UH junior Kumoku Noa ready to step in at receiver

In his first three years with the Hawaii football program, junior receiver Kumoku Noa has redshirted twice, played in just six games and started once.

He was on the scout team last year during the first season of the run-and-shoot offense under head coach Nick Rolovich.

But when it comes to knowing the system, the Kamehameha alumnus, who holds the Warriors’ single-season receiving yardage record with 1,200 yards and 15 touchdowns in nine games as a senior, is as knowledgable as any receiver on the team.

He received high praise from Rolovich, who told Star-Advertiser football beat writer Stephen Tsai before the start of spring practice, “He’s at a pretty high level of the offense and understanding it. He could be a backup quarterback. I don’t know if he can throw it or not, but he understands (the offense) that well.”

That’s a huge luxury to have for the 5-foot-11 Noa, who was out there making catches and holding his own during Friday’s opening practice.

The Rainbow Warriors return to the practice field on Tuesday with Noa trying to work his way into the starting lineup this season. He called this the “two biggest years of his life” but had to first appreciate just being back on the practice field with his teammates in white.

“I’m just excited to be out here with my teammates, especially with our offense,” Noa said. “Each and every day is just another work day for us in the wide receiver group.”

UH returns three of its top four receivers from a year ago and with Jojo Ward and Cedric Byrd comfortably lining up on the right side, the competition is deep on the left side with Noa, Jared Smart, Eric Rooks and Melquise Stovall among the inexperienced players in the mix.

If Noa does have an advantage over the others, it’s in his knowledge of the system. Where that comes from just might surprise a few people.

“It started when I was a young kid. A lot of it was just football in my head a lot. I always tell people “Madden” helps a lot to be honest just to see movement, check out your safties, see what players are disguised in and just a natural feeling sometimes when you go on the field,” Noa said.

Video games, huh?

“Especially at a young age it teaches you the basics and after that when you watch film day in and day out, it’s kind of the same,” Noa said. “Coach Rolo likes to watch a film a lot and I just try to harp on the little details our defense tries to do because (defensive coordinator) Corey Batoon is very good at disguising. It helped me improve my style of play too on basic route rounding and understanding what you see if you want to get to the next level.”

It still sounded a little to good to be true to this reporter, so quarterback Cole McDonald weighed in when asked if there really was something to this, or if it might just be a ploy to try to play video games more often.

“(Noa) is one of those guys who loves football — loves talking football,” McDonald said. “He’s always pulling me aside saying, ‘hey, if you do this, you can hit me there,’ and I’m always like, ‘I know, Moku. I know. Just be there, run your route and I’ll hit you with the ball.’

“Whether it’s through “Madden” or studying film, everybody has their own way of learning football. Whatever way gets him running the right route, I don’t care what he does just as long as he’s there right when I need him to be.”

If he is, a tip of the cap to Super-Bowl winning coach John Madden, whose name represents the most popular sports video game in history, is worthy.

And OK, Noa will admit his head coach deserves some praise as well.

“Lot of credit goes to coach Rolo though,” Noa said. “He’s a very smart coach. A lot of his talk is very detailed (and) intelligent so for us, as long as you take notes, you’ll be good as a receiver.”