Academics

The Star-Bulletin staff have an article about the Warriors taking care of business in the classroom leading up to the Hawaii Bowl.

"We've been missing six, eight, 10 guys a day," Jones said. That's OK, he said. "We do what we can do."

"We are the Harvard of the ocean," defensive coordinator Jerry Glanville said. "We've got guys taking tests and studying," ahead of coming to football practice.

Neither coach seemed to mind.

As Jones noted, Hawaii can't afford to be less than demanding when it comes to academics. In March, UH was penalized with the loss of five football scholarships and one baseball scholarship under new NCAA Academic Progress Rate guidelines.

It's also possible that Coach Mouse Davis may be retiring at the end of this season.

UH assistant Mouse Davis, Jones' longtime mentor and his coach at Portland State, isn't 100 percent sure, and won't make any promises or grand pronouncements. But he said yesterday he is leaning toward the Hawaii Bowl against Arizona State being his last game.

"In all likelihood," he said, "I'll be one of the seniors."

It would be his second (third? fourth?) retirement from coaching. After coaching Jones at Portland State, Davis embarked on a long and winding USFL, CFL, NFL and Arena career, before coming back to help his old quarterback at Hawaii. He's had a great time with the UH players, loves the other assistants and "June's kind of my boy," Davis said. It's been a lot of fun.

Still, though he's pretty sure, he won't make a final decision until looking at it after the season. He doesn't want to paint himself into a corner just yet.

"It's still golf season," he said.

Well, if Mouse does retire I think he might want to stick around as an adviser because of all the golfing he can do!

Stephen Tsai writes about a key part of the future offensive line. The graduating senior o-linemen have big praise for John Estes, who moves to center next year.

Flanked by Satele and right tackle Dane Uperesa, Estes received on-the-job training in identifying defenses and coverages.

"I didn't really understand the calls earlier this year," Estes said. "But from game experience and watching Sam make all of the calls, I'm understanding the basic rules."

Satele said: "We told him to listen to me, Dane and Tala (Esera, the left tackle). He's been listening. He's a coachable guy."

...

Satele added: "He knows the offense, and he'll have the spring under his belt (entering training camp). He'll be an awesome o-lineman. John knows what he has to do to be a great o-lineman. I think he'll be the greatest o-lineman to ever play in Hawai'i. He's unbelievable. He's got balance. He's got power. He's got everything."

And he's got three more years here! I think the O-line should be fine next year even if though UH is losing the big three.

And finally, Matt Becker of the AP has a Hawaii Bowl preview.