Hawaii football: Linebacker Pritchard honors late teammate Scheyenne Sanitoa

The hot sun beat down on player, coach, and reporter alike at the Manoa grass practice field on Monday. Understandably, linebacker Jeremiah Pritchard asked if he could strip off his pads before granting a post-practice interview request.

When he shed the cumbersome gear, it revealed his undershirt — which bore a tribute to his late UH teammate Scheyenne Sanitoa.

Sanitoa died on July 4, just over a month ago.

Their bond was strong. Pritchard and Sanitoa had more in common than is typical of one UH player to another. Not only did they play the same position, they hailed from the same place, American Samoa.

“For me, yesterday was a big day, for Schey,” Pritchard said. “Yesterday marked the first month he’s been gone. We didn’t have practice that day, so today I’m still honoring him. I came out with his shirt. I felt like he’s still a part of our team, a part of our group, especially. Our linebacker group. He’s still there with us. So, he’s a big part of our room, in my heart, in my life. And I carry him wherever I go.”

Pritchard carries on on the field. He’s coming off a mid-career redshirt season that followed a productive sophomore campaign. He has 10.5 tackles for loss, including three sacks, to date in his Warrior career.

Junior linebacker Jeremiah Pritchard is ready to go to work coming off a redshirt year with #HawaiiFB, plus an ankle injury in the spring.

He has experience at the mike and will LB positions and will get looks at both again. pic.twitter.com/4xdaPNiCHa

— Hawaii Warrior World (@hawaiiwworld) August 5, 2019

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He had a setback with an ankle sprain in the spring, but is now injury free and is rounding into form this fall. He contributed to an energetic defensive performance in a controlled scrimmage at Aloha Stadium on Saturday. Inside linebackers coach Mark Banker is preparing to work him back in at the will linebacker spot (which he knows from two years ago) to complement his experience at mike.

“Our group, our defense is going to be good as a collective unit,” said Pritchard, who changed his number to 2 from 10 going into the fall.

But the feeling that they’re a man down will persist. No player will wear Sanitoa’s No. 41 on their jersey this season, a UH team spokesperson recently told Hawaii Warrior World.

“We’re still thinking of (what to do for him). We wanna do just a small part, just for the linebackers, just to honor him,” Pritchard said. “First game, throughout the season, things like that. The littlest thing we did so far was, the seat that he sits in in our meeting room, nobody still sits there. We keep it vacant, just in honor of Schey. He’s a big part in our group. I look at all my brothers like that. Anybody on our team, they’ll be the same way. But just in our group alone, we respect Schey and we all miss him.”

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Beat writer Stephen Tsai reported the Rainbow Warriors’ 2019 team captains on Monday, too.