Kealoha Pilares Update

Dave Reardon with the news that Kealoha Pilares, the Damien grad and offensive superstar, will grayshirt and join the UH football team next spring. As he says:

"I'll be grayshirting, a part-time student this semester," said Pilares, a running back at Damien who will first be tried out at receiver with the Warriors. "I can go to workouts and meetings (for football), but everything starts in January. I'll work on getting bigger and faster."

Sounds like he'll be awesome. I predict he'll have a monster game against the Gators two years from now!

Interview with Kalilimoku

Stephen Tsai has a Sunday interview with Brad Kalilimoku. Here's an excerpt:

On his free time:

"When I'm not playing football, I like to go to (Kualoa) Ranch. I ride at Kualoa. I've been riding there for more than four years. We rope. We do cattle work. We do branding. I help out. It's a good thing. You get away from the city life. When you're riding the horse, you can look around and relax. It's peaceful and quiet.

"I'll help with the branding. We round them up, and take them to a pen. We'll have 100 calves. We have to bring them down, and hold them down. They'll rope the leg or the head, then we'll tackle them. We're tackling the calves. I like it. I like to tackle. When we do the branding, I'm the one who does the tackling. I sit on the calf, hold it down, and somebody else brands it. We'll do a hundred a day. It's like a season's worth of tackles. It's a strong animal. It reminds me of the linemen."

He's a hard worker. I think he'll have a good season, and hopefully it won't be his last.

Kalilimoku, a senior who could earn an extra season if he earns enough credits this year, is the starting strong safety entering Thursday's start of training camp.

In other news, Kealoha Pilares, a running back who was named Offensive Player of the Year by the Advertiser as a Damien senior last year, will transfer from Air Force to Hawaii, and will be eligible to play this year, but may not

Pilares has been promised a scholarship, although it has not been finalized whether he will join the Warriors for the start of training camp this week or in January 2007.

Lots of offensive talent coming in!

Dave Reardon has an article about the comraderie among the WAC coaches. Lots of great coaches in this league, now it's time to "play up." Haha.

And did you know Stephen Tsai had a blog? It's called The Warrior Beat. Read his articles for the news -- read his blog for the smack talk! I've put it on my links to the right.

Sample and Maneafaiga

Wide receiver Ian Sample is still waiting to hear from the NCAA regarding his eligibility this season. It does sound like he has a really good case:

The NCAA requested more information about a family situation in 2003 that forced Sample to withdraw from school to help with family matters when his mother, Debi, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

...

...he was hampered by injuries in 2004 and 2005, playing a total of seven games. He has 19 career catches for 243 yards and a touchdown. His appeal is also based on him playing in just three games last year before a season-ending knee injury.

So he was out of school helping out his mom for a year, and then when he came back he was injured pretty much the whole time. Hope we'll hear the good news soon.

As for Bryan Maneafaiga, he will drop his appeal with the NCAA and become a student manager.

Maneafaiga's scholarship could not be renewed until the NCAA approved his case. Maneafaiga could not afford the fall semester tuition, which was due yesterday. Although he lives in Wai'anae, he spent a few years in California, and is being charged the non-resident tuition of $5,088.20. "I don't have that kind of money," he said.

UH coach June Jones solved the dilemma by offering a job that has a compensation comparable to a football scholarship.

"He's a good guy, and he can really help us," Jones said.

It's kinda disappointing that it has to end this way, but it sounds like Bryan is happy, and June Jones is a great guy for providing this opportunity.

Rules Rules Rules

PAC-10 coaches are also upset over the rule changes meant to reduce the length of games. But another rule change I noticed in the article kinda sucks for the Hawaii football team, in my opinion.

Other rule changes outlaw tinted eye shields on helmets, reduce the kicking tee from 2 inches to 1 inch, offer the voluntary opportunity to trim a few minutes from halftime, allow receiving teams to add a 5-yard penalty to the end of a punt return instead of forcing a rekick, and permit coaches one instant-replay challenge per game at the cost of a timeout.

