LAS VEGAS — Put four Hawaii football players in front of a bowl filled with unpredictable, colorful questions and you learn a few things quickly.
Linebacker Jamih Otis fears no one. Defensive back Elijah Palmer’s promising golf career was derailed by one tiny flaw. Quarterback Micah Alejado is firmly anti-Love Island. And if running back Cam Barfield’s life depends on surviving an Oklahoma drill, he would prefer not to see Otis standing across from him.
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Hawaii brought plenty of personality to Mountain West Media Days at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, where Barfield, Otis, Palmer and Alejado stepped away from the usual football questions to tackle a few that required a little more creativity.
Barfield was asked which teammate he would least like to face in a must-survive Oklahoma drill.
His answer was immediate: his “brother” Otis.
“That’s going to be a battle,” Barfield said. “He might get me, I might get him, but it’s a toss-up. It’s 50-50 every time. I can’t play with my life like that.”
Otis, naturally, drew the same question.
His response explained Barfield’s concern.
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“To be honest, this is a bad question for me because I’m going head up with everybody,” Otis said.
When told he might be the player his teammates do not want to face, Otis smiled but refused to identify anyone he would avoid.
“I’m lining up against everybody,” he said. “I got to.”
The Rainbow Warriors’ confidence extended beyond the football field and, in Palmer’s case, all the way to the golf course.
Asked whether he would rather play golf on a football field or football on a golf course, Palmer chose the former. Football on a golf course, he reasoned, “would be crazy.”
Then Palmer revealed his near-miss with golf greatness.
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“I used to be called a prodigy,” Palmer said. “I was kind of going to go that Tiger Woods route, but I just kept slicing the ball. I couldn’t really hit the ball straight. That was my only problem.”
He let the story breathe for a moment before confessing.
“No, I’m joking,” Palmer said. “I’m terrible at golf.”
Alejado, an actual golfer, also chose golf on a football field, noting that playing football across a 7,000-yard course sounded exhausting. His bucket-list destination is Pebble Beach, a place he visited frequently when his sister and brother-in-law lived in Monterey, but before he began playing golf.
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Alejado also delivered perhaps the afternoon’s most convincing football argument. Asked whether a sack is more impressive than an interception, the quarterback sided with the pass rushers.
“An interception can literally fall in your hands,” Alejado said. “But a sack, you’re going against a 6-foot-6, 6-foot-7, 300-pound guy. You’ve got to get around him, get through double teams, chase the quarterback and then tackle him. I’ll definitely say a sack is a lot more impressive than an interception.”
That is a remarkably generous position for a quarterback to take.
Alejado was slightly less generous when evaluating head coach Timmy Chang’s chances on Survivor. He initially predicted Chang would make it three-quarters of the way through the competition, citing his athletic ability and Hawaii-bred survival instincts.
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The problem would come when Chang had to make fire. Or apparently hit a golf ball.
“He’s scared of a straight fairway on a golf tee shot,” Alejado joked.
Ultimately, Alejado upgraded his coach’s chances from three quarters to all four.
“He’s going to push through,” Alejado said. “He’s going to fight.”
That same combination of confidence, competitiveness and good-natured trash talk was on display throughout Hawaii’s afternoon in Las Vegas.
Barfield may not want to bet his life against Otis. Palmer may never become the next Tiger Woods. Chang may want to practice making fire before sending in his Survivor audition tape.
But the Rainbow Warriors appear ready to line up against anybody this season.
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