ByDeanSensui, Star-Bulletin
UH football coach Fred von Appen expects to hear
from most of his recruits today.
Known as an early riser, vonAppen figures letters from as far away as Texas and California will be waiting for him in the tray.
"We expect to hear from most everybody we sent letters of intent to," vonAppen said yesterday afternoon. "NCAA rules forbid me from making any specific comments about players, but we feel like we did pretty well. You won't really know until you get them on the football field."
The Rainbows expect to sign anywhere from 24 to 29 players. They already have seven in place from the junior college ranks, who transferred to Hawaii at midterm.
They have received numerous verbal commitments, but vonAppen is leery about those until they sign on the dotted line.
"You have guys who say they're coming here, who may get a last-
second call from another school that wants them," vonAppen said. "You hope that won't happen, but I've been in the business long enough to know it does."
Hawaii got a little bit of everything during the early signing period. They landed two wide receivers, a quarterback, a defensive back, an offensive and defensive lineman, and a tight end.
The most intriguing players of that group are quarterback Dan Robinson of Ricks Junior College in Idaho and receiver John Kirby of San Francisco City College. Robinson played his high school football in Utah. VonAppen said he already fits in with the three returning quarterbacks - senior Tim Carey, sophomore Hunter Young and redshirt freshman John Gurasich.
As for Kirby, the 6-foot-3 receiver was named to the all-region team in northern California. Hawaii is still hoping to sign another big-play receiver to help open up the passing game of the West Coast offense.
They also appear to have a running back of some worth in Charles Tharp.
Despite being only 5-foot-9, the St. Francis High senior of Mountain View, Calif., rushed for more than 2,000 yards and 18 touchdowns last fall.
He will join Stanford transfer Quincy Jacobs in the backfield, who has considerable more size.
This one-two punch should help the Rainbows be more effective on offense next season.
An obvious key will be how well the Rainbows do up front.
They received verbal commitments from three local prep products, who could help the Rainbows down the road.
They are offensive linemen Manly Kanoa III from Kamehameha Schools, Pac-Five's Chris Smith and Radford High's Aaron Leverenz. Leverenz is a 6-4, 290-pounder, who can bench press 365 pounds and has been timed at 5.1 in the 40-yard dash.
Kanoa and Smith also bring size and strength to the table, something the Rainbows need in order to improve upon their 2-10 record.