So no more of this!


Photo by George F. Lee

Or this!


Photo by Richard Walker

Man, they look like assassins with those visors. Oh well, there must be some logic why the NCAA rules committee decided to ban them. Right?

Fruean

Defensive lineman Renolds Fruean will rejoin the Warriors in time for fall camp. He had to skip spring to work and support his family.

"You've got to love the guy who doesn't have a scholarship but keeps coming back," UH defensive coordinator Jerry Glanville said. "He's really going to help us this season."

Give him a scholie!

And the Advertiser has a profile of Timmy Chang as he tries to make the Eagles roster away from home and his kid. You gotta be rooting for TC.

WAC News

Okay, so none of the Hawaii media gave UH it's lone first place vote in the media poll. It was Jack Nixon, a NMSU broadcaster who had previously worked with June Jones and Mouse Davis in the USFL. Here's what he had to say about his vote:

"I didn't sit down and go over everyone's schedule and everyone's roster and do that stuff, I just looked at it and figured Boise, with a new coach -- not that they're not going to be good -- that there might be a little flutter there and with Fresno losing their quarterback, again, maybe a little flutter there. Not to denigrate either of those programs, just thought maybe this is the year June gets it done. Honestly, it's kind of a hunch," he said, and then, jokingly, "That and the pakalolo I had before I made the decision."

That dude is funny! Let's hope the herb was telling him the secrets of the universe like it does for me. I'm just kidding. Say no to drugs kids.

Also, the coaches (who also voted Hawaii to place 4th) are not happy with the new NCAA rules meant to speed up the game.

Under the rules, the game clock will start when the ball is kicked off (not when the returner fields it) and when the ball is set down at the line of scrimmage following change of possessions and out-of-bounds plays.

...

But the WAC coaches, who are here for the league's Football Media Preview, criticized the rule, saying it would cut down on scoring and make it difficult for trailing teams to complete comebacks.

"I think the rules committee went below and beyond the call of duty," New Mexico State coach Hal Mumme said.

"It'll be fewer plays," San Jose State coach Dick Tomey said. "How many fewer, I don't know. It'll probably result in lower scoring and quicker games."

Hawai'i coach June Jones estimated the rule will cost the Warriors 14 points per game.

14 points!?!?! One of the great things about college football, as opposed to the NFL, is the opportunity for ridiculous scores. 72 to 45? 52 to 51? 54 to 48? Will we ever see such glory again? It's too bad that these rules are being implemented. We'll see how it plays out on the field...

4th?

Hawaii has been chosen to finish 4th this season in the WAC football media poll. It will be fun watching UH prove them all wrong. Except for the one guy who voted the Warriors to finish first. I wonder who that was? Stephen Tsai? Dave Reardon? Ferd Lewis? Can Jim Leahey vote? Hmmmmmmmmm. In any case, whoever that was, that guy is a visionary!

That article and this has more on Colt Brennan's preseason award.

Brennan with the Awards

Stephen Tsai reports that Colt Brennan was named the Western Athletic Conference's preseason Offensive Player of the Year today. But Colt, he's so humble:

"It's a great honor because it came from the people who have seen us play," he said.

"At the same time, I can't get caught up in this. As fast as you can get an honor. It can turn around just as fast."

Of course, the post-season awards are what it's all about! That, and wins. Can't forget about wins! And I'm sure Colt will lead us to a bunch this season.

Interview with June - Part 2

June Jones talks about his coaching strategy and his team in the second part of his interview. You should definitely go read it.

Q: Rice would just drop everybody back and try to frustrate the quarterback. It's like they would bet that you'd screw up somewhere on the way to the goal line.

A: I think most teams are like that. Rice would have really smart players, and in their zone they didn't screw up as much as other teams. I think San Diego State's mentality was that way last year. I went into that game thinking they were the best defense we were playing. That game worried me more than any other game we played because it was a game everyone in Hawaii thought we should win. And I'm thinking this is a hard game to win. But the light came on (for quarterback Colt Brennan) that day. He threw as many touchdown passes that game as they had given up all year.

