Farmer, Estes, Advertiser Preview, Etc.

Stephen Tsai writes about David Farmer getting a scholarship yesterday. Farmer talks about what inspires him.

"When I was in high school, I was an offensive lineman," Farmer recalled. "I wanted to play fullback. My coach laughed at me. I moved, and was the fourth-string fullback. I worked my way to No. 1 fullback one summer on my varsity team. We ended up winning a championship. My whole career I've been fighting. I think if I were on top, I wouldn't know how to perform. I wouldn't have that drive, that want-to. When they put a guy in front of me, rather than being discouraged, it encourages me. I kind of like challenges."

Dave Reardon has a profile of John Estes, who talks about what attracted him to UH.

His extended family on his mother's side all wanted him to go to Hawaii. When LaCount started earning some playing time, Estes took note and watched Hawaii games late at night.

He immediately noticed the new mean-looking black jerseys. He watched a team that liked to fly to the football and hit people with reckless abandon. It was such a wild atmosphere and he loved it.

"I'd see all the crazy black jerseys flying around and guys with long hair coming out of their helmets, it was nuts," Estes said. "I knew I wanted to play there."

Tsai has an injury update on Blaze Soares.

UH coach June Jones has said he would bench Soares if the injury has long-term repercussions. Soares has a second opinion.

"I didn't train all summer to sit on the side and watch everybody else play," Soares said. "I worked hard to play. I want to be safe and cautious, but not too cautious."

In better hamstring news, Solomon Elimimian was able to practice yesterday and intercepted Colt Brennan in 11-on-11 drills, coming back from his injury.

Michael Tsai writes about the insurance policy Colt Brennan took out against any injury he might suffer before the NFL draft. Hope he never needs to use it.

Brennan said he took out a loan for $28,000 to purchase an insurance plan from the Houston-based company that would protect him in the event of an injury that would be "detrimental to my draft position."

"My dad looked into a lot of things and got the best deal for me," Brennan said. "It was based on a projection from last year. I didn't want to have to be focused on it during the season."

Dave Reardon talks to Northern Colorado's Vinny Palone, who is looking forward to this Saturday's game.

"Coming from a program with a lot of transition, I think the best way to do it is play the best teams, and I think of Hawaii as one of the best teams," Pallone said. "And I can't think of anything better than playing in the Pro Bowl stadium. I've been here five years and played the Colorado School of Mines and the South Dakota States. This is a big deal."

Here's a link to the UH Athletic Department's press release for the Northern Colorado game. Looks like that page will update with new press releases as the season goes along.

UH associate athletic director John McNamara talks about his hopes for the attendance for the season opener.

"The whole goal is to get the students out early, show them how important they are to the electricity and excitement of the event," McNamara said. "We want to do everything we can to entice the students to come on out."

Overall, UH has sold about 22,300 season tickets, up from 18,125 last year, and McNamara said the department is projecting to issue around 34,000 tickets for Saturday's game.

And if the fans don't show up in force for Northern Colorado, there's another tantalizing opponent for the next home game, as McNamara tells Ferd Lewis.

"Hopefully, that word of mouth will get out and we'll have a better crowd for the next home game (Sept. 22 against Charleston Southern) and that will continue to build."

Also from the Lewis article:

• Details on the new UH medical policy dealing with player injuries.


• Will the 2008 schedule be announced Friday as Herman promised all those months ago?


• Some info on free student tickets and Aloha Stadium parking.

And Dave Reardon continues his series with a Nevada preview.

UPDATE: It hurts me. After writing the above post, I found that there are actually a whole lot more articles from the Advertiser's money-themed UH football preview, which they put in the football section of their new HawaiiWarriorBeat.com website. The stories include:

• Ferd Lewis predicting UH to be 11-1 this season. The fool!


• Lewis writes about June Jones' salary, and how he's relatively underpaid.


• Tsai talks to Colt Brennan, who doesn't regret passing up the NFL bucks.


• Lewis writes about the impact of Colt Brennan's Heisman DVD and website.


• And a whole lot more!