Tuesday, February 24, 1998
Hawaii tapping
Mt. SAC pipeline
The Rainbow football team
By Paul Arnett
expects to get a fourth recruit from
the California junior college
Star-BulletinThe fourth recruit from Mt. San Antonio (Calif.) College is expected to send his letter of intent today to the University of Hawaii football team. Cornerback J. Quincy LeJay joins junior college teammates Dwight Carter, Eric Shine and Dustin Owen to commit to the Rainbows from the Walnut, Calif., program. They are calling themselves the "Hawaii Four-O."
"If you're going to get a lot of kids from one place, it might as well be a good one," UH recruiting coordinator Don Dillon said yesterday of last year's junior college national champions. "We believe all the guys who signed from there will help us this season."
The 5-foot-10, 180-pound cornerback made his visit to the UH campus this past weekend. LeJay is the 25th member of the 1998 recruiting class, one which UH head coach Fred vonAppen believes holds some promise.
"You never know what you really have until you see them on the football field," said vonAppen, who spoke at yesterday's Quarterback Club luncheon. "But we feel like we helped ourselves in several different areas."
Chief among them was at defensive back, where the Rainbows lost leading tacklers Eddie Klaneski and Chris Shinnick at the two safety positions, and fifth-year senior Al Hunter at cornerback.
LeJay is one of four defensive backs recruited by the Rainbows. The other three are safeties Keith Bhonapha and Jajuan Huddleston, and cornerback James Polk.
Hawaii also offered a scholarship to Jayson Thompson, but the junior college prospect decided to go elsewhere, opening the door for LeJay.
He is one of 12 junior college prospects to sign with the Rainbows. Half of those were among the top 100 junior college prospects, including Owen, who was a first-team All-America.
"We're excited to get players like Dustin Owen to come here," Dillon said of the 6-2, 320-pound center. "Each year, the quality of our recruits has been getting better.
"I've always said, it takes at least three years to get a program that has been down for awhile, moving in the right direction again. I think we've started that trend.
"This looks like a really good class on paper, but you don't want to single anybody out until you see them in practice."
Dillon and vonAppen stressed that not all of these 25 recruits are sound academically. It's possible three or four scholarships could come open up by the end of the semester because the players didn't make it in the classroom.
Like last year with Chris Smith, the Rainbows placed several local players into what they call their "gray shirt" program. Smith verbally committed in 1997, but wasn't offered a scholarship until this year.
Hawaii accepted verbal commitments from a dozen local players, who could be offered scholarships as early as this summer. Others will have to wait until next January to see if UH is for them.
"Not all of our gray shirts are having trouble in the classroom," Dillon said. "Chris Smith is an example of this. In his case, we just wanted to see how our numbers were before offering him a full ride. A lot of schools do that."
Rainbow signees
Player Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Hometown/HS/JC James Bessard TE 6-7 260 Fr. Houston TX/Channelview High School Keith Bhonapha S 5-11 180 Fr. Oakland, Calif./Skyline High School Chris Brown LB 6-1 255 Fr. Honolulu/Damien High School Sean Butts WR 6-3 185 Fr. Culver City, Calif./Culver High School Dwight Carter WR 5-11 175 Jr. Santa Monica, Calif./Mt. San Antonio College Steve Dietschy OLB 6-2 235 Jr. Walnut Creek, Calif./Diablo Valley JC Kynan Forney OL 6-4 282 Jr. Nacadoches, Texas/Trinity Valley J.C. Douglas Gosling OL 6-4 302 Jr. Bakersfield, Calif./Bakersfield JC Robert Grant RB 6-0 175 Fr. Oakland, Calif./Skyline High School Ray Harrington WR 6-3 195 Fr. San Diego/Horizon High School Chris Hogge DL 6-4 256 Fr. Mililani, Hawaii/Radford High School Jajuan Huddleston S 6-3 219 Jr. Klamath Falls, Ore./College of Redwoods Shaun Jackson DL 6-3 235 Fr. Dove Canyon, Calif./Santa Margarita HS J. Quincy LeJay CB 5-10 180 Jr. Los Angeles/Mt San Antonio College Dustin Owen OL 6-2 320 Jr. Brawley, Calif./Mt. San Antonio College James Polk CB 5-9 187 Jr. Everman, Texas/Ranger (Texas) JC Tomas Racius QB 6-2 210 Jr. Los Angeles/Los Angeles Valley JC Fred Salanoa QB 6-1 195 So. Aiea/Radford/Snow College Eric Shine RB 5-7 165 Jr. Anaheim, Calif./Mt. San Antonio College Chris Smith OL 6-1 270 Fr. Honolulu/Mid-Pacific Institute Craig Stutzmann WR 5-11 190 Fr. Kaimuki/St. Louis School Jeff Ulbrich ILB 6-1 254 Jr. Morgan Hill, Calif./Gavilan College Yaphet Warren OLB 6-1 191 Jr. Seattle/University of Idaho Shawn Withy-Allen QB 6-4 195 Fr. Honolulu/Kalaheo High School Matt Wright ILB 6-1 210 Fr. Honolulu/Iolani School
UH Football Schedule
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