And Stephen Tsai talks to Jerry Glanville about the upcoming Alabama game, and the loss of John Fonoti.

Glanville said it was "disappointing" that Fonoti would not be available this season. At the end of spring practice, Fonoti and C.J. Allen-Jones were listed as the starting outside linebackers in UH's 3-4 scheme.

Glanville said Tyson Kafentzis, listed as the backup to Allen-Jones, and Brashton Satele can replace Fonoti. NCAA rules prohibit Glanville from commenting on another likely contender, Amani Purcell, who needs to pass a summer session class to be eligible to play this season. Purcell is transferring from Penn State.

"I think Kafentzis can play," Glanville said. "He'll be a big plus for us."

The article also has some news about Ian Sample. I guess it can be read as good news because the NCAA requested more documents and should rule on his eligibility next week. It's been a long wait, but at least their working on it and still reviewing it, which is good. I haven't heard anything about Bryan Maneafaiga recently.

Interview with June - Part 1

The Star-Bulletin has a good interview with June Jones, with Robert Kekaula, Bobby Curran and Dave Reardon asking the questions. Here's June talking about Colt Brennan:

Q: Colt left a lot of yards and a handful of touchdowns on the field. Is he at a point where he'll get those?

A: I think what you described happened in the first 10 games. At the end, he was doing it correctly. I really felt like the light came on against San Diego State. He might have made one bad throw in that game. It wasn't a bad decision, just a bad throw. Even through the spring, everything was confident, quicker, faster. He's got a quick release anyway.

Q: Does he have complete comprehension of the playbook?

A: I'd say last year when we started on a scale of 10 he was a 2. Now he's probably a 7 1/2 or 8. And as we get going, he'll get better. I know he'll do what I call now and make the reads. Last year I didn't know what would happen. There was a lot of stuff he wasn't sure about, but he competed.

Can't wait to see what Colt does this year. And updating my previous post, in a sidebar on the same Star-Bulletin article, we learn that John Fonoti is academically ineligible for this upcoming season. Down down down goes the APR!

Fonoti Out

Projected starting OLB John Fonoti will sit out this season due to personal reasons. Guess we'll learn more about this tomorrow. Damn, that sucks.

Profiles in Awesome

Two great profiles of two unique and inspiring UH football players. Dave Reardon profiles Ikaika Alama-Francis, who gets high praise from the coaches:

"Jerry (defensive coordinator Glanville) and I both said last year we didn't have anyone as good as him in the NFL," Jones said. "I think he's a first-day draft pick."

Defensive line coach Jeff Reinebold said he'd never seen another end with "the combination of speed, size, flexibility and tenacity" in 14 seasons of college and pro coaching.

"It's even more incredible when you break it down by the number of snaps he played going into last season -- less than 50 snaps," Reinebold said. "That is amazing that a kid with that little experience could accelerate to being mentioned among the best at his position.

Stephen Tsai has a Sunday interview with Leonard Peters, who also gets high praise from the coaches:

"Believe me," UH assistant strength coach Mel deLaura said, "Leonard Peters is an unbelievably awesome guy."

Rich Miano, who coaches the UH defensive backs, said: "I could coach another 50 years and never have another player like him both on and off the field."

Last year, teammates voted Peters as defensive team captain.

Defensive coordinator Jerry Glanville, who refers to players by their position and jersey number, said, proudly: "I know his name. 'Leonard Peters' is the only Samoan name I know."

Oh Jerry.

Anyway, if both Leonard and Ikaika have great years, without major injury, that would mean a great year for the UH defense. I'm hoping it'll be an awesome year for these two awesome players. Go Warriors!

C. Mock

Dave Reardon has a profile on senior wide receiver Chad Mock. Here's an excerpt:

"He has great hands and he's fearless. I would say that he had a great spring and he's coming in in good standing," (Ron) Lee said of Mock, who is also schooled enough to play on the right, or Z, side. "They'll all get reps. If we had to play tomorrow he'd have a good chance of starting."

