Hawaii Football 2025: Defensive Preview

By most metrics, Hawaii is a middle of the road defense. But how do they match up against Cal's offense?

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of the defensive previews, so I’m a little rusty, but hey, I love bowl games. Hawaii runs a 4-2-5 defense: 4 down linemen, 2 linebackers, and 5 defensive backs, with one of those being a versatile type of hybrid role (in this article, I’ll call him the nickel, because that’s how Hawaii lists him).

Okay but why is the “D” in quotation marks? What else would “D” be short for? Any savings you made by leaving off the ‘E’, you lost when you added these unnecessary quotation marks.

Hawaii has a strong defensive line, but somewhat of a suspect secondary. This meant that they matched up very well with run-heavy teams (like SDSU, who Hawaii manhandled), but have struggled against pass-heavy teams (e.g. Arizona, SJSU, UNLV). Luckily, Cal is a pass-heavy team.

Hawaii has an aggressive defense, where they’re always looking to make a big play: a sack, TFL, or turnover, and they’re willing to take risks defensively to do so. Hawaii has at least one takeaway in 10 of 12 games this season, including a season-high four (2 INT, 2 FUM) against San Diego State. Of the team’s 14 takeaways this season, LB Jamih Otis was in on four of them (1-INT, 2-FF, 1-FR), including three of the six fumbles. Unfortunately for Hawaii, Otis will not be available for the Hawaii Bowl.

I also want to talk about their special teams. You’ll undoubtedly hear the story (if you haven’t already) of “The Tokyo Toe,” 26-year old Kansei Matsuzawa, a Tokyo-native who learned to kick by watching YouTube. Hawaii created an entire page devoted to him. His story first came to the national spotlight when he kicked the game-winner against Stanford, earning 100% of the population’s eternal gratitude as everyone can agree making Stanford lose is a good thing to do and he should be lauded for it.

K Kansei Matsuzawa’s Kanji jersey

Unsurprisingly, the Tokyo native has earned his share of devoted fans:

Fans of the Tokyo Toe

Matsuzawa came to the US to kick at junior college without speaking English. He said that he fell in love with football after watching a the Raiders play the Rams when he was 20, per Hawaii’s media guide and that TokyoToe website previously linked. (Note: I checked the historical series between the two, and the Raiders did not play the Rams in 2019, when Matsuzawa was 20. The Hawaii TV announcers stated that it was a Raiders-Chargers game, and as divisional rivals, those two teams play twice a year. The Raiders and Rams did play in 2018, when Matsuzawa would have been 19, in a game that featured 6 FGs made, so there seems to be at least one minor detail incorrect in the media guide’s telling. The 2019 Raiders-Chargers game seems less likely from a FG-lover’s perspective, so I am leaning towards 2018 Rams-Raiders). Regardless, falling in love with football after watching a Rams-Raiders game is kind of like falling in love with Mexico after eating at Chipotle.

Matsuzawa said after his game-winner at Stanford that he was more nervous having to speak English at the postgame press conference than he was kicking the game-winner. Matsuzawa has set all kinds of kicking records at Hawaii: he set the Hawaii school record and tied the MWC record with 26 consecutive FG made (dating back to last season), and tied the FBS record for consecutive FG made in a season (25, tied with Chris Jacke at Kansas State 1988), although he missed the 26th one in his final kick of the regular season. His season long FG is 52 yards, and he was a Lou Groza Award finalist for the best placekicker in CFB this year.

But let’s get back to the defense.

Defensive line

The strength of Hawaii’s defense is definitely their pass rush, and in particular, their defensive line. The player that has stood out to me most on this defense is DT De’Jon Benton, a transfer from USC (although his teammate, DE Jackie Johnson III, is right up there too). Hawaii’s defensive line is on the lighter but faster side, generally using speed to win individual matchups, and playing an aggressive style of defense.

