WitP: Patek, James Mills, Pro Day

Stephen Tsai writes that former UH safety Jacob Patek will sign with the CFL's Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Patek, who completed his UH eligibility at the end of the 2008 Sugar Bowl, participated in last week's Pro Day in Carson, Calif. It was there where he met Richard Wade, an area scout for the Tiger-Cats.
Patek then learned the Tiger-Cats were holding tryouts the past Saturday in Dallas. With the help of former UH coaches June Jones and Jeff Reinebold, Patek secured an invitation to the tryout.

"Today, (a Tiger-Cat official) called me and told me they would offer me a contract," Patek said. "I'm blown away. I'm ready to play some football."
He reports to training camp in June.

HawaiiAthletics.com has a press release announcing that former UH offensive lineman James Mills will be inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.

During his career, Mills was a Western All-Star at the offensive tackle position in 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, and 1993. He was All-Canadian in 1988, 1990, 1991. He also voted the league’s Most Outstanding Lineman two years in a row 1990, 1991. In addition, he was named to the BC Lions Wall of Fame and was voted as a member of the BC Lions’ 50th Season Dream Team.

College Football Insiders has a report from Hawaii's (as well as UCLA's and USC's) Pro Day. Here are some excerpts:

Veikune may have to make the switch to a linebacker, especially if he ends up in a 3-4 scheme. What he showed on Thursday had scouts saying he could indeed make the switch.
Scouts and teams are just going to try to find a way to get this playmaker on the field because on tape, all Veikune does is make plays. He’ll need to learn how to work out of a two-point stance, work in coverage and other things, but he’s smart enough and a hard enough worker to get the job done and still cause havoc in the backfield when they need him to.

Finally, I want to talk about long snapper Jake Ingram. That’s right, I’m writing about a long snapper, and I loved what I saw in Ingram.

I wasn't the only one impressed. I saw Bengals special teams coach Darrin Simmons talking at length, and a lot of it was shop talk. Of course, a snapper has to do more than snap the ball so teams will take a long look at a guy like Ingram to make sure he can cover and block. Ingram looked good whenever he was asked to do something and came off as personable and as a nose-to-the-grindstone type of guy.

It's not often I spend much time talking about long snappers, but Ingram had a very solid day.

And Island Sports Media had a report as well as a bunch of photos from Pro Day.