Sports Notebook Star-Bulletin staff

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Leonard relaxes with yoga

Adam Leonard spends Saturday nights abusing his body, crashing it time after time at high speeds into other human beings. It's what linebackers do, and Hawaii's top tackler does it very well. He leads the Warriors with 84 tackles.

How does the hard-hitting sophomore heal up between games?

Yoga.

No joke. Leonard said the stretching and meditation of his beginning yoga class helps him as a football player.

"Monday's the hardest day to go in because you're sore. But once you go in it's great. You work everything out, your legs, hips, core, shoulders. You feel great," he said.

"My body feels real good throughout the season. Even though I didn't play an extended period of time last year, my body was getting really banged up. I could tell my legs were getting tired. This year I feel rejuvenated and every game is like the first two games."

How much has Leonard tapped into the spiritual aspect of yoga?

"It's not an advanced class. So we're just working on relaxation. It helps a lot with breathing and getting that full stretch and getting peace. Just no sound and getting relaxed."

Sophomore slotback Mike Washington and junior defensive end Amani Purcell are also in the class.

Not benched:

Coach June Jones said sophomore Dan Kelly will probably regain his kickoff chores after losing the job Saturday after three consecutive out-of-bounds kicks.

"If he kicks it inbounds he will," Jones said.

Senior punter Kurt Milne replaced Kelly to finish the game.

Jones said he thinks Kelly just had a bad outing.

"He's done pretty good, almost unbelievable some games. But he got rattled, obviously, last week and didn't get the job done," the coach said.

Ilaoa better than perfect:

Senior running back Nate Ilaoa tested his tender ankle again and announced himself ready to play Saturday against San Jose State. Hawaii's leading rusher and scorer sat out last week's game against Louisiana Tech.

"It's better than 100 percent," Ilaoa said. "It's 102 percent."

Injured defensive linemen Keala Watson (knee) and Renolds Fruean (ankle) may be able to play this week.

Senior nose tackle Kahai LaCount received the results of his MRI and said he has a partially torn MCL. He hopes to be back in time for the Dec. 24 Hawaii Bowl.

"I started rehabbing (yesterday)," LaCount said.

Defensive line coach Jeff Reinebold said he's "crossing my fingers" for LaCount.

"He fought and clawed his way to be a guy who makes regular contributions to this team," Reinebold said. "He just never complains, goes to work every day."