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Glanville has ’em
hitting harder

IN the days, weeks, months heading into this new Hawaii football season, we all said that Jerry Glanville was going to have a huge impact on the UH defense. We're still saying it.

One question:

Can he play nose?

OK, reading these stories this week and looking at depth charts, we're starting to see that it's going to be a little more complicated than just what color shirt (no flowers, black) Glanville gets to wear on the sideline.

Yes, the guy is a game-changer, just by showing up. You can see it; you can feel it. Hawaii hit harder last week against USC than it has probably since Dec. 8, 2001, when the UH defense got into a near-brawl with the BYU cheerleaders.

Glanville knows his stuff, no question. He's a master motivator, innovator, operator, instigator. He's been on fire and lived to tell the tale. He sat down to dinner in the Baghdad Red Zone and asked a guy who had the equivalent of an Iraqi ukulele to play "Sweet Home Alabama."

He'll have Hawaii's defense playing better as the season goes on, bank on it.

But let's put it this way: Last season's UH defensive scheme was the one selected and installed by June Jones. The play-calling was based on his philosophy of what to do, where, when.

And when Hawaii faced teams of equal or lesser talent, it worked.

What I'm saying is, what happened last year wasn't because of a bad plan. It was a good plan. It worked -- or at least often enough to get to the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl. All things being equal, Hawaii got sacks, got stops, held on just enough for Chad Owens to grab that big pass from Tim Chang. And then it was over. Explosion. Outscore 'em. Eight wins.

The problems came in the games when things weren't equal.

Ahem. We don't need to talk about that.

Enter Glanville.

And so everything's different now, yeah?

Well, the cat in the hat has been a defensive specialist all his life, got it done in the pros, should be a definitive upgrade in scheme and strategy and timing and ferocity.

He should give UH an edge, of course.

But then comes this week, and the stories of who might start, and the depth chart that's starting to look -- "on paper," of course -- a little 2004.

Already -- the second week of the season -- we're talking about walk-ons at the corners and a guy playing out of position at the nose. (Actually, we were talking about those things in the first week of the season, too.)

If you are running an attacking, aggressive, blitzing, "odd-front" defense, guess which positions are crucial?

That's right.

Corners. Nose.

Now, these are solid guys -- they come hard, they work hard, they've got heart, they've earned everything they'll get. Winning teams are built on walk-ons who surprise you. Who knows, they could play like All-Pros tomorrow. It would be a great story.

But it tells you something. This roster is not exactly the 1985 Chicago Bears. A lot of the problems Hawaii had last season are still lingering around (i.e., a, depth; b, lack of it).

Tony Akpan is an awesome physical specimen, and he might someday become a true nose man. But his taking one for the team and going inside has to be Plan C, at least.

That tells you all you need to know.

Glanville's an upgrade in coaching, but it's a little more complicated than that.

This year he'll have plenty of opportunity to show the world he's still got it. Because it looks like a lot of last year's challenges are still there.

Yeah, these guys play hard. Everybody played hard last year, and UH went 116.

New scheme helps. Attitude helps. Enthusiasm helps. Preparation helps. But sometimes, all that will still take you only so far.

You need horses.

What Hawaii has right now is a bunch of dark horses. Guys you have to bet on on a hunch, because you don't yet know for sure.

Tomorrow, they start showing us who can play. Tomorrow, Glanville starts showing us he can still coach. I'm glad he and Jones say it will be fun, because it will be.

After looking at two-deeps that look a little too familiar, we're starting to realize how easy it won't be.