Cenacle’s game lives up to the legend after hard work

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM Hawaii wide receiver Nick Cenacle reacts after a touchdown during a preseason football scrimmage on Aug. 5, 2023.

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO @STARADVERTISER.COM Hawaii wide receiver Nick Cenacle reacts after a touchdown during a preseason football scrimmage on Aug. 5, 2023.

Hawaii football assistant coach Jared Ursua was ready to call Nev Schulman, host of MTV’s “Catfish : The TV Show.”

Through phone calls, emails and texts, Ursua was recruiting 6-foot-2, 195-pound receiver Nick Cenacle. But Ursua wondered, how could the top prospect from Canada still be available a couple of months ahead of the NCAA’s 2022 season ?

“He’s clearly a good football player, ” Ursua said. “I thought it was fake. I thought I was getting catfished.”

Ursua knew of a former player who was in the area. He asked Cenacle to take a picture with that player. “They linked up and took the picture, ” Ursua said. “The (former player ) is 6-3 and some change. When I saw the picture (of them together ), it was real.”

It turned out that interest in Cenacle had dwindled because he was not scheduled to complete his studies until August 2022. Canada’s high schools run through the 11th grade. After that, students may enroll in college d’enseignement general et professionnel, a French term for a two-year school that is the equivalent of the senior year of high school and freshman year of an associate’s program.

Cenacle accepted the Rainbow Warriors’ scholarship offer without a recruiting trip, completed his CEGEP studies, navigated the student-visa process and reported to the Warriors a week ahead of the 2022 opener against Vanderbilt. “The whole process took some time, ” Cenacle said.

Cenacle had to adjust to different rules between Canadian and American football. In Canada, the field is longer and wider, there is one fewer down, and backfield players are allowed a running start known as the “waggle.”

“The hardest thing to teach Nick is how to get into a (receivers’) stance, ” Ursua said. “He never did it (in Canada ). It was the first time I had to sit there and teach someone for more than five minutes a stance.”

Cenacle said : “I feel now, my third year, I’m getting used to it. I feel it would be harder going back to Canadian football at this point.”

Cenacle appeared in 12 games as a freshman in 2022 and 13 games last year. In spring training, he focused on playing the slot.

“He presents some range down the field, ” Ursua said of Cenacle’s role as an inside receiver. “When the quarterbacks have to throw the ball down the field, its always fun to have someone separate.”

Ursua noted that some of the best UH slotbacks, such as Chad Owens and Ursua’s younger brother John, were shorter than 6 feet. Ursua said Cenacle is a “bigger dude. He gives you range where you can put (the pass ) up and away.”

Cenacle did well in training camp and in the week leading to this year’s opener against Delaware State. Last week, Cenacle made his first UH start. “It was like, ‘Cenacle, you earned this, ’” Ursua said. Cenacle caught five passes on seven targets against UCLA.

Cenacle said he wears No. 3 in tribute to older brother Joshua Cenacle, who was a defensive back in high school. “He definitely helped me, ” Cenacle said.

While training, Cenacle ran routes against his brother, who is four years older. Their younger sister Schellya was the quarterback.

“She was a good passer, ” Cenacle said, “and she was fast. All three of us used to race against each other.”