George Daily-Lyles Commits, Fresno News

Stephen Tsai writes that linebacker George Daily-Lyles shall become a Warrior.

The best defensive player from one of the top high school football teams in California has accepted a scholarship from the University of Hawai'i.

"Yes, I'm going to be a Warrior," said George Daily-Lyles, Long Beach Poly's middle linebacker.

Daily-Lyles is 5 feet 11, 220 pounds and runs 40 yards in 4.7 seconds. He turned down an offer from Arizona. He also received interest from UCLA, Colorado State and New Mexico. Scouts liken Daily-Lyles to former Warrior linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa, now with the St. Louis Rams.

"He's a tenacious football player," Poly head coach Raul Lara said. "The way he takes control of the game — calling the signals and making plays — it's pretty neat to watch him."

Congrats to George and UH.

On the Warrior Beat, ST posts this highlight video of Daily-Lyles. Wow, he looks fast on the field. Nice.



======

Back to the article, ST talks to Inoke Funaki about some of the negativity being thrown his way.

"I'm harsh on myself, too," Funaki said. "I understand where they're coming from. There's nothing you can do about it. It's understandable. Fans will be fans. You can't be mad at them. They're fans. That's what they see. I can see it from their perspective, like, 'Dang, Inoke, you can't be doing that. You can't be turning the ball over. You have to be doing better.' I understand. You have to stay strong mentally, and try to do what you can."

Tsai also catches up with Brent Rausch and Greg Alexander, who may be getting more reps in practice, and has injury news on Kealoha Pilares and Malcolm Lane who are both expected to play against Fresno after suffering concussions on Saturday.

Rocky Savaiigaea talks to Jason Kaneshiro about re-injuring his tricep.

Savaiigaea had played extensively in his season debut and was lining up a shot on SJSU quarterback Kyle Reed when he extended his arms and "it popped on me."

"I wasn't 100 percent, but I was able to play," Savaiigaea said. "I was playing good and it was holding up on me and just that one motion just killed it for me.

Kaneshiro also has some notes about the personal foul penalties, injuries, the QBs, and turnovers:

Hawaii's 17-2 turnover deficit again dominated McMackin's comments after UH gave up six while taking away none against SJSU.

He said the Warriors defense will emphasize forcing takeaways in practice drills and the offense may remove certain plays from the game plan in an effort to reduce the losses.

The AP's Jaymes Song has an article about UH's season so far. Lots of quotes from Monday's press conference.

I think David Albee of the Marin Independent Journal breaks the record for aggravating "luau" and "poi" and other Hawaii-touristy jokes in his profile of UH QB coach Nick Rolovich.

Rolovich is right in the middle of this luau of (thus far) lousy quarterbacks.

"I'm sure people aren't really happy. I'm sure there's some doubters," he said. "This hurts me as much as anyone. I didn't lose when I was here (as a quarterback) and winning is something I want to keep going."

Rolovich is rolling with the punches and the poi. He received advice from Jones, who sent him text messages from SMU where he now coaches, and McMackin keeps encouraging his QB coach.

Aloha means good luck, brah.

Argh.

Dave Reardon writes about the personal foul penalties and the emphasis on discipline heading into the Fresno game.

It's no coincidence that the Warriors' most contentious game so far this season was its first against a WAC foe. UH picked up an image with some in the league over the years as a band of showboating bullies, and payback is an itch every team in the conference wants to scratch - starting with Fresno State on Saturday.

You know Pat Hill's nationally ranked team and the denizens of Bulldog Stadium are rabid in anticipation. Consecutive losses to the Warriors, including a 68-37 trouncing at their place in 2006, are far from forgotten.

Emotion wins football games. It loses them, too.

Ferd Lewis catches up with Fresno coach Pat Hill as he talks to Bulldog fans in a hardware store.

Never mind that UH is a 22-point underdog, Hill is preparing the Bulldogs and their fans as if for an invasion of the Huns. "This game against Hawai'i is going to be a tough game I promise you," Hill says. " I promise you right now Hawai'i will come in ready to play. Their backs are to the wall. They're in a must-win situation and they have a lot of pride. They are a tough, tough group of kids and they will play their heart out. It is gonna be a knock-down, drag-out football game."

Daniel Lyght of the Fresno Bee has a preview of the UH vs FSU game.

"They cause some real problems [for defenses] because they're not sure what they want to do yet," Hill said in his Monday morning news conference. "With [former coach June Jones] there, you pretty much knew what you were going to get every time you played against Hawaii. But with this team there are a lot of unknowns."

Lyght also has some "Know Your Foe" game notes.

And George Hostetter of the Fresno Bee's Sports Buzz blog is hoping for a sellout.