Down time for UH
special teams

By Paul Arnett
Star-Bulletin

Special teams haven't been especially good in recent years.

Aside from punter Chad Shrout's nationally ranked foot, the numbers for the University of Hawaii special teams have been bleak.

Since Fred vonAppen was named head coach in 1995, the Rainbows haven't returned a punt or a kickoff for a touchdown.

"We've been pathetic, both in setting up returns and protecting them," vonAppen said.

Their opponents have been much more effective. Last year, the Rainbows gave up six punt returns for touchdowns. Three were off blocked kicks, including two in the 34-27 loss to Air Force.

This nasty trend began in vonAppen's first season when opponents brought back three punts for scores. Teams averaged 13.5 yards a return on punts. The Rainbows countered with an 8.4 average. The longest return by Eddie Klaneski was only 23 yards.

As bad as that was, it only got worse last year. Teams averaged a staggering 17.8 yards a return on punts. Hawaii improved its return average to 10.3 yards, but not enough to make a difference.

With that in mind, UH football fans might think the Rainbows are practicing diligently this spring to correct those problems. But they would be wrong, due in part to last week's departure of safety Ron Wood.

The junior college transfer was the backup long snapper to senior Tyler Tanigawa in 1997. But with Wood being ruled ineligible by the NCAA, Shrout is without a dance partner.

Through the first week of spring, Shrout has spent as much time being a stand-in quarterback or center, as he has a punter. Not that he minds.

"I'll do whatever I can to help us win," Shrout said.

But vonAppen agrees that the Rainbows would be better served practicing protection of Shrout's golden leg.

The third-year UH head coach said yesterday that there were several good reasons why the Rainbows haven't tackled special teams in earnest just yet -- chief among them is no long snapper.

"It's hard to simulate punt coverage without a deep snapper," vonAppen said. "We had a local player join us last week because he was a deep snapper in high school.

"But he can't put on the pads yet until he's been with us for three practices. He looks pretty good. We also have some guys coming in for fall camp, who we think will help us under center and on returns.

"We're going to spend the summer as a staff redesigning our punt protection and coverage. We'll be taking an in-depth look at every phase of special teams, and once we get everybody on board in fall camp, we'll be spending a lot more time on it."

Not that Shrout and place-kicker Eric Hannum are spending the spring looking up at the sky. VonAppen worked personally with them on field goals and kickoffs in the opening period of each practice last week.

Hannum handled all the place-kicker duties last year. The junior from Temecula, Calif., connected on 15 of 24 field goals and 18 of 19 extra points. His 63 points were the most scored on the team.

"I'm feeling even stronger than last year," Hannum said, who has gained 30 pounds since joining the team two years ago. "I'm in a good rhythm. My leg is strong. I'm looking forward to this year more than any other."

As for punt and kickoff returns, look for Charles Tharp and Eleu Kane handling those duties this spring. Junior college transfer Eric Shine also could handle punts for the Rainbows in the fall.

"Eric will probably get a good look on punt returns," vonAppen said of the incoming recruit, who still has a lot of work left in the classroom to be eligible. "We need somebody to be a breakaway threat back there. We haven't had that in my first two years here."

Despite some of the down figures, Hawaii has done a better job on kickoffs. The Rainbows averaged 19.2 yards a return last year. They yielded 21.7 yards, but at least no one brought a kick back for a touchdown.

"As a staff, we're going to approach special teams a lot like last year," vonAppen said. "All the coaches will have a role. But our job as a staff is to come up with a better plan and make sure we execute it as a team."