Story by
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Dave Reardon: LB Otis the man in middle of UH defense
- Story byThe Honolulu Star-Advertiser
- Dave Reardon: LB Otis the man in middle of UH defense
Two unknown practice attendees were politely asked to stop shooting football practice video Tuesday at the University of Hawaii.
More than ever, college football is full of offseason question marks — and you can't blame coaches for wanting to keep it that way, to at least some degree.
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That is especially true for teams such as Hawaii, where the transfer portal taketh, and the transfer portal giveth.
Does massive personnel change alter a team's scheme, or do the newcomers adjust to the scheme?
For the Rainbow Warriors, the answer is for the most part known on offense. There are always a few new wrinkles year-to-year, but for the most part, head coach Timmy Chang's run-and-shoot/air-raid is what it is: a riddle for defenders to figure out, even after the play is underway.
And while the conductor remains in place, quarterback Micah Alejado has a new orchestra of receivers with which to become one.
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Defense, though, is not quite as clear.
Defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman has nine regular starters to replace from a unit that helped the Rainbow Warriors go 9-4 in 2025 and win the Hawaii Bowl.
"A lot of unknowns," linebackers coach Chris Brown said Tuesday, 17 days before the Week Zero opener at Stanford.
But those mysteries are for opposing offenses to figure out, the way Brown sees it.
Thurman, Brown and the rest of the defensive staff believe they have enough speed, size, versatility and depth to fill in around their star linebacker Jamih Otis, and tailor the personnel to various situations.
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In that regard, the unknowns could actually be positives for the Warriors.
When the Hawaii defense takes the field at Stanford, its coaches will know the cards in their hand. The Stanford offense, meanwhile, will have to figure out how those cards will be played. Otis is among the few they will be familiar with.
The 5-foot-11, 220-pound senior from Las Vegas enters the season as an anchor of the defense after earning honorable mention All-Mountain West honors as a junior. Otis started the first 11 games last season and was third with 59 tackles despite missing the last two. He had a career-high 12 tackles in a road victory at Colorado State that clinched bowl eligibility, and against Utah State he filled the stat sheet with five tackles, a quarterback hurry, a forced fumble and his first career interception. He also scored his first career touchdown on a 37-yard fumble return against Fresno State.
His production is only part of the reason the Warriors are comfortable building around him.
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"The personnel changes give us an opportunity to exploit our strengths, but it really hasn't changed. We can showcase what we can do," Otis said. "My mindset is still to dominate and play fast. Going into the first game is a chess match. But it's the same mentality. Play fast and play downhill."
That mentality sounds familiar to Brown.
In some ways, Otis' role is similar to Brown's playing career as UH's man-in-the-middle when the WAC was still largely a running league — with Hawaii, of course, one of the notable exceptions under June Jones' and quarterback Chang's four-wide, pass-first attack.
Brown, who is also UH's associate head coach, played for the Warriors from 1998 through 2002. He was at first a defensive lineman after playing that position at Damien, but switched to middle linebacker in 2001.
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Brown led UH with 124 tackles that season, averaging 10.3 stops per game and earning first-team All-WAC honors. He and Pisa Tinoisamoa formed a formidable combination in the middle of the defense, with Brown often absorbing blockers and allowing Tinoisamoa to run free.
"Naturally, my body type fit for defensive line in high school, especially because we didn't have a lot of big guys," Brown said after Tuesday's practice. "At that time, Pisa and I were a good combination to have. I could take on the fullback (freeing up Tinoisamoa)."
Now Wynden Ho'ohuli will work in the middle a lot, with Otis freed up to make plays.
"My type doesn't really exist now, but I can recruit and then teach them," Brown said. "Wynden Ho'ohuli reminds me of myself. … Jamih can play both."
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That versatility may be particularly valuable given how much turnover UH is dealing with.
Rather than simply replacing nine starters with nine starters, the Warriors can mix and match. They can put more size on the field against a power-running formation, get more athletic players on the field when they anticipate spread formations, or use Otis' versatility to move others around without tipping their intentions.
That makes the first few series of the opener a mystery for Stanford, and an intriguing test for the Hawaii defense.
The Cardinal start a new era under first-year head coach Tavita Pritchard, a former Stanford quarterback. They are expected to turn to Michigan transfer Davis Warren at quarterback. Warren brings experience but also spent the 2025 season recovering from a torn ACL.
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So while UH builds its defense, Stanford tries to establish a new offensive identity.
That makes the chess match work both ways.
"Yes, we want to put the guys with really good size in for the run, in our bigger packages," Brown said. "Trying to stop the run is still important, but it was a bigger deal when I played. In our (playing days) some teams were still running the I. Now we have to be ready for anything."
The Warriors can't just replace last year's starters and assume the defense will function the same. Thurman what these players do best, and build accordingly.
That uncertainty also creates an element of disguise.
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Stanford knows Otis will be there — and to also keep tabs on the small but dynamic nickleback, Elijah Palmer.
What it doesn't know is exactly who else will be around Otis when the ball is snapped — or what those players will be asked to do once it is.
That is one advantage UH hopes to carry into the season opener.
The Warriors have time to refine their recipes, while the Cardinal can only make less-than-semi-educated guesses about most of the ingredients they'll be up against, and how they interact.
