Road Warriors, Special Teams, Estes

Stephen Tsai writes about life on the road for the Warriors. June Jones talking about having to practice without the scout team.

"Because you don't have the two scout teams on the road, you may only have an hour of practice because you have to break up the teams," Jones said. "It's more like a pro practice. It's a little bit hard. But you get a better look because the starters are running the scout team. (Starting slotbacks) Davone (Bess) and Ryan (Grice-Mullins) will be running the routes instead of scout receivers. The defense will get better looks."

Jones also discusses an advantage of always having open practices.

Jones said he expects between 40 and 50 "NFL people" to attend the Warriors' practices in Houston, most focusing on Brennan. Jones said the attention should not be a distraction.

"That's the reason my practices are open," Jones said, noting that crowds "are the norm around here. We've had HBO, ESPN, everybody at our practice. Marvin Hagler, Rudy, they've been at practice. If you had closed practices all of the time and then (the scouts) attended on the road, it could be a distraction. It won't be a distraction to this team. They deal with it everyday."

Dave Reardon and Brian McInnis write that UH hopes not to repeat the 2003 road trip.

In 2003, UH left Hawaii 1-0 for games at USC and UNLV. They returned to the islands 1-2. The Warriors bounced back to finish 9-5, but they were a disappointing 5-3 and fourth in the Western Athletic Conference.

Jason Kaneshiro has a great article on the play of the kick return teams.

"On special teams, some guys only get on the field maybe five or six plays a game, so it's 110 percent every single time," said junior defensive back Guyton Galdeira. "Coach (Dennis) McKnight talks about being junkyard dogs and just the willingness to play the play longer than your opponent."

And Dave Reardon writes in the Star-Bulletin's Sports Notebook that John Estes sat out practice due to an infection, but should be okay.

Estes has an infection for an ingrown hair in a cut on his right leg.

"I didn't take care of it the way I should've," Estes said. "I drained it after the game and cleaned it out and I'm taking antibiotics."

In his stead, Larry Sauafea delivered the snaps at center. Also from the Notebook:

• Lafu Tuioiti-Mariner and Cameron Allen-Jones worked out at right guard.


• The weather forecast in Ruston shows a 40% chance of showers and thunderstorms with a high in the upper 80s on Saturday.


• John Fonoti did not make the trip for the LaTech game because of his heel injuries, but he should make it to the UNLV game. BJ Freuan took his place on the roster for this Saturday's game.