Pro Day Wrap-Up

Stephen Tsai reports on the Warriors who participated in yesterday's Pro Day in Carson, California.

UH's pro day actually drew as many scouts as USC's. What's more, New York Jets head coach Eric Mangini skipped USC's pro day to have dinner with four former Warriors — safety Leonard Peters and offensive linemen Tala Esera, Samson Satele and Dane Uperesa.

"They've got a nice group of prospects," Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Norm Chow said of the former Warriors.

The event served as a mini reunion. Former UH quarterback Tim Chang showed up. "I just wanted to root for the guys," Chang said.

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Peters performed well in pass-coverage drills. UH's offensive linemen also excelled, particularly Satele.

"Everybody likes Samson," Chow said. "He's wide in the butt, but he can really move his feet."

In football parlance, Chow's assessment was high praise.

"That's a compliment," Satele said. "I've got a center of gravity. I've got balance."

At the bottom of the article is a list of the players who participated along with their stats from yesterday.

Stephen Tsai has another article highlighting Ikaika Alama-Francis.

As it turned out, the scouts were not interested in Alama-Francis' 40 or shuttle times. Instead, they wanted to see if he could make the transition to tight end.

At the request of the Kansas City Chiefs, Alama-Francis ran pass routes.

He also participated in pass-coverage drills as an outside linebacker.

Less than a month before the NFL draft, Alama-Francis is now a three-position prospect.

By the end of yesterday's workouts, Alama-Francis was too exhausted to spit. He sat on a metal bench, running his fingers through his new orange mohawk.

"All of the scouts were laughing because they worked him so hard," Bauer said. "But he's a great athlete. He's raw, but they can see the talent. And they know he's a hard worker. After what he did today, everybody knows that."

Sounds like a lot of them did great. And now we wait!

UPDATE: Stephen Tsai has various bits of news on The Warrior Beat.

The impact of UH strength coaches Tommy Heffernan and Mel deLaura was evident during yesterday's NFL Pro Timing Day in Carson, Calif.
In the 225-pound bench press, the most repetitions were recorded by players who trained on campus. Marques Kaonohi had 37 reps, Lawrence Wilson had 36 and Renolds Fruean 32.

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Moving onto schedule news, Ferd writes an article about what Northern Colorado message boards are buzzing about regarding a potential UH game.

"I like the 400K payday, but, seriously, they (the Warriors) could put up 100 points on us," worries one fan on one of the school's fan Web sites.

"One hundred points is possible, UH nearly did it to Fresno State, but they sat their starters after the third (quarter and) ended up with 68 points," wrote another.

While the I-A Warriors return most of their starters, including quarterback Colt Brennan, from a team that set a bundle of NCAA offensive records, the heavily underclassmen Bears will be in their first season as full-fledged I-AA team.

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If UNC's worst fears are realized, there could be a different payoff to the late addition of a UH game. "I'm not looking forward to the headlines on ESPN etc. quoting some record-breaking defeat," wrote a UNC fan.

Ugh. Not the kind of team you want to break records against.

And finally Kalani Simpson tries not to worry about the schedule situation by looking at things from another perspective.

Nothing is as good as it was back home. Those teams in green are your connection to Hawaii -- you wear them on your sleeve. It's like you're a kid again. You hold onto them that tight.

We who actually are here in Hawaii are close enough, though (sometimes unfortunately), to see the warts. We're close enough that the idealized picture is often punctured. We know things aren't perfect. We see it all up close, in HD.

But the local folks stuck on the mainland do have something going for them. With their distance comes innocence. With their homesickness comes a special kind of love. An ocean away, they are fans the way we were when we were kids. I envy them that.

In a way, we should all be lucky enough to get as much excitement out of a team as the people do who are twice as excited by it because they're so far away.

UH's most fervent, true-believer, rabid fans are on the mainland. No, wait, check that. They are in Iraq (and an update -- SFC Steve Chinen is safe and currently home on two weeks of R&R, and hoping to catch Colt Brennan at spring practice next week).

And so, yes, Brian on the Mainland is upset about the whole Herman-schedule-fiasco thing. Everybody is. But it makes him even more determined to, in his words, not "wallow" in the situation. He says not since Al Noga has a senior season been this anticipated.

I can certainly relate, having spent lots and lots of time on the mainland. Maybe being away from TV and radio and people on the street talking about the schedule helps one forget the fiasco, at least for a moment. Then again, the Internet is there to remind you over and over again. Woops.