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Sports Watch
JUNE Jones is looking for a few good men to assume leadership roles on his University of Hawaii football team. Time for leaders
to step forwardJones feels he has several natural leaders on defense, particularly safety Dee Miller and linebackers Anthony Smith, Rinda Brooks and Robert Kemfort.
"They've all shown they can be leaders," Jones said.
It's on offense where he has some concern.
With the quarterback position up for grabs, the three projected and yet-to-be-tested candidates for the starting job will have enough worries without having to take on the burden of being a leader as well.
So it has to come from elsewhere. And it might be difficult with an offensive line that has only one senior starter -- tackle Kynan Forney, who's coming off a redshirt year -- and only one returning starter, junior guard Manly Kanoa.
Trouble is, both are the strong, silent types who would rather