Ikaika Malloe took time out his morning to talk with the Husky media today. Here’s some quick notes on what he had to say about the state of the defense and its growth going forward despite the COVID-19 issues.

Malloe, who was recently promoted to co-defensive coordinator alongside Pete Kwaitkowski, said that this is “not a challenge”, and instead it’s a “possibility”.

** The coach says that right now his players are getting a chance to take the “mental aspect in depth”, meaning that the inability to actually be on the field will hone the mental skills off the field.

** He talked about honing his own skills as a play-caller now that he’s working with Kwaitkowski.

** Malloe also talked about the return of Levi Onwuzurike and how he’s taking a strong leadership role going into 2020, “This started back with Danny Shelton”, he said of having a senior who shepherds the younger guys on into the next step. For Onwuzurike, guys like Greg Gaines played that role.

Malloe said that the conversations with Onwuzurike involved his family as well, but when he finally called in and told the coaches he would stay for his senior season, it was “huge boost” for the DL group and the football program, as a whole.

“It strengthens team unity to know their leaders are back”, he said.

** There was a lot of discussion about the rotation and mixing and matching on the d-line; Malloe talked about the roles of Sam Taimani and Tuli Letuligasenoa.

“They’re connected at the hips”, he said, referring to them as the “new leaders of the room”.

** The coach also spoke at length about the passing of Jim Lambright, and what his coaching had meant to him back in the 90’s when Malloe was a Husky.

Malloe said that Lambright “welcomed the Poly culture”, and he was “Husky Football” in Malloe’s mind.

“This sport requires you to be tough”, he said, adding that there’s a time for a coach to also be soft, and that Lambright and Randy Hart knew how the balance that in a player-coach relationship and “love on us”, as Malloe put it.

“He was the smallest guy I was ever afraid of”, he mused about Lambright.

Other topics:

** Malloe was excited to see Jordan Lolohea back from his mission and now taking his place on the team. He said Lolohea got his name on the 3.0 board at the end of last quarter.

** Malloe credited Tim Socha with being able to reach the players via Zoom and design specific workouts for them to do at home, whether it’s lifting weights or conditioning without weights.

** The coach said that the challenge now is for these players to become “experts” at their positions.

** Malloe talked about recruiting out of a home office, “Now they get to see Coach Malloe the father and Coach Malloe the husband”, he said.