Tuesday, August 31, 1999
Injury shuffles
Hawaii’s secondary
Nate Jackson undergoes knee
surgery, forcing Rainbow football
coaches to juggle their lineup
of defensive backsRAINBOW NOTEBOOK
By Paul Arnett
Star-BulletinNate Jackson's slight knee sprain turned into a month-long rehabilitation program that will force Hawaii defensive coaches to do some juggling in the secondary.
"Fortunately, we have some depth back there, so we can do some things without it hurting us as much," Rainbows head coach June Jones said yesterday.
Hawaii moved Phil Austin from right cornerback to safety to fill Jackson's spot. Quincy LeJay shifted to starting right cornerback, a position he is familiar with entering Saturday's season opener against Southern California.
Jackson hurt his knee last Thursday after making an interception. At first, Jones thought it was an ankle sprain after watching Jackson limp off the muddy, surface.
"But it turned out to be a sprain to the medial ligament," Jones said. "He looked like he was going to be fine, but he recently bent down and the knee locked on him. There was apparently some floating cartilage in there."
Jones expects Jackson to be out a month, but is hopeful the arthroscopic surgery he had yesterday will allow him a quicker recovery.
Losing Jackson is particularly painful to defensive coordinator Greg McMackin and secondary assistant Rich Miano.
"Nate was having an excellent fall camp," McMackin said. "He's not that big, but he closes well and is always capable of making big plays for us."
The secondary did gain a player. Over the weekend, Bronson Liana shifted from quarterback to safety, a move Jones supports.
"I told him I would do whatever he wanted to do," Jones said. "If he wanted to stay at quarterback, fine. But I also told him he had a better chance of getting on the field faster as a safety.
"He kind of reminds me of a Blane Gaison who made a similar move when he played here. Bronson is a good athlete who we want to get on the field."
The batting order at quarterback is Dan Robinson, Mike Harrison, Josh Skinner and Shawn Whithy-Allen. BYU transfer Kevin Gilbride is on the scout team. After sitting this season, Gilbride will have three years of eligibility.
Given how poorly Hawaii has played on the road the past seven seasons, you might wonder why June Jones chose to wear white jerseys for Saturday's season opener against No. 21-ranked Southern California. TODAY'S RAINBOW NOTEBOOK
White jerseys Saturday
"We just wanted to do something different," Jones said today of the change. Traditionally, Hawaii wears a green jerseys at home. "It's just for the first game -- unless we win. Then we won't change anything."
USC will wear its traditional cardinal jerseys -- something it hasn't done on the road since 1982 when it played UCLA at the Rose Bowl. The Bruins won that game, 20-19. The last time Hawaii wore white at Aloha Stadium was in the 1989 Aloha Bowl, a game won by Michigan State, 33-13.
"When you've lost 18 games in a row, you want to do something to shake things up," Jones said.
Injury update
Hawaii remains fairly healthy as it prepares for the Trojans. The only players out are backup running back Matt Wright (ankle), slotback Davey deLaura (hamstring) and free safety Nate Jackson (knee).Outside linebacker Robert Kemfort returned to practice for the first time since spraining his ankle nearly a week ago. He is still having problems making cuts on the sprain, but is expected to play this weekend.
Daniel Ho-Ching could see some playing time at right outside linebacker if Kemfort can't go. Both are backing up starter Yaphet Warren.
"We've limited our contact throughout fall camp to keep everybody as healthy as possible," Jones said. "We've been very fortunate to keep most of our guys in there, which we needed to do."
In the New York Times
Jones held the Sunday New York Times in his hand, a smile spreading across his face. In it, is a story on Jones and his attempt to turn around a Hawaii program that has fallen on hard times."Now, we can start recruiting in New York," Jones said, then smiled. "It's great for our program to get a story like this."
The article centers on the recent downfall of the Rainbows and the problems that arose under former head coach Fred vonAppen.
Skinner would play
Freshman quarterback Mike Harrison might be No. 2 on the depth chart, but if Dan Robinson were injured in this weekend's game, Josh Skinner would be the man."Josh has the game experience," Jones said. "If Dan went down later in the year, we would consider Mike. But right now, Josh would probably get the call."
By Paul Arnett, Star-Bulletin
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
Ka Leo O Hawaii
