Sports Notebook
Star-Bulletin staff
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Kalilimoku sad to be sitting
Asked casually how he was doing after the Hawaii football team's practice yesterday, Brad Kalilimoku answered honestly.
"Could be better," he sighed.
A strained hamstring limited Kalilimoku to watching the Warriors' workout from the sidelines yet again, losing another practice he had hoped to spend getting comfortable in his new role with the UH defense.
While he doesn't want to aggravate an injury that could further hamper his offseason training, Kalilimoku knows it's costing him valuable time on the field as he shifts from inside linebacker to strong safety.
"It's hard. I was trying to show Coach what I can do and it's a new position for me, so now's the time to learn everything," he said. "I can't play right now, but I'm trying to do everything I can to study. ... It's still not the same as getting in there and playing."
Kalilimoku pulled his hamstring March 24, at the end of UH's first week of practice. When the team returned from spring break on Monday, it still hadn't improved enough for him to run full speed on it.
"If we had spring practice for one guy it would have been Brad ... in terms of switching positions and getting the mental reps and physical reps," UH defensive backs coach Rich Miano said. "But he is watching the film, he is studying at practice, he does know what to do a lot better than what we thought he would at this stage. He'll fall behind from a physical aspect of technique, but I think mentally he is continuing to improve."
While Kalilimoku continues to recover, senior Michael Malala has stepped in with the first unit and has impressed the coaches.
"I love what Mike Malala's doing," Miano said. "I think Mike has taken to coaching, he's way more focused, his technique's better. He's a (converted) basketball player, and he seems to be understanding the game of football better."
Full contact: The Warriors spent the final 15 minutes of practice yesterday with their first full-speed tackling session of the spring.
"We held guys out of there that we already know about, and took a look at a lot of the younger guys," UH coach June Jones said.
The offense worked mainly on running plays and short passes during the period, while the defensive players, who normally pull up on hits during drills, relished the chance to take ballcarriers to the ground.
"That was good for everybody because you kind of get in a habit of getting to the ball but you're not working on tackling," linebacker Adam Leonard said. "It really helps with your technique that you've been practicing with different drills and just implementing that and going 100 percent."
Drying out: The last few days of sunshine dried the grass practice field enough for the Warriors to return. With the field softened by a month-plus of rain, the team had practiced on the artificial turf at neighboring Les Murakami Stadium earlier this week.
On several occasions yesterday, Jones used moments between plays to stomp down divots in the grass, resembling a golfer who had just chunked his shot to the green. But he was happy to be back on the field.
"It's still a little soft, but it'll hold up hopefully through the end of spring," Jones said.
Renewal deadline: Tomorrow is the deadline to renew season tickets for the upcoming season. Fans have four options for renewing:
» online at
www.etickethawaii.com.
» by fax to the Stan Sheriff Center Ticket Office at 956-3403 (Visa or Mastercard only).
» by mail (postmarked by tomorrow) to UH Athletic Ticket Office, 1337 Lower Campus Road, Honolulu, HI 96822.
» in person at the Sheriff Center between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.