Hawaii football’s Pumba Williams made a name for himself
Even before he was born, Manly Williams would be known as “Pumba,” a nickname his older brother chose from “The Lion King.”
Growing up, Williams said, “the only people who called me Manly were my mom, my grandpa and my teachers.”
After making a tandem tackle to seal the Warriors’ 45-38 victory over Arizona this past weekend, Williams is a household name. Several teams — including Clemson, Georgia, the San Francisco 49ers and Buffalo Bills — used the video clip of Williams charging more than 30 yards downfield as an example of play-to-the-whistle hustle. After today’s practice, Williams did telephone interviews with The Athletic and the New York Times. Pat Forde of Yahoo! Sports declared that for the next week, college football’s top honor should be renamed the HeisManly Trophy.
Here’s #HawaiiFB defensive lineman Manly “Pumba” Williams on the play to end the Arizona game that everyone is still talking about (and his thoughts on the attention he’s getting). pic.twitter.com/iGzYLsPfwV
— Hawaii Warrior World (@hawaiiwworld) August 27, 2019
Williams has emphatically credited his teammates for contributing to the play. He also said he did what he was coached to do. “Run to the ball,” Williams said. “I wasn’t really looking for any attention after the game. I just did what anybody else would do.”
After the nationally televised game had ended, Willams said, friends were “sending me all these messages that ‘you’re blowing up on Twitter,’ I don’t even have a Twitter account. I don’t even care. I have Instagram. I’d look at (the congratulatory messages), and tell everybody, ‘thank you.’ ”
The following day, he went to breakfast with teammates Alema Kapoi and Azia Se‘ei. “I had a bacon-cheese-spinich omelet with rice,” Williams said.
Despite his recently bleached hair and Internet notoriety, he went unnoticed.
“That’s good,” said Williams, who tries to avoid the spotlight. “I don’t like it too much. It’s not me. I’m a mellow guy. I keep to myself.”
Enjoy.#HawaiiFB stops Khalil Tate at the ONE as time expires.
Ballgame. UH 45, Arizona 38.
First Rainbows win over the Wildcats in six tries all-time. pic.twitter.com/wOSU1TfLy0
— Hawaii Warrior World (@hawaiiwworld) August 25, 2019
Good publicity for Manly and UH
Good for da Governor! I said it as soon as it happened , this is going to be on every effort reel that coaches show players, from pop warner to the NFL. Credit as well to his coaches for this basic but incredibly important coaching point: never give up and always sprint to the ball.
If you think about it, this coaching point is sort of like what we teach our kids to being a good person — that it’s the stuff you do when no one is watching that really defines you as a person. Never giving up and hustling might not yield the same result in 50 similar plays, but it’s the attitude that every play is important…..kudos.
Boola…you’ve said it all. Good parenting has a role but it’s also who Pumba is. A humble young man. Coach Rolo got some great kids and coaches. True Warriors!
Good for Manly, good for the Warriors and good for his family. Hawai’i may be a small fish in a big pond, but that doesn’t meant we can’t a big splash. Little Hawai’i, BIG WARRIORS!!!
Warriors all, all Warriors! GO WARRIORS!!!
found this compilation …
https://www.mwcconnection.com/2019/8/26/20832085/film-study-hawaii-knocked-off-power-five-opponent-arizona-saturday-night-heres-how
Anyone else fascinated by a bacon-spinach-cheese omelet?
Ai-eee-soos
Thanks.
You’re our Ed Sabol.
How about a “Pumba” like mascot? Hawaiian Pua’a?
Stephen: Pumba listed at 245 pounds on UH roster, but I believe you said he’s closer to 280 now, which made his hustle play even more impressive. Braddah certainly looked closer to 280 as his mass gathered momentum rumbling down the field!
Glad to hear Pumba credit Matautia and Thomas, who both affected the play, along with, of course, Hicks.
Clyde:
Coaches said he’s 280.
Pumba said he’s 275.
He laughed and thanked the media relations guys for listing 245.
But he’s NOT 245. I think many of the heights and weights are off
Great game on Saturday and nice recognition for Williams, the defense and the team as a whole.
Ok, I’ve heard of the 2″ rule. So there’s a 35 lb rule now?
GO WARRIORS!
GO WAHINE!
Some observations on the play.