DT De’Jon Benton has a nasty swim move, but he also has plenty of power as well. He can push the OL back into the lap of the QB, and was still able to win matchups with defenses keying in on him:

DT De’Jon Benton fights through the double team and combines for a sack with NT Jamar Sekona

Here Benton shows a nice get-off and his short area quickness:

DT De’Jon Benton blows past the center for the TFL

Benton leads the team in TFLs (9.5), and is 2nd in sack (5.5). Here he shows that quickness again, quickly getting by the much bigger offensive lineman:

DT De’Jon Benton gets penetration into the backfield to blow this run up for a loss

Benton’s ability to quickly get into the backfield would often completely blow up a play:

DT De’Jon Benton forces the fumble on QB EJ Warner for a safety

And here Benton is with his nasty swim move:

DT De’Jon Benton swims right past the LG for a sack on QB Bryson Barnes

In the following play, DE Jackie Johnson III shows good pad level, getting up and under the right tackle, pushing him back into the quarterback, which leaves him nowhere to go as Benton also wins his matchup to pick up the sack:

DT De’Jon Benton swims past the LG Michael Wooten for the sack - LDE Jackie Johnson III gets up and under RT Tristan Bounds and pushes him back into the QB into the lap of Benton

Of course, it wasn’t usual at all to see Benton and Johnson III both creating havoc in the backfield:

DT De’Jon Benton and DE Jackie Johnson III combine for a sack on QB Mason Drube

DE Jackie Johnson III leads the team in sacks (7.5), good for 3rd in the MWC (and just 0.5 sacks behind 1st). Johnson III is undersized but very fast, and probably closer to an outside linebacker than defensive end. Johnson III rose from the ranks of NAIA Lawrence Tech University to the starting job at Hawaii, so he’s obvious progressed a lot during his career. Jackie Johnson III was a First-Team All-Mountain West selection, and his 40 pressures on 11.1% of his snaps played is the highest percentage in the conference.

Here Johnson III wins with pure speed:

DE Jackie Johnson III flies past the RT and catches QB John-Keawe Sagapolutele from behind

In fact, this was a pretty common move of his:

DE Jackie Johnson III on the speed rush to the outside for a sack on QB Jackson Brousseau and a turnover on downs

Here Johnson III does a good job on swiping the lineman’s hands away from him:

DE Jackie Johnson III swims past RT Joseph Borjon for the sack

Here Johnson III shows the ability to get off the block:

DE Jackie Johnson III beats a double team for a sack on QB Liam Szarka

And again, speed rush to the outside:

DE Jackie Johnson III works through the chip by the tight end with speed to the outside for a sack on QB Noah Fifita

DT Luther McCoy (originally a Minnesota transfer) is De’Jon Benton’s backup, and he’s also been a disruptive force, even if it doesn’t always register on the stat sheet:

DT Luther McCoy hits QB Liam Szarka as he throws resulting in an INT to S Matagi Thompson

Hawaii does a good job of the “peanut punch,” punching the ball out of the ball carrier’s hands to force a fumble. Here McCoy forces a fumble:

DT Luther McCoy forces a fumble on RB Keyvone Lee recovered by Hawaii

Here McCoy is just a beat too quick for the CSU OL:

DT Luther McCoy splits the double team for a sack on QB Jackson Brousseau

And here McCoy shows a nice swim move as well:

DT Luther McCoy swims past the right tackle for the pressure on QB Mabrey Mettauer

At the nose tackle spot, Hawaii has had a bit more rotation there. The starting NT in the previous game against Hawaii was Qwyn Williams, although Hawaii’s depth chart currently lists Carsen Stocklinski as the starter (Stocklinski was the starting NT to start the season), although Jamar Sekona has also seen significant snaps there as well. I feel like I’ve seen NT Qwyn Williams at that spot the most, so I’ll start with him. Williams is typically the gap filler, but here he finds his way through for the sack:

NT Qwyn Williams gets through for the sack and loss of 9 yards

Here Williams fights his way into the backfield, despite being held on the double team and pulled down from behind:

NT Qwyn Williams bursts into the backfield for a TFL despite getting taken down from behind for no flag

DE Tariq Jones has started some games at DE (and the depth chart puts him as an “OR” with DE Jackie Johnson III). Here Jones gets by the LT for a sack:

DE Tariq Jones beats the left tackle for a sack

Here NT Carsen Stocklinski pushes the center back into the QB (as DT De’Jon Benton draws the initial double team) for the sack on former Utah QB Bryson Barnes:

DT Carsen Stocklinski gets through for the sack on QB Bryson Barnes

The other defensive end (opposite Jackie Johnson III) is DE Lesterlaisene (“Lester”) Lagafuaina. Lagafuaina has a bit more versatility in where he lines up along the line, but I don’t really have any good highlights to show here. Here’s one of his sacks:

DE Lester Lagafuaina gets the sack on QB Mabrey Mettauer

You can expect Hawaii to bring a lot of defensive pressure with these guys.

