Royce Pollard Feels "Blessed" to Be Hawaii Warriors' Top Receiver

Ohana.

Translated literally from the Hawaiian language to English it means "family."

Translated in a more practical sense, the word ʻohana  means everyone that you care about; or have a deep affection for.

For Hawaiʻi's Royce Pollard, his Warriors football team is his ʻohana.

More specifically, it's his fellow receivers. And for the fifth-year senior from University City High School in San Diego, Calif., he's the daddy.

Heading into the 2011 season, Pollard is the only returning starter from a receiving corp that helped Hawaiʻi lead the nation in passing yards.

Last season, Pollard tallied 901 yards and seven touchdowns. This year, he has been selected to the watch list of the Biletnikoff Award, given annually to the nation's top receiver.

Tasting success now, Pollard is cognizant of how he got here.

When Pollard first came to Hawaiʻi in 2007, he says it was the older guys that took him in and showed him the ropes, guys like Davone Bess, Ryan Grice-Mullen, Greg Salas and Kealoha Pilares.

"The guys before me that I looked up to, they taught me, they did all they could to help me improve and help me develop," Pollard said after Hawaiʻi's first day of practice last Thursday.

"So I'm just going to repay my respects to them and help the younger guys, and continue to improve, and be that leader that we need to have.

"We know what we need to improve on, we know what we need to work with, and that's what we're going to do. We're going to take those steps to get better and develop day by day."

Giving back what one has been given.

That is the practice of ʻohana.

Royce Pollard could not be happier to do it.

When Salas and Pilares finished their Hawaiʻi careers last season and went on to be selected in the NFL draft, Pollard decided that it would be in his best interest—and in the team's best interest—if he stayed put in Hawai'i.

A year ago he went back to San Diego for part of the summer.

This year he stayed to work out and "develop those bonds."

"I've been here all summer," Pollard said.

"To get that team, and family relationship and camaraderie. So that we can keep moving forward and go out to the field and lay it all on the line together.

"Everybody's been training hard, working hard, it feels good to have the team out here together and the guys are all motivated to get it moving."

And how does it feel knowing that he is the top receiver now?

"It's exciting, I feel blessed."

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