THE New England Patriots would love to have Leilehua High grad Adrian Murrell right about now, but Foxboro is the one place you can bet he won't call home in the near future. Murrell’s time with
the Jets appears overNew York Jets head coach Bill Parcells, through his own defection and the acquisition of All-Pro running back Curtis Martin, has just about underwritten the Patriots' future with draft picks.
The last thing the Tuna wants - while taking such an expensive gamble on the oft-injured Martin - is to have a guy like Murrell scoring his NFL breakthrough season in the uniform of his bitterest rival.
After two straight seasons of rushing for more than 1,000 yards, Murrell is entering his prime as an athlete and could be a Pro Bowler in the not-too-distant future.
But he needs to carry the ball on a regular basis, and that's not something he could do for the Jets next season.
Despite the Tuna's canned B.S. about wanting 500 carries between the two backs, you can be sure that the Jets don't really want to keep Murrell's $1.575 million contract along with Martin's $6 million a year.
St. Louis needs a good back but has already turned down a Parcells trade offer. So, it's off to Arizona, Kansas City, or Philadelphia for Murrell, who made an unannounced visit to the Leilehua High campus two weeks ago.
His heart is still in Hawaii, and he told athletic director Richard Townsend he wants to do a clinic here in June.
Murrell probably won't fetch Parcells a second-rounder but he could bring him back the third-rounder he lost on Martin.
The Tuna will have to hurry or else he may have to release Murrell after June 1, or take one heck of a lot less than his market value on draft day.
And with that scenario, who's to say that Murrell might not wind up with the Patriots after all?
Wherever he goes, I hope he gets the chance to earn the Pro Bowl berth he's always wanted. He's not going to get it at the Meadowlands.
LAUWA'E Smith's fiery technical fall win against Leilehua's Janelle Noa on Feb. 28 at the Stan Sheriff Center was a crowd-pleaser. It was hard not to like the kid when she jumped into the air, fists clenched, after becoming the first state girls' 155-pound wrestling champion.
Smith must've jumped even higher last weekend when she won the United States High School Girls' Wrestling Championship in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The Radford High honors student was also named "Outstanding Wrestler" of the 38-team, 271-competitor national tournament.
THE Oahu Interscholastic Association, anxious to find a way to boost sagging football gate revenues, is floating the idea of mixed OIA-Interscholastic League of Honolulu doubleheaders at Aloha Stadium this fall. The plan is for the leagues to split gate receipts 50-50, and OIA football coordinator Richard Townsend said the initial response from the ILH is promising.
The OIA ADs have already approved the proposal but league principals - who don't always go along with the ADs - have the final say on it when they meet on April 27.
I wonder if the ILH would like to split gate revenues at a doubleheader involving a critical St. Louis contest.
THERE was a local connection in the NCAA men's basketball final yesterday. Jon Carlisle, a 6-10, 210-pound freshman reserve forward for Utah, is the nephew of David Carlisle, manager of the Aston at the Waikiki Shores, and first cousin to former Iolani all-star forward Rich Carlisle.
