This offseason, University of Hawaii quarterback Micah Alejado is routinely clocked at 4:45.
With a lights-outs bedtime of 8:30 p.m., Alejado awakens at 4 in the morning, showers, and then arrives at UH at 4:45. Maybe earlier, never later.
“I try to be the first one there,” Alehado, 21, said of the 6 a.m. start to conditioning drills. “Start warming up my body and get ready for the workout. I’m getting older. The body takes a little bit longer to get warmed up now.”
Entering his third year — and second as QB1 — with the Rainbow Warriors, Alejado has embraced his leadership role.
“I want to set the example,” said Alejado, whose summer schedule is built around the Warriors’ training.
He attended Saturday’s UFC 329 fight at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, where his parents own a home. He is scheduled to travel to Honolulu today, participate in Monday’s morning workout at UH, and then return to Las Vegas that afternoon ahead of this week’s Mountain West Media Days. Alejado, running back Cam Barfield, linebacker Jamih Otis, and nickelback Elijah Palmer will represent the Warriors during Wednesday’s session. All are alumni of Bishop Gorman High School, a national football powerhouse in Las Vegas.
While many high school graduates don’t see each other until their class’ 10th reunion, UH appears to have established a Bishop Gorman alumni association. There are 16 former Gaels on the Warriors’ 2026 active roster. Associate head coach Chris Brown and quarterbacks coach Chad Kapanui also coached at Bishop Gorman.
“Gorman played a huge part in all our lives,” Alejado said. “It’s a scared place. It definitely set us on the right path of life. Looking back on it — our lifestyles, our practice schedules, everything that happened with school and football and off the field — it was preparation for life after high school and going to college. It made the transition so much easier.”
Alejado, in actuality, has been training since his hanabata days in Ewa Beach. His father was a quarterback at Pearl City High. Paul Alejado made his left-handed son also practice throwing with his right hand, just in case. Micah Alejado can accurately throw right-handed passes up to 30 yards.
Galu Tagovailoa, father of Atlanta Falcons’ QB Tua Tagovailoa, was Alejado’s youth-league head coach.
Alejado moved to Las Vegas ahead of his freshman year at Saint Louis School. Jon Amano, a former Hawaii resident who coaches in Las Vegas, taught Alejado the intricacies of the run-and-shoot offense that UH uses. Bishop Gorman’s West Coast offense has run-and-shoot elements.
“At Gorman, we were training already in January and getting ready for the season in August,” Alejado recalled. “Early-morning workouts in the summer. … One-hundred degrees is 100 degrees. It’s not comfortable at all. But it makes you in shape and mentally tough.”
Alejado also has learned to adapt as he ascended the football ladder. At 5 feet 10, Alejado relies on a quick release to escape a defense of 11 angry men. His ability to throw to receivers as they break on their routes comes from post-practice sessions and tireless video studies.
“If you really want to be a mastermind and understand the game to the fullest, you have to take the proper steps to prepare and take a deep dive into the book of football,” Alejado said. “That’s the way I’ve been since I was young. I was in love with the game and the P’s and Q’s and insides and outsides of it.”
Alejado often will watch a play from an NFL telecast, then fire off a text to head coach Timmy Chang, who calls the offensive plays.
“Can we get a variation of what they’re doing into our offense?” Alejado would text.
Last season, Alejado showed grit after being injured in the season-opening victory over Stanford. He was believed to have suffered a high-ankle sprain. He declined to undergo advanced testing.
“I didn’t want to know what was wrong,” he said. “I wasn’t going to look at anything until the end of the season or if I couldn’t walk anymore.”
He played the following week, aggravating the injury in the second half. He missed the next two games and, after a bye week, returned against Fresno State and started the remainder of the season.
He did not participate in movement drills ahead of the Hawaii Bowl.
“I was just trying to get the ankle ready for one last game,” he said. “It was pretty surreal how I made it through the season.”
After the victory over California in the Hawaii Bowl, during which he completed 69.6% of his throws for 274 yards and three touchdowns, it was revealed he had endured fractures to his tibia and fibula in his right ankle. The injury did not require surgery.
“I don’t think if it were my left (ankle), I would have played, definitely not,”said Alejado, referencing his push-off foot.
Alejado did not participate in contact drills the past spring training. He was cleared for sprinting in June.
“I think those five, six months helped me a lot,” Alejado said. “It’s been a long road to recovery, one that really tested me. Looking at it now, I’m 100%.”
In this era of easy transfers and lucrative name-image-likeness deals, Alejado opted to stay put.
“Coach Chang has been my No. 1 supporter ever since he gave me a scholarship,” Alejado said. “That means a lot to have a coach who believes in you and trusts you. You’ll find a lot of guys today in college football struggling to find that. People underestimate how grateful I am for having this head coach and culture around me, having my brothers around me. We care about football. I love the culture here. I love the people. I want to win some football games here.”
Alejado regularly treats the offense to lunch. Ahead of training camp, he plans to pick up the tab for a team dinner. This coming Sunday, he is the name sponsor to a youth camp (ages 6-16) at Saint Louis School.
He said he grew up attending football camps and clinics. It was where he met and played catch with Tua Tagovailoa and Marcus Mariota.
“It was fun to meet them and talk football,” Alejado said. “It was big to see how they were as people. I want to do the same.”
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