Linebackers

With a 4-2-5 defense, I don’t have a ton of players to talk about in this section. (I almost wanted to put NB Elijah Palmer here as he fills kind of a hybrid role here). The starting weakside linebacker, Jamih Otis, suffered a season-ending injury in the first half of the UNLV game, and the backup Giovanni Iovino will be starting in his place. Otis was the second-leading tackler on the team. To be honest, none of the linebackers have really stood out that much.

The starting middle linebacker is Jalen Smith, who is 3rd on the team in tackles. Here he does a good job of shedding the block and putting himself in a good position to stop the run:

LB Jalen Smith gets the run stop on 4th and 1 for the turnover on downs

Smith also has 4.5 TFLs this season:

LB Jalen Smith into the backfield for the TFL on RB Damashja Harris

Here’s another good run stop on an RB known to break tackles:

LB Jalen Smith meets RB Lucky Sutton in the backfield for a TFL

Here Smith does a good job triggering:

LB Jalen Smith with the big hit for the sack on QB Mason Drube

As mentioned earlier, Hawaii loves the peanut punch. Here Smith gets the initial stop to set up his teammate with the forced fumble:

LB Jalen Smith tackle and LB Jamih Otis hit force a fumble recovered by Hawaii

Sometimes, however, Smith (and Otis) would be nonfactors in the run game, finding themselves out of position:

LB Jalen Smith gets washed out of the play and LB Jamih Otis misses the tackle on RB Lloyd Avant

Hawaii is listing LB Giovanni Iovino as the starter to replace Jamih Otis (and he started against Wyoming). I don’t have a huge sample size to judge, but I wasn’t terribly impressed so far. He got away with some shoestring tackles, but it wouldn’t be hard to see a running back breaking these sorts of tackles:

LB Giovanni Iovino trips up QB Mason Drube for 6 yards

Iovino also wasn’t terribly impressive in pass coverage:

LB Giovanni Iovino gets beat on the coverage by RB Javion Kinnard

Smith’s backup is LB Wynden Ho’ohuli, and he did receive an increased number of snaps with Otis out. I was a bit more impressed with the play of Ho’ohuli:

LB Wynden Ho’ohuli with the big hit for a TFL on the screen pass

Linebacker is a relative weak spot in this Hawaii defense.

Secondary

Something that stood out to me about this Hawaii secondary was that they were often a lot more impressive in run defense than pass defense. They will absolutely fly to the football, and are happy to roll the dice on a play that will be either a TFL or a missed tackle—as opposed to playing it safe and making an offense earn their yards, Hawaii would rather take risks to put opponents behind the chains. Hawaii’s leading tackler is the strong safety, Peter Manuma. Often times a defensive back being the leading tackler on the team is a sign of a weak run defense (indicating that opposing running backs are frequently getting to the second level), but in this case, I think it’s more of an indication in how Hawaii uses their secondary: run blitzes and so forth.

The most versatile player on Hawaii’s secondary is the nickelback, Elijah Palmer, who will be flying all over the field. While I usually like to watch what the mike linebacker does on defense to see where the play might be going, I’d say that for Hawaii, Elijah Palmer is probably the player to follow. He has good instinct in both the run game and pass game, and will generally find himself in the middle of the play:

NB Elijah Palmer beats the block for the TFL on the screen pass

Palmer is a reliable tackler and doesn’t often let things get past him:

NB Elijah Palmer with the open field tackle for a TFL and loss of 7 yards

Here Palmer does a good job following the eyes of the quarterback (JKS’s brother) and reads the play well:

NB Elijah Palmer reads the play well to jump the route for an INT by QB John-Keawe Sagapolutele

Another great read by Palmer ends in a touchdown:

NB Elijah Palmer jumps the route for an INT and returns it 53 yards for the pick-6 TD

Even though Palmer is a bit undersized at 5’8”, he did a good job covering bigger receivers with his physicality:

NB Elijah Palmer breaks up the deep ball from QB Noah Fifita to WR Gio Richardson - physical coverage but turns his head to avoid the flag

There were a few times I thought Palmer was beat with speed, but he was often able to recover (although perhaps a better ball from JKS doesn’t give him the chance):