Chad is also confident, but not cocky, regarding Hawaii's chances against Bama:

"I expect us to go out there and do what we do and stick together and come out with a victory," the 5-foot-11 Farrington graduate said. "I'm pretty sure we can do it, we can go down there and beat them if we stay together and stay focused."

I'm glad to hear that our players aren't intimidated playing a big school at their house. A lot of these guys played USC, MSU and Wisconsin last year. In any case, let's hope it's a night game since, from what I hear, it would be horribly humid in Bama during the day.

New Linebacker

Well, if one linebacker from Arizona can't make it, we can always get another. Sebastian Siaki, a freshman linebacker from Arizona, has been invited to Warriors fall camp. Good luck to Sebastian. So far, we've had two of our top recruits this year, Lucious Henderson and Peyton Ma'o, decide to go to junior college. Luckily Hawaii recruited a whole bunch of defensive guys, but let's hope these two come back in two years.

In the same article, Stephen Tsai writes that Amani Purcell still needs to complete a summer school class to join the Warriors team. Fall camp starts August 3rd, but the class doesn't end till August 11th. And then grades need to be submitted..... Well, hopefully he can practice before the Bama game.

No More Delicious

Lucious Henderson, who was an incoming freshman DB, will instead go to a junior college rather than petition the NCAA for a special academic exemption. That's too bad, we need all the DB help we can get. I hope he'll be back in two years. The good news is that cornerbacks Myron Newberry and Keenan Jones are academically good to go and will be here in the fall.

Dave Reardon has a great profile of incoming overqualified grad assistant Dennis McKnight. Here's an excerpt:

"Hawaii's a special place. The kids are awesome," McKnight said. "June's chances of offering me something might be running out. It's a win-win for me. June's giving me a chance to keep my foot in the door. I feel like I'm doing it for the right reason. Lots of guys doing it to move up the corporate ladder. Coaching in its purest form, it's about the kids. And I might even be able to get a master's degree out of it."

Campus Security

Hey man, some players gotta work to scrape by just to be here. Why you gotta ticket the UH players?

Brennan and starting slotback Ryan Grice-Mullins were among a half-dozen players who received parking tickets during yesterday's workouts.

Both were angry because they each paid a $3 parking fee, and their cars were in a vacant dirt area near the grass practice field. The fines are $25 each. Brennan said some players have racked up hundreds of dollars in fines. The guards ignored their pleas to allow them to move their cars. One guard yelled at a player: "You want to pay my salary?"

"There's no other school in the nation that has to deal with that," Brennan said. "I mean, the football program makes a lot of money for the school. It's kind of ridiculous we have to pay so much money to go to workouts every day. We have to pay $3 (each time). Some of these guys come in to lift at 7 (a.m.), but go home for a little while, and come back at 12 or 1. They have to re-pay. I mean, it's not very fair. ...

"You'd think there'd be some cohesion, and they'd try to work together with us instead of making kids who are obviously not wealthy as it is, pay all of this money to work out and attend school. They're robbing the students, and they don't care, and they keep doing it."

I know football players aren't supposed to get special treatment, but they shouldn't be penalized for practicing either. Or at least give them chance to move their car.

Anyways, in the same Advertiser article, Stephen Tsai says that 6 foot 7, 335 pound junior offensive lineman Kavan Bannigan will compete for a spot this spring. He initially went to Washington in 2004, but left to attend Leeward Community College. Sounds like a monster.

More McKnight

The Star-Bulletin and Advertiser have more on the hiring of coach Dennis McKnight. Here's an excerpt from the Advertiser regarding his first stint at UH:

McKnight had an immediate — and loud — impact on the Warriors. He literally lived at UH, sleeping on the leather couch in his third-floor office.

He also made special teams, well, special. Players who excelled on special teams received "Special Forces" T-shirts. He also enlivened practices with his high-decibel instructions.

