Fall Camp 2009

Players report for camp today, with practices beginning tomorrow. Yeah baby! Both the Advertiser and Star-Bulletin have previews and positional breakdowns.

Stephen Tsai writes that Coach Mack has "a lot of belief."

"I'm excited about this year," McMackin said. "I've got a lot of belief in my players. I've got a lot of belief in my coaches. I know the people of Hawai'i are really excited about this season. They will us to win, and they pray for us to win. ... This is a team that we have to do a great job of coaching, and the players have to do a great job of learning."

The Warriors lost three coaches — Alex Gerke (offensive line, running backs) to Utah State, Ikaika Malloe (defensive tackles, special teams) to Yale, and Craig Stutzmann (receivers) to Portland State.

Gordy Shaw replaces Gerke, with Brian Smith moving to running backs coach, and former Nevada head coach Chris Tormey will coordinate special teams and coach the safeties.

Jason Kaneshiro has some quotes from the players about camp and competition.

"This is a perfect place to have everyone together instead of in their own rooms," senior offensive lineman Laupepa Letuli said. "You get a chance to bond on and off the field. It's fun. It's like three weeks of camping and football. What more could you want."

While the living arrangements tend to foster off-field unity, once practice begins the focus shifts to creating separation in the race for starting jobs.

"There's a lot of competition," slotback Kealoha Pilares said. "Coach has a lot of us next to each other on the depth chart. It's going to make everybody better in the long run."