Spring Day 5, Shane Austin, Notes, WitP (w/UPDATES)

Today is the 5th spring practice -- be sure to check the Warrior Beat and the UH Sports Extra for possible live updates.

UPDATE: Here's a link to Dave Reardon's live blog.

UPDATE 2: Brian Smith, John Estes and Inoke Funaki talk about adjusting to taking snaps from under center in this Advertiser video.

UPDATE 3: More video as CC compile some spring practice news video. KFVE talks to Kealoha Pilares and Keith Ahsoon about their position changes. KITV's Rob DeMello gets a few words from Keala Watson, Adam Leonard, Inoke Funaki and Greg McMackin. KGMB has quotes from those four as they highlight the defense. Both KITV and KGMB report that Malcolm Lane hurt his ankle. And KHON's Kanoa Leahey profile receiver Aaron Bain.



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Brian McInnis profiles freshman QB Shane Austin.

"He's done everything you can do to prepare to compete," Rolovich said. "He's spent a lot of time from the day I got hired 'til today, just coming around, speaking with Coach (Ron) Lee. The effort's really there.

"He's made as much progress as he can off the field ... now it's just going to take physical reps for him to take it to another level."

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Stephen Tsai has some notes about center Austin Hansen, Lorgan Pau and Clarence “Lafu” Tuioti-Mariner.

Tuioti-Mariner, who is one of the strongest Warriors, made an impact in one-on-one drills Monday, the first full-gear practice of spring training.
“Everyone was ready to hit,” he said. “I wanted to come out there with a bang. The defense did good. I give them props, especially Rocky (Savaiigaea).”

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Here's another quote from Greg McMackin about the coaching clinic.

"I've been around a lot of states, and the high school coaching here is the same as it is in Miami and Texas," McMackin said. "There are some great coaches who could be college coaches, and could coach anywhere that they want to, but they stayed in high school because they reached those players. ... I think Hawai'i coaches are second to none."

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In a Q&A with fans, 49ers offensive coordinator Mike Martz mentions Ashley Lelie.

Both Ashley and Jason will be put on opposite sides so they are given an opportunity to display what they are capable of. We need to put both guys in the fire and see how they respond. Right now, Jason is over at X and Ashley is over at Z. It doesn’t have to end up things that way, but we just want to even things out so they get a lot of turns and repetitions.

With all of the ability Ashley has, we need to put pressure on him and give him an opportunity to compete and respond and I think he can. Both of these guys are big, physical receivers that are very gifted with smaller receiver type qualities.

From the Instant 49ers blog, looks like Isaac Sopoaga will get a shot at playing left defensive end.

(Defensive coordinator Greg) Manusky said he expected Justin Smith to play right end, Isaac Sopoaga to work at left end and Ron Fields and Aubrayo Franklin at tackle." (49ers.com)

THE TAKE: In an attempt to get their three best defensive linemen on the field, Sopoaga will start seeing time at LDE. This makes sense to give him a chance there after he signed a five-year, $20 million contract. He showed in the exhibition season against the Bears that he is very capable of penetrating and making stops behind the line of scrimmage.

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And finally, here's the transcript of June Jones' chat hosted by the Dallas Morning News. Unless it's a fake name, Jeff George asked JJ about Colt Brennan.

Jeff George: Where do you think Colt Brennan will end up in the upcoming NFL draft?

June Jones: I don't know what team. I've gotten a lot of calls on him. I would think he'd get drafted somewhere third to sixth round. It just depends on who really takes an interest on him from a coaching standpoint.