Rudy, Brian, LBs, OL, IS

Rudy Ruettiger, inspiration for the movie "Rudy" was a guest speaker at a team meeting yesterday in which graduate assistant Brian Kajiyama was presented with a grant from the June Jones Foundation.

"Brian is an awesome guy," Ruettiger said. "He kind of stuck around, and now look at what he's done."

"He made such a commitment to help us," Jones said. "His mom and dad have helped so much for eight years. They live on the Windward side. Can you imagine the commitment his family made trying to help him get his doctorate? I wanted to help in some way."

That's when Jones decided to present Kajiyama with the grant. "It's just a small gesture," Jones said.

Kajiyama said: "I'm shocked, because I really didn't do anything special. I'm extremely grateful to coach Jones and his staff for letting me be a small part of the Warrior family."

Congratulations to Brian! Also in the article are injury updates on John Fonoti, Raphael Ieru, Adam Leonard, Mario Cox and Solomon Elimimian.

Jason Kaneshiro profiles the injured starting linebackers, Leonard, Elimimian and Blaze Soares as they ease their way back to practice. He also writes about the backups who have been getting a lot of valuable experience.

With the trio taking it slow, C.J. Allen-Jones, Timo Paepule and Brad Kalilimoku (already considered a starter by defensive coordinator Greg McMackin) worked with the first defense yesterday. The increased repetitions have helped some who started farther down the depth chart get up to speed with the 4-3 system.

"I feel a lot more comfortable than before," said Paepule, who has played in Elimimian's spot. "At first I was a little shaky. I understand what Solomon goes through now, he has a lot of pressure. Being in that middle you're like the quarterback of the defense. We have a good relationship, we trained together this summer, we're real tight, we help each other out. It's good competition."

At the bottom of that page is an article about the first-team offensive line getting time to gel as center John Estes practiced again, back from injury.

Chemistry was the theme of yesterday's practice. Several potential starters mentioned how important it is for them to develop the same bond that was shared by the seniors from a season ago.

"Us five have been together for a couple years now, so we just need to continue to build together," junior Keoni Steinhoff said.

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Athletic director Herman Frazier addressed the whole Ian Sample thing. From Dave Reardon's article:

UH has started its own investigation, Frazier said.

"The alleged things reported on the Internet are under review by the university," Frazier said. "We've already had four or five meetings since Friday. This takes precedent over some other things."

Sample's accusations of rigged drug testing have no basis, Frazier said.

"Through the comments (Sample) made, he had no evidence of it. He pretty much says it himself," Frazier said. "But we will do a thorough review, because we take it very seriously."

At the end of the article, Frazier says the final two games of the 2008 season will be announced at the end of the month...

Michael Tsai has more from Frazier regarding the drug-testing aspect of Ian's deleted chapters.

"The NCAA does random testing so nobody in our department chooses those people," Frazier said. "I can refute that right off the bat. Just knowing how that's handled, that's not an issue."

Independent of the NCAA's random tests, Frazier said the university also conducts its own drug testing of all new athletes during their first week of classes as well as periodic random tests throughout the year.

"I'm a big proponent of drug testing," Frazier said, citing his involvement with the Olympics and the selection of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency to test U.S. athletes.

"I probably know more about drug testing than most people you would encounter," he said. "I speak nationally on panels about drug testing, so I would know if there are any irregularities within our testing program — first hand."

Frazier also takes a swipe at blogs in general, but I'm just going to let it go. Maybe file it away for later use if need be, like all those other quotes from the AD. Hehehe.