Laeli, Hawthorne, Farmer, Punters, Etc.

I'm pretty late in posting these links, but I was excited about the Sporting News and New York Times articles from earlier in the day (see previous posts).

Stephen Tsai profiles Fale Laeli, who trained hard in the offseason and is now first-team defensive tackle.

"Fale improved his endurance, and that's been a real benefit," McMackin said. "Plus, he comes off the ball quickly."

In the base defense, the two defensive tackles — Laeli and Michael Lafaele — are called "gold."

"If it weren't for them, we couldn't play our package," McMackin said. "When we're successful, it's because the tackles are making something happen."

Also from that article:

• Brashton Satele's grandma has been coming out early to watch practice


• Malcolm Lane talks about taking tai chi and ballet, the latter to improve balance.


• Injury updates on Raphael Ieru, Jacob Patek, and Timo Paepule

Brian McInnis profiles receiver C.J. Hawthorne.

Receivers coach Ron Lee said it's imperative for Hawthorne to have a big season, in part to help free up All-Western Athletic Conference slotbacks Ryan Grice-Mullins and Davone Bess. He's been absorbing the Warriors' offensive schemes as fast as possible since December.

"He's geared up for that, running well after the catch and he's fast enough to beat anybody on top as well as catch it underneath and turn it into a big play," Lee said. "So he's going to be real explosive, keep (the defense) honest."

Jason Kaneshiro profiles running back David Farmer.

Farmer -- whose father, Dave, played at USC and was Jones' teammate with the Atlanta Falcons in the late '70s -- played fullback at Aptos (Calif.) High School and could have accepted academic scholarships to several schools. Instead, he chose to walk on at Hawaii.

"Thank God I took that risk," he said. "I never would have expected to accomplish as much as I have here. I'm a better person for it and I never would have known if I hadn't taken the risk."

Billy Hull writes about the competition at punter between Tim Grasso and Briton Forester.

"It's too close to call in my opinion because Briton is real consistent and I like his short, compact stroke," Mc-Knight said. "If (Grasso's) consistency holds up to what he's been doing recently then yeah, he might be the guy."

Dave Reardon has an Idaho preview, and talks to Jacob Patek and Solomon Elimimian about their injuries.

"I tried to fight it off, but it's a little too tight. I don't like watching, period. It feels like you're separated from the team," Patek said. "At the same time it doesn't bother me. Young guys like (true freshman) Le'Marcus (Gibson) got some much-needed reps."

And finally, I contributed to a "Blogger Q&A" about the Warriors to the Saturday Sound Offs blog, which is doing a nice job of covering the college football scene. Be there!