HONOLULU — Following its finest season of the four-year Timmy Chang period, the Hawaii football staff obtained a program record-tying haul of Mountain West Conference postseason awards on Tuesday.
Bowl-bound UH (8-4, 5-3 MWC) obtained two capital MWC awards in Special Teams Player of the Year for placekicker Kansei Matsuzawa and Freshman of the Year for quarterback Micah Alejado.
[Note: See below for more photos of Hawaii football players who received Mountain West awards.]
Three Rainbow Warriors have been named to the 29-player first staff: Matsuzawa, broad receiver Jackson Harris and defensive finish Jackie Johnson III.
Three extra made the second staff: receiver Pofele Ashlock, kick returner Cam Barfield and defensive lineman De’Jon Benton.
Safety Peter Manuma, linebacker Jamih Otis, nickelback Elijah Palmer and offensive lineman Zhen Sotelo have been named MWC honorable mentions.
The 11 complete awards tied the 2019 staff for many for a Mountain West season. That was the final time, and only one of two prior situations earlier than Saturday’s 27-7 win over Wyoming, that UH completed with a successful MWC record.
UH awaits phrase on its bowl vacation spot, however the expectation is the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl will prolong an invite within the coming days for UH to face an opponent to be decided.
UH will announce its preliminary crop of 2026 signees on Wednesday morning.
Quarterback Micah Alejado picked up six Mountain West Freshman of the Week and two MWC Offensive Player of the Week honors en path to the league’s prime freshman honor. (Spectrum News/Brian McInnis)
Defensive lineman Jackie Johnson III, a Roosevelt High alumnus from Honolulu, leads UH with 7.5 sacks. (Spectrum News/Brian McInnis)
Wide receiver Jackson Harris got here in from Stanford and posted a Mountain West-best 12 receiving touchdowns. He stands at 963 receiving yards. (Spectrum News/Brian McInnis)
Running again Cam Barfield averaged 29.7 yards on kickoff returns to rank second within the Mountain West. He had a kickoff return TD in opposition to San Diego State. (Spectrum News/Brian McInnis)
Hawaii receiver Pofele Ashlock (5) had a team-high 62 receptions for 704 yards and 6 touchdowns. (Spectrum News/Brian McInnis)
USC switch De’Jon Benton led MWC inside linemen with 40 pressures and 28 hurries in keeping with Pro Football Focus. His 9.5 tackles for loss led the staff. (Spectrum News/Brian McInnis)
Note: This story might be up to date.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports activities scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He may be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.