"I've got to give a lot of credit to McKnight," said Keith Bhonapha, a former UH player and graduate-assistant coach. "He can get you excited about going to a meeting in the morning. He made you feel you were important if you played special teams. That's why everybody was so hungry to play for him. If we did well, we would get stickers. He'd get you excited about that. You're talking about a piece of plastic with adhesive. But it gave you something to work for, something to take pride in. The T-shirts were just like a trophy. You know you earned it."

This is an exciting time for Warriors football! Let's print up those stickers!

Coach McKnight

Our great coaching staff just got even better with the re-addition of Dennis McKnight. He's taking the Jeff Reinebold route and coming in as a graduate assistant. He'll definitely be huge in regards to special teams, and he's intense!

Interview with Tala

Stephen Tsai interviews offensive lineman Tala Esera. Here's an excerpt:

On the difference between Brennan and his predecessor, Tim Chang:

"Timmy was a good quarterback, too. Timmy and Colt are both good quarterbacks. Timmy always got the ball out. Colt, as you know, likes to scramble. That's cool. That's OK. If I'm blocking a guy good, and then he starts scrambling and I'm still holding my block, that makes us look good. But if it's one of those times, when you're waiting for the ball to get out, then that could be bad. You never know what he's going to do. Hopefully, that will make us better players, make us hold our blocks forever."

Upset

Chris Bridges, a columnist for MainStreetNews.com of northeast Georgia can sense an upset in the making:

One of the opening-week college football games I am anxiously awaiting is the one between SEC power Alabama and the Hawaii Warriors of coach June Jones.

Hawaii, according to all pre-season publications, will be one of the top offensive teams in the country this fall. The program will continue to improve on defense as well under second-year coordinator Jerry Glanville, the former “Man in Black” head coach of the Atlanta Falcons.

I believe there is a strong chance for an upset in this one. Alabama will be re-grouping offensively and will have to hope its defense can slow down Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan, a Heisman candidate, enough to stay in the game.

Nah, Hawaii's just a lowly WAC team who are humbled in the presence of a SEC powerhouse...

Soares

I'm really glad Stephen Tsai is writing all these UH football articles in the offseason. For the fans, it's good to have something to read regarding the Warriors -- who's coming and going, who's making progress, etc. And for me in particular, I would have nothing to link to without these articles, and I'd get so bored that you fools would have to be subjected to my rhyming skills. In fact, I'm writing a few mad rhymes for next year's "C.B. for Heisman" DVD. What? Like battle?

Anyway, Stephen has a profile on linebacker Blaze Soares. The article also mentions that Bryan Maneafaiga hasn't received word on if he got a medical hardship yet. Ian Sample hasn't heard either. Let's hope both of them get the good news soon.

Kickers

Two new kickers:

Briton Forester of La Costa Canyon High School in Carlsbad, Calif., and Kenji Hollaway of East Pennsboro Area High School in Enola, Pa., are among 105 players who will participate in the Warriors' training camp, which begins Aug. 4.

They will provide competition for placekicker Daniel Kelly, who returns for his sophomore season, and serve as apprentices to punter Kurt Milne, a senior. Last year's only backup at both positions, Jeremy Shibata, will not play this season, UH coaches confirmed.

No worries for Dan Kelly. I think he's gonna be a great kicker this year. But good that we're securing more for the future.

Interview with Grice-Mullins

Stephen Tsai has an interview with Ryan Grice-Mullins. Here's an excerpt:

"Every day, no matter what, I'm thinking about (the Sept. 2 opener against) Alabama. I can't wait. I know exactly how many days it is until we play. I feel strongly about this year. It's a way better situation than last year against SC (in the opener). Last year, we didn't know who the starters were. Everybody was new. We went in there blind. Now our offense is focused. When we say we can't wait to go to Alabama, it's real. We know what we've got. We're getting better and better every day."

I can't wait for the game too!

