Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
Sports Watch
THE latest oxymoron in the world of sports, especially when it comes to recruiting athletes, is what you are hearing a lot of lately - "verbal commitment." Jones needs
commitments in writingWhen is a commitment binding? Obviously not when it's verbal.
A player's word is great, but in this day and age, you just can't take anybody's word. You've got to have it down in writing.
That's why University of Hawaii football coach June Jones can't wait until Feb. 2 -- next Wednesday -- the first day when prep recruits can sign national letters of intent to play for his Rainbows.
As of now, Jones has received verbal commitments from some of the state's best high school recruits, most notably, St. Louis' prolific touchdown makers -- quarterback Timmy Chang and slotback Gerald Welch.
Will they be the "Rainbow Connection" of the future?
Not surprisingly, it took Jones with his wide-open offensive style of play to attract the attention of quarterbacks, wide receivers and defensive backs. Guys who like to play throw and catch.
Winning has helped, too, as Jones led a Rainbow resurrection from football's doldrums to one of the greatest turnarounds in NCAA history.
Whether he can match last season's 9-4 record remains to be seen. It all starts with recruiting a few good men.
Jones lost the bulk, literally and figuratively, of his offensive line. That has to be his biggest concern right now.
IT'LL be difficult to replace Kaulana Noa, Adrian Klemm, Dustin Owen and Andy Phillips up front.
They did a great job in protecting a not-very-mobile Dan Robinson, who threw for a record 4,119 yards and 30 touchdowns.
Manly Kanoa figures to take Noa's right tackle spot and take over as the leader on the offensive line as well. But there will be a lot of ifs on the OL.
The linebacking corps also took a hit as Jeff Ulbrich and Yaphet Warren, the team's two leading tacklers, have used up their eligibility.
A QB kind of a guy, Jones seems to be stockpiling quarterbacks.
If Chang comes aboard, he will join Mike Harrison, who threw 20 passes as a freshman last fall; sophomore-to-be Shawn Withy Allen, who has yet to throw a pass; BYU transfer Kevin Gilbride, and two incoming JC quarterbacks, Jared Flint and Nick Rolovich.
Then, there's also Roosevelt QB Chad Kapanui, another prepster verbally committed to UH.
OK, Jones got all these throwers. Who's going to catch the passes?
Dwight Carter's gone, but the receivers look solid with the return of Craig Stutzmann, Channon Harris and last year's unheralded freshman find from Radford, Ashley Lelie.
If Welch signs and is every bit as good as he showed in high school, watch out. He's also exciting to watch on punt returns. Of course, he still needs to stop verbalizing his commitment and sign on the dotted line.
I'll also feel a lot better if Jones can get a couple of quality running backs to spell Avion Weaver and Afatia Thompson.
A team with too many quarterbacks could lead to problems. Remember, even Jones left here so that he could play.
But watching Rainbow football over the years, I know you can never have enough running backs, linemen or linebackers.
So Jones and Rainbow fans are anxiously awaiting all these verbal commitments to become realities -- signed, sealed and delivered.
But on paper so far, albeit unsigned, he has won the local prep recruiting war.