NB Elijah Palmer breaks up the pass on the trail technique

I think it’s quite likely that Palmer will be responsible for covering Jacob De Jesus in the slot. That’s a good-on-good matchup, but I have to point out that Palmer did struggle against a similar receiver in SJSU’s Danny Scudero (and to be fair, who didn’t):

NB Elijah Palmer gets beat on the go route for 37 yards by WR Danny Scudero

SS Peter Manuma exemplifies Hawaii’s “fly to the ball” mentality, as he’ll come flying in from anywhere to find the ball carrier:

S Peter Manuma shoots in for the TFL on RB Max White

Manuma (who went to the same high school as JKS) doesn’t always wrap up and has the potential to miss some tackles, but he generally gets at least hand on the ball carrier:

S Peter Manuma gets a hand on RB Quincy Craig on a potential TD-saving tackle

Manuma didn’t come up with any interceptions this year, but not for a lack of trying:

S Peter Manuma jumps the route but unable to come away with the INT

Manuma’s aggressive style of play sometimes backfired:

S Peter Manuma caught looking inside on the fake screen pass as QB Noah Fifita hits WR Brandon Phelps deep for 42 yards

Like Palmer, Manuma also struggled to cover WR Danny Scudero, who managed to get behind the safeties:

S Peter Manuma gets beat by WR Danny Scudero for the 62 yard TD

The free safety is Kilinahe Mendiola-Jensen, who opened the season with a critical interception against Stanford which led to the game-tying points and ultimately led to a Hawaii victory:

S Kilinahe Mendiola-Jensen intercepts QB Ben Gulbranson at point-blank range on the safety blitz

Mendiola-Jensen generally had good coverage on receivers:

S Kilinahe Mendiola-Jensen breaks up the pass by QB Mabrey Mettauer and it’s caught on the deflection by LB Giovanni Iovino for the pick-6

There was another play from the Stanford game which I thought demonstrated Mendiola-Jensen’s good instincts. Watch the way he takes away the quarterback’s first read, before making a play on the ball as he throws to his second read:

S Kilinahe Mendiola-Jensen takes away QB Ben Gulbranson’s first read (TE Sam Roush) and jumps the route on the second read for a near INT

I did want to point out that while the way Hawaii flies to the football sometimes works out for TFLs, it also led to a lot of missed tackles:

S Kilinahe Mendiola-Jensen and S Peter Manuma miss tackles on WR Leland Smith as he breaks free for a 42 yard reception

It’s also worth pointing out that against rival Fresno State, Mendiola-Jensen also had this near brush with death:

S Kilinahe Mendiola-Jensen gets absolutely rocked by this vicious two-hand shove from Fresno St K Dylan Lynch

Hawaii’s best cover corner is likely CB Devyn King. I want to say that not a lot of opposing QBs tested him, but when they did, he often ended up with the pass break-up:

CB Devyn King breaks up the pass intended for WR Bricen Brantley

King does a good job fighting through the receiver’s hands:

CB Devyn King breaks up the pass intended for WR Kojo Antwi

And King had tight coverage on the receivers in general:

CB Devyn King breaks up the potential TD pass from QB Bryson Barnes

Although King wasn’t perfect:

CB Devyn King gets beat on the double move by WR Braden Pegan for 53 yards

CB Virdel Edwards II is Hawaii’s biggest defensive back at 6’2” 210 lbs., and he most often stood out for the big hits he landed on receivers. He’s likely to be responsible for covering the bigger receivers:

CB Virdel Edwards II good coverage one-on-one against TE Sam Roush

But Edwards II most frequently broke up the plays by landing big hits on receivers:

CB Virdel Edwards II saves the TD with this hit on the receiver

Not even the referees are safe from Edwards II:

CB Virdel Edwards II with the big hit on the ref

The corner who I thought was picked on the most by opposing QBs was CB Jaheim Wilson-Jones, and he gave up more TDs than any other defensive back for Hawaii. Wilson-Jones played tight but physical coverage:

CB Jaheim Wilson-Jones breaks up the pass from QB Jackson Brousseau to WR Jordan Ross

And Wilson-Jones came down with his first interception last game:

CB Jaheim Wilson-Jones jumps the route for the INT on QB Mason Drube

Wilson-Jones tended to commit PI when he was beat (which is sometimes just a heads-up play):

CB Jaheim Wilson-Jones with the PI to break up the pass from QB John-Keawe Sagapolutele

Opposing QBs seemed to look his way in the redzone:

CB Jaheim Wilson-Jones gets beat on the corner route but the ball sails through the hands of the receiver

While the Hawaii secondary generally does well defending the run (blowing up screen passes, picking up TFLs in the backfield), the pass coverage strategy mostly relies on the defensive line getting early pressure on the quarterback to force quick throws than it does to blanket opposing receivers.