And Timmy Chang is coaching kids at the Power 4 Sports Youth Camp at Kaiser High School this weekend. He also sponsored a bunch of kids from St. Louis High. What a cool dude. When his NFL career is over, hopefully years down the line, perhaps he'll be coaching at UH? Anyway, here's a picture from the article. Not sure why they used this one.



Ho brah, why you teasing me?!

Eh kids! Leave Timmy alone! I going tell yo mahdah on you!

Anyways, good luck to Timmy as he competes for a roster spot this season.

Monteilh

Keao Monteilh, a corner who played in all 12 games last year but was dismissed from the team in March because of academics will be rejoining the Warriors in the fall. Good to hear he got it together again after his bout with the appendicitis. The more competition the better!

Dickerson

Ross Dickerson will be the top UH kick returner heading into fall. His brother, cornerback Todd Dickerson will be joining Hawaii from Yuba College and will be a junior. I like this quote:

After receiving offers from several four-year colleges, Todd Dickerson made an easy decision.

"I always wanted to play for my home state," he said.

Yeah baby!

In former Warrior news, Ashley Lelie is holding out of the Broncos mini-camp. Hope he gets traded or it'll be a long ass season.

Trim

More on Joey Lipp. In the same article, Stephen Tsai mentions several players who are not invited to fall camp. Among them, Louis Santos. A sad day, but I have a feeling he'll be there when the rosters expand. Jimmy Manley and Marques Dailey are expected to transfer. Not sure if they're on scholarship.

UPDATE: Via Sportshawaii.com's excellent Online Media Guide, I found through linked articles that Manley and Dailey are walk-ons, so no APR damage. Good luck to them.

New Players

Joey Lipp, a Chino High School offensive lineman, has signed a scholarship agreement with the Warriors and will join UH in the fall.

And via Sportshawaii.com, Geoff Hayth, an incoming freshman DB who was supposed to grayshirt this year, will instead get to play this upcoming season. We shall be abundant with DBs and that will help. Good luck to Geoff and Joey.

Interview with Rich

Stephen Tsai interviews coach Rich Miano. Here's an excerpt:

On coordinating the walk-on program:

"When June first got the job, he recognized that I was a walk-on. He thought I'd have some sympathy or empathy for walk-ons. We've had a history, second to none in college football, of developing walk-ons. What coach Jones believes is, once you're on this team, you're treated the same. Somebody else might get a (scholarship) check, and you don't, but that doesn't matter. If you walk on at the University of Hawai'i, you have a chance to make an impact."

Also, Stephen has the scoops on a couple of potential transfers to the Warriors. Neil Brown, a defensive lineman from Auburn, and Romunn "Ro" Grigsby, a wideout from Kansas State will decide if they'll transfer to Hawaii in the next few weeks. In any case, they both would have to sit out a year.

And this is a few weeks old, but CollegeFootballNews.com has a 2006 Hawaii Warriors preview up. Fox Sports has the same preview up. Here's an excerpt:

What you need to know ... Be afraid. Be very, very afraid. Hawaii averaged 476 yards and 31 points per game with a new quarterback and two freshmen receivers leading the way. Now quarterback Colt Brennan is on the verge of superstardom while top targets Davone Bess and Ryan Grice-Mullen will each be among the nation's most productive receivers. The runners are huge with 248-pound Nate Ilaoa getting a fifth year of eligibility to be the main back for the few times the attack wants to power the ball. The line welcomes back three starters led by all-stars Samson Satele and Tala Esera.

Sounds good! Except it's Ryan Grice-Mullins now. I think. The hawaiiathletics.com site has him listed as Ryan Grice-Mullin. Tsai wrote an article back in March saying that though Ryan's real last name is Grice-Mullins, it was incorrectly listed as Grice-Mullen on his birth certificate, so he was officially gonna change it back this summer. Did someone make another mistake? In any case, here's a quote from that March article by Davone Bess that still cracks me up.

Told of Grice-Mullen's (or Grice-Mullins') situation, slotback Davone Bess said, "That doesn't matter to us. We call him 'Mogamoga.' That's cockroach in Samoan. Look at him. He looks like a cockroach."