Gearing Up for Fall

Lots of news as we head to the start of fall camp. Season opener's only a month away! Here's a really good article by a new Honolulu Advertiser reporter, "Ukjent Person".



Ukjent has a list of what players are competing at what position, which I won't cut and paste here. You'll have to read Ukjent's fine article. But here's a short section from it:

"It was just me and Sun God out there," Glanville said, referring to the sun-bronzed Reinebold. "It was a nice day because it was all about football. Every day should be like this. That's why I can't wait to get it going (for tomorrow's opening of training camp)."

The players shared the enthusiasm. Yesterday, they completed their final 7-on-7 passing drills of their self-supervised summer program.

"Last year was a completely different intensity (entering training camp)," quarterback Colt Brennan said. "Now we know what we have. We know what type of team we can be. We're not going out there to fill spots. We're here to win games. The intensity is great. We have a different work effort, a different attitude. We can't wait to get going."

I like that the players are confident. Speaking of which, Dave Reardon also has a pre-fall camp article in which DB JoPierre Davis sounds extra confident:

Davis, a 6-foot, 202-pound second-year freshman, has found his way back onto the 105-player fall-camp roster after pulling himself out of academic peril this summer. Now he's looking for a starting spot.

"I had to get my appeal done, get my grades back up. (Coach June) Jones and the counselor said I should be good for camp," Davis said. "Competition's nothing. I haven't played football in two years, since high school, so it's going to be real ugly when I get out to camp. I'll play any side. Wherever they want someone to come in and dominate, that's what side I'll go on."

Yeah baby, that's what you like to hear from your corners! The article also talks about new players coming in, walk on running backs Gabe Weisbarth and Josh Berry. As well as:

Eric Shaffer, a 5-foot-10, 180-pound receiver from Fayeteville, Ark., observed practice yesterday. He won't be in fall camp, but will enroll at UH and eventually join the team.

"I like the offense, the fact that they throw the ball 70 times a game," Shaffer said.

Not sure if it will be 70 times a game this season with Nasty and the Juggernaut in the backfield!

And Stephen Tsai has short profile on previously mentioned RB Josh Berry. He also talks about all the new DBs competing for spots, and gets Davone Bess' reaction to not being able to wear dark visors this season.

"It made me look really good, to be honest," Bess said, laughing. "It kind of helped with my vision, especially when we play at the stadium and the lights are really bright. It dims it. It's like putting shades on. It made things a lot more visible, especially the ball. From certain angles, you get certain glare. It knocked that out of the way."

And what is the NCAA's reason for getting rid of the visor?

The NCAA said the visors would make it difficult to check the eyes of a player suffering a possible concussion.

I guess in the event that a player is knocked out and they don't want to risk taking off the helmet, that's probably a good reason. Still, I'll miss the assassin look.

What did I tell you, lots of news! And it probably won't stop until December! I ain't complainin.