Special teams

I don’t always cover special teams, but I think about it a lot more now after the conversation I had with Coach Wilcox back at the Pac-12 Media Days in 2023. He made the point that “special teams needs to be a weapon,” and his discussion about it stuck with me. Special teams is one of those things you don’t often notice unless you have bad special teams. The punt got blocked, the kicker missed, the kickoff coverage was bad, etc. You can probably name a couple quarterbacks from teams you don’t follow, but how many punters can you name from teams you don’t actively follow? It made me pay attention to the field position battle a lot more (anyone else remember all the punts in the 2018 Cheez-INT Bowl? It was a game where an extra 10 yards on a punt may have made a difference), and I noticed that good teams often win that battle. Having the nation’s best kicker or punter isn’t going to make a difference if your defense gives up 50 points a game, but special teams is often the difference in close games. So now I feel like it’s important to cover in games I think will be close.

Well, Hawaii has good special teams. The placekicker Kansei Matsuzawa was a 1st Team All-American (AP, AFCA, CBS, Walter Camp), the MWC special teams player of the year, and a Lou Groza finalist (for the best placekicker in college football). The punter Billy Gowers PFF’s 1st Team All-American, the highest graded punter in the country by PFF.

There are also things that aren’t going to show up in the stat sheet which demonstrate that Hawaii is well-coached on special teams. After a questionable throw to the middle of the field with no timeouts, the special teams unit is able to get on the field, line up, and hit the FG. I wish Cal had this in 2007:

FG unit able to rush onto the field with no timeouts to for a 41 yard FG by K Kansei Matsuzawa

Hawaii is able to block FGs:

DT Luther McCoy blocks the FG attempt by K Emmet Kenney

And they can even block PATs:

DE Lester Lagafuaina blocks the PAT

The punter, Billy Gowers, is a former professional Australia Rules Football (AFL) player. As a 29 year old freshman, he’s the 3rd oldest player in the FBS in behind Southern Miss’s Jack Murley (30) and Arkansas’s Monte Harrison (30). He’s the team’s barber, and co-founded a barber shop back in Australia. He’s blasted multiple punts this season for 67 yards. His 46.28 yard average this season is the highest in Hawaii history. He can kick with either foot, rolling to either side. He had multiple coffin corner kicks this season:

P Billy Gowers with a 52 yard punt to the 1 yard line

Another example:

P Billy Gowers with the coffin corner punt to the 3 yard line

I don’t know if this was planned, but he wasn’t afraid to run the ball either:

P Billy Gowers puts those AFL skills to use for the 9 yard run on 4th and 13

Hawaii has also had some big kickoff returns this season:

RB Cam Barfield returns the squib kick 86 yards for the TD

This is a game that I hope doesn’t come down to the wire, because Hawaii most definitely has the edge here.

Conclusion

This is a home game for Hawaii, and Hawaii plays pretty well at home. I think that Cal matches up well with Hawaii, however. Cal’s strong passing attack led by hometown hero Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele will have plenty of opportunities to take advantage of a weaker secondary. Cal struggled with their run defense, but Hawaii is a pass-heavy team, and Cal’s secondary routinely features future NFL players (I’d be shocked if Hezekiah Masses wasn’t drafted, for instance). I think Hawaii’s key to the game is to get defensive pressure on JKS, and not give him time to let routes develop. So Cal needs the offensive line to protect well, limit negative plays and turnovers, and play well enough on defense to avoid turning this game into an offensive shoot-out. With Wilcox out, I have no idea what we can expect from the Cal defense, but we know Rolovich is very familiar with Timmy Chang and the Run-and-Shoot offense, so I am hoping Cal has a few tricks up their sleeve, and that Cal shows up to play a more inspired bowl-performance than they have in years past.

As always,

Go Bears.

Thanks again to the Mountain West Conference for providing me with the Hawaii games that aired on Spectrum Sports.