By rights, cornerback Kenny Patton could be one of those fifth-year seniors who kneel nonchalantly near the sideline these first few days of fall football practice basking in seniority and security as the newcomers go about many of the drills at the University of Hawai'i.

After all, Patton is, as the media guide on whose front cover he appears tells us, a veteran of 22 career starts and one of only two returnees who has started in the defensive secondary.

But easing into this fall is not a luxury afforded Patton. Nonchalance is not recommended for someone caught in his curious confluence of circumstances and forced to resecure his job in a crowded arena.

So, you will see the 6-foot, 188-pounder from Altadena, Calif. by way of Punahou School rarely out for a breather. When not in the defensive rotation, he's playing the now-familiar role of a wide receiver to help sharpen another defensive back or ready to work as a reserve long snapper.

And through it all what you will not hear is so much as a plaintive peep. Nothing in his body language that could be read as lament, either.

Not about what he might be entitled to or the Catch-22 spring experiment that has landed him in this predicament.

"Coach (June) Jones gave a speech (a couple) nights ago about adversity," Patton said. "He said, 'nothing but good comes from facing adversity.' That's where I'm at right now and I'm gonna battle back and good things are going to come from it."

For Patton, the road back to his starting cornerback spot came with a head-scratching detour in the spring, when he found himself encouraged to take a shot at wide receiver, an already over-crowded position and one he hadn't played since high school.

You have to wonder about the move, the message behind it and what it was supposed to accomplish in the long run. But if Patton did, he isn't saying. Or fuming. Ever the good soldier, possessing some of the best hands on the team and willing to do what's necessary for the Warriors to win, Patton gave it a shot. A typically enthusiastic one for someone who knows no other way to compete.

But by the end of spring Patton didn't have to be the Warriors' scholar-athlete award winner and a two-time All-Western Athletic Conference academic selection to recognize the rock-and-a-hard-place dilemma confronting him. With a rapidly ticking eligibility clock and four years already invested as a defensive back, the odds were against him seeing significant playing time as a wide receiver.

Moreover, the spring experiment took Patton out of the starting mix at cornerback, where A.J. Martinez and junior college transfer C.J. Hawthorne established themselves as the starters heading into the fall. And where they will be joined by as many as five newcomers, who also wade into the competition.

So, as he heads into a senior season that is to cap his UH stay, Patton finds himself in the biggest battle of that career, one unimagined a year ago when he was starting — and picking off a pass — against Southern California.

It is a situation that could have produced bitterness if not open discontent in another player. But the thing worth remembering about Patton is that growing up in a prominent Island karate family, competition is something he has embraced from an early age.

Patton said he noticed and took to heart something about the crucible of tournament competition early on. "When a kid gets hit in the stomach and gets knocked down, one of two things usually happen," Patton said. "Either he gets back up and is timid or he's ready to really fight back."

One guess which path this holder of a first-degree black belt is taking this fall.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.