Washington, Jantz, WitP, Ranked 81st

Brian McInnis profiles receiver Michael Washington, who is ready to have a breakout year after sitting on the bench for most of his UH career.

The highly touted recruit (he turned down scholarships from California, Miami, Penn State and other schools) earned some playing time at wideout his freshman year, but was then buried in the deep slotback position for the next two seasons. With Bess and Grice-Mullins leaving for the NFL a season early after the Warriors' 12-0 regular season and loss in the Sugar Bowl, Washington is in prime position to be a difference-maker in 2008.

"There's not a day that goes by that I don't go to sleep dreaming about the Florida game, dreaming about games during the season," he said. "Me, Yoda (slotback Aaron Bain), (quarterback) Tyler (Graunke), we got one year left, so we just gotta ball out. I definitely didn't come here all the way from Pennsylvania for no vacation."

Stephen Tsai has a lot of pictures from offseason workouts, and talks about QB Steele Jantz, who continues to impress, as a possible "beigeshirt".

The way a beige shirt would work is Jantz, who is a freshman already enrolled in Summer Session I, would be on the active roster this fall, presumably as a redshirt. In January, he then would go on scholarship. A beigeshirt is different from a grayshirt, in which a freshman is not on the active roster during the fall semester.

Shawn Withy-Allen had a great game in his return to the Fayetteville Guard of the AIFA.

Newly acquired quarterback Shawn Withy-Allen completed 9 of 10 passes in the first half, including a pair of touchdown passes to Jay Jackson.

“Our offensive line played outstanding tonight and all of our receivers were open,” Withy-Allen said. “I didn’t get pressured not one time that I can remember and the receivers ran perfect routes to get open.”

Withy-Allen finished 18-for-23 for 261 yards and seven touchdowns, with one coming on the ground in the second quarter. Withy-Allen’s six touchdown passes are a season-high for a Fayetteville quarterback.

Maybe Timmy Chang's time with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats may not be over after all, as was speculated last week. He's been doing great in practice...

QB Timmy Chang made a series of nice throws today, including a pass to WR Ernie Jackson that went over the hands of an outstretched defender and directly to the receiver.

...and the QB signed last week that caused the speculation was released.

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats have made the following transactions:

Released IMP QB Chris Leak

Chad Kapanui has a chance to break the Sioux City Bandits team passing record tonight.

Quarterback Chad Kapanui needs only six pass completions tonight to break DeGeorgia's old record of 205 set in 2003. Considering the fact that Kapanui's averaging 181.5 yards passing, he'll set a new passing record, currently 327 yards shy of DeGeorgia's 2002 record of 2,405 yards.

Jeff Ulbrich is featured in this article from Matthew Barrows of the Sacramento Bee about the battle at the 49ers strong-side inside linebacker position.

Jeff Ulbrich
Vitals: 6-0, 240.
Experience: Eight-year veteran.

Pro: The savvy Ulbrich isn't afraid to take on guards and fullbacks. He had success playing next to Patrick Willis late last season.

Con: There's concern that Ulbrich will wear down at the physically demanding position. He's also valuable on special teams and in nickel packages.

49ers linebacker coach Mike Singletary talks about Ulbrich in this interview from Barrows' blog.

Q: Jeff Ulbrich is obviously willing to do anything for this team. Is there a concern with him that he couldn't withstand the pounding at the position?

MS: Jeff is very important to what we're doing on this team in leadership and all those things. I think what you're saying is certainly an idea, a thought process. When you've got a guy like Jeff, you want to make sure he's going to last a whole season. You don't want him banged up all the time.

Q: And he's valuable in other areas.

MS: Oh yeah. Very much so. Nickel, big sub - all that kind of stuff.

And finally, Rivals.com ranks Hawaii 81st in the nation in their preseason countdown, just ahead of 4-8 UTEP and 5-7 Wyoming. Right. If they really think UH is going to drop that far, well that's just more motivation for players and coaches, more fools to prove wrong. They just don't know! And that's understandable, with so many unknowns on offense and with the new coaching staff. But from Top 20 last year to 81st?!?! Anyway, being the underdog once again, with what UH fans know about this team, I think it's gonna be a fun year. 83 more days!