatever I can do to help the team win.”

He’s very much aware that the last part involves bringing along others, the younger and up-and-coming players, who could have as much to do with keeping the offense humming as anything he produces directly.

“Knowing what I know, it’s my third season, I feel like I can help a lot teaching the younger guys, or even being more communicative with the team. Help the offense flow more,” he said.

Sharsh, who wore No. 89 last season, now wears No. 3.

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It used to be said among newspaper staffers in the Aloha Stadium press box that the way you knew if a player injury was truly serious was whether head athletic trainer Eric Okasaki — not an understudy — would make his way onto the field to attend to the fallen Warrior.

Columnist Ferd Lewis recently paid tribute to Okasaki’s four-plus decades at UH as well as Jayson Goo, another lifer who wrapped up his duties in the spring.

UH is in the process of searching for a new head athletic trainer. Okasaki’s last day is Wednesday.

Okasaki, who dislikes the spotlight, declined being interviewed for that story. To the surprise of no one on the UH grass practice premises at UH camp — where he patrolled on a more informal basis Saturday — he demurred again to another reporter. Chuckling ensued nearby.

One thing was clear: The respect he commanded as he made the rounds, checking on various players and staffers, was as evident as ever.