Padello was lined on the left with Thomas outside right. To me it looked like a designed “twist” with the two ends (Padello and Thomas) crashing inside while the DT’s curled as outside rushers. Padello did an inside spin move and allowed Williams (who pauses at first) to make the initial collapse. But it was Hune (I think that was him) who caused Tate to scramble. Looked like Mautautia was the “spy” and took a curious up-field (I think that’s his instinct) angle on the pursuit but at least “clipped” Tate’s ankles allowing the back end guys to have a second chance at him. Padello took a horizontal angle and was out of the play before Mautautia’s attempt. Thomas thought he was out of the play (I think he thought he was just going to be able to chase him from behind) until Tate cut his run toward the hashmarks. Thomas sped up and made a lunging attempt but had no chance to wrap up. At the 20 yard line you could see Williams in “full laser aim focus” mode. Hicks broke his coverage to come up as Thomas missed. Hicks makes contact at the 4 at the waist and wraps up Tate’s legs at an angle that would end up (perpendicular?) not allowing the Williams’ contact to carry any momentum forward. Hicks breaks coverage and would have made contact (at about the 2) if Williams hadn’t pursued. Okeke was there as well albeit little too late. Was such an awesome moment in UH Football History. That kind of ending never happens (OK maybe that one time in a Super Bowl) ever. Unbelievable. This moment is a building block foundational piece in Rolovich’s phase II. Congratulations Everybody (especially us the fans. Unreal
Ford broke his coverage and would have made contact at the 2. Not Hicks. Ford was the first to celebrate the ending. Everyone else was sort of in “shock” and “what the heck happened” mode.
A Great kid w/ a big heart, can never have too many of these!
This will probably be remembered as one of the greatest plays in UH FOOTBALL history.
This will get more attention nationally.
Warriors, you make Hawaii Proud!
Mr. Tsai, is Sam Akoteu dinged up or overtaken on the depth chart?
#12 Sackkabooya – geart breakdown of the play! Mahalo! The STOP heard round the world!
Burro:
Not sure but he didn’t play. Looked like Hune and Matthews took all the snaps at 3-tech
Stephen can you find out which players on defense got into the game. Thank you!
19. Click on “Participation” in the below link, but it includes special teams participation :
https://hawaiiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?id=17113&path=football
In all honesty McDonalds mistakes are entirely fixable. Different from last years forced passes. These were just a matter of having too much confidence (not necessarily over confidence) in your “rhythm”. Windows probably looked bigger from Cole’s perspective. Totally fixable. Last years forces seemed like there was some desperation to make something work. Way different from Saturday. Just a few more incompletions instead of interceptions.
And as for the fumbles those are fixable as well. Those runs were big plays already. Would have softened up the pass rush even more allowing for even more time to go deep. Holly’s fumble was a little more concerning than Furuta’s but both can fix with some adjusting. Furuta gives the offense more options with his pass blocking and power running. His gain was 17 yards when he fumbled. And Holly is a good between the tackles runner. He broke an arm tackle on his way to a 9 yard gain before being stripped. Could have done this all night (second half) long really. Would have scored on those drives for sure…Reed was different though. He really played with confidence which surprised me. Like a totally different player over last season. Such a different look for the offense as a whole (even blocking scheme wise) with him as back. More able to attack creases and lanes with him. He even pass blocked (very, very low) okay. He is not going to break the first tackle but may “bounce” off here and there with his running style. Perfect compliment with Corderio for a “quick twitch” RPO. Different look for the defense to consider with that tandem (Corderio is as quick as McKenzie). So much potential now (with all these skillsets) and just scratching the surface playbook wise (even had a quasi-“jet sweep”). Awesome.
Totally agree with booya and really good points….but I think Milton prior to his injury had super legit wheels, running away from SEC talent….see:https://247sports.com/college/football/recruiting/Article/PIAA-Combine-Top-10s-105103191/
Preseason bowl predictions from ESPN hit early this morning and only one analyst had UH bowling (even after this win vs Arizona). I don’t know what Schlabach is smoking. In what universe would Hawaii be passed over by the Hawaii bowl and sent to the Arizona bowl
NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl
Arizona Stadium, Tucson, Arizona
Dec. 31, 4:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network
Bonagura: Nevada vs. Louisiana
Schlabach: Hawaii vs. Arkansas State
SoFi Hawai’i Bowl
Aloha Stadium, Honolulu
Dec. 24, 8 p.m., ESPN
Bonagura: BYU vs. Houston
Schlabach: BYU vs. Tulane
The participation stats don’t help discern who played on O, D, or special teams. If it included the number of plays that each player participated in, that would make a big difference. Whether teams want to disclose that info is another story.
I wonder if Keliiliki can temporarily move to linebacker. His defensive hudl clips showed him lined up as stand up DE/OLB most times. But real steady medium-fast motor and a good wrap-up tackler. Seems to be a concern numbers wise at LB… BTW Picanco looked like a different player over last season too. Moved side-to-side really well. I think as he gains confidence he can dominate interior runs physically (similar to Ulbrich?). He just needs to make the correct reads and get in the right spot with consistency. He can do it. Can do.
New post: https://www.hawaiiwarriorworld.com/?p=50802