J. Alexander / J. Hawkins / Manuwai / Road

Stephen Tsai has more on corner Jeremiah Alexander, who will become a Warrior in 2008.

Alexander said UH's offer "came out of nowhere" two weeks ago. After that, he used the Internet to research the Warriors. He also said he was impressed with UH defensive line coach Jeff Reinebold.

"Coach Jeff was cool," Alexander said. "He seemed real. It wasn't like he was hiding anything."

And a great quote by Jack Yates HS defensive coordinator Jeff Ceasar:

Ceasar also coached UH starting left cornerback Gerard Lewis at North Shore High School in Houston. Ceasar said he is arranging for Lewis and Alexander to meet.

"I'll get that connection going," Ceasar said. "There's a lot of talent in Houston, and Hawai'i has a great system. I hope we can get a pipeline going. This is a good start. Jeremiah has a good character with a good family background. Hawai'i will never have a problem with him. With his work ethic, I'm not worried about him."

Great to hear.

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Dave Reardon has an article with all kinds of news, with mentions of Alexander, the proposed Shrine of '99, C.J. Hawthorne impressing in unsupervised workouts, and a new corner, Jakeem Hawkins, walking on.

He was a teammate of incoming Warriors defensive end Josh Leonard at Sierra College (Sacramento, Calif.) the past two seasons and his training partner this summer. Hawkins said he is 5-11 and 180 pounds and has been timed at 4.5 in the 40 and has earned his associate's degree.
Hawkins, who originally enrolled at Alcorn State in 2003, received no Division I scholarship offers out of Sierra because he has just one year to play one season.

"I'm going to petition that with the NCAA," Hawkins said. "Alcorn State withheld my transcripts and kept me from transferring."

Welcome to Jakeem, and hope his petition goes well.

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Former UH offensive lineman Vince Manuwai talks to Ferd Lewis about how far the UH football program has come.

Manuwai, five seasons into an NFL career as a guard with the Jacksonville Jaguars, said he relishes the level the program has risen to. So much so there is a visible pride in how he relates that Jacksonville teammates, who once dismissed his alma mater, now have a growing familiarity with the Warriors' success.

He also gives advice to the current Warriors.

And he reminds them to keep their focus and hunger. "There are a lot of things in front of them (the 2007 Warriors), like the Heisman Trophy, and I tell them to work hard and just to let it come to you. I tell them you've got the program to a good place but don't think you can just win automatically now. It takes a lot of hard work to keep it going."

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And finally, the Warriors will probably be staying in Houston between back to back road games at Louisiana Tech and UNLV.

"I like it," said quarterback Colt Brennan. "It is hard to fly back (to Hawai'i) and then turn around and fly right back."

Frazier said UH will stay in Houston on the way to Ruston, La., and return to Houston following the Louisiana Tech game before going on to UNLV late in the week. UH officials have said they are looking at arrangements to practice at Reliant Stadium, home of the NFL's Houston Texans.

Frazier said he expects to save as much as $40,000 in travel costs. He said the team would travel with tutors and hold study halls to minimize the class time missed in the first month of school.