Koali Nishigaya providing familiarity, stability to UH offense

While the University of Hawaii football team progresses towards the 2023 season with a return to the run and shoot at fall camp, the Rainbow Warriors have continued to lean on players with past experience in the pass-happy offense.
Not many members of the team fit the bill quite as well as slotback Koali Nishigaya, who thrived in the offense just down the road at Saint Louis, racking up 79 receptions for 1,020 yards and nine touchdowns in his senior season. He also rushed for an additional seven touchdowns.
All the latest sports news from Hawaii’s sports station
“It’s been pretty good,” Nishigaya said of the team’s offensive transition following Monday’s practice. “There’s always room for improvement, getting on the same page with QBs and making reads. We’re constantly getting better and that’s all that matters right now. Just daily improvement.”
Nishigaya’s 2019 prep football season caught the attention of multiple Pac-12 schools, earning multiple preferred walk-on offers. He ultimately chose Hawaii, the school he believed he’d make the biggest impact on long term.
Despite his status as a walk-on and a true freshman in 2020, Nishigaya’s ability and consistency quickly earned the favor of former UH coach Todd Graham. He was on the field regularly, earning meaningful game reps in his first year of college ball.
In 2021, Nishigaya appeared in six games before suffering a leg injury, which caused him to miss all but four games in the 2022 season. Despite his limited status in 2022, Nishigaya was an important part of the offense as the team began to install certain run and shoot concepts in the tail end of the year. In March, he was placed on scholarship.
“It was an unbelievable feeling. Thankful for coach Timmy (Chang), man, for believing in me since the beginning,” Nishigaya said. “They let me rehab when I got injured, they still believed in me then, so I’m just thankful.”
Because he played in just four games in 2022, Nishigaya was able to redshirt. Combined with the 2020 season not counting against a given player’s eligibility, he’ll be a redshirt sophomore in 2023 with up to three seasons to show what he can do in an offense he mastered in high school.
“It’s a good feeling to know that I have three years but I feel old,” Nishigaya joked. “I’ve been here for while but for me, it’s just taking the next step. Just believing in myself, believing in my fundamentals, techniques, trying to prove myself more and more.
“Just trying to give the guys my knowledge of this offense. Trying to relay what I know to the guys, so it’s been good.
“For me personally, just being consistent. Making the plays when they come my way, reading the defense, making the correct reads. As for the team, obviously winning the Mountain West championship and a bowl game, that’s the main goal for us.”
Over the summer, Nishigaya was ever-present at player-run workouts, giving his teammates pointers on how to maneuver in their new system.
“He’s been really good,” starting quarterback Brayden Schager said of Nishigaya. “He’s been one of the best this summer. He’s just so smart. He really can just find holes in such a good way in zone and he’s like having another quarterback on the field, the way he processes information real fast, that’s a quarterback’s dream to have somebody where you know where he’s gonna be at all times.”
As the rest of the Rainbow Warriors continue to dig into the program’s past in hopes of finding immediate success, so will Nishigaya, who has made the switch from No. 25 to 23, his jersey number at Saint Louis.
“I just wanted to go back to my high school number, it feels good to be back in 23,” Nishigaya said. “I created a good identity at Saint Louis with it so it’s good to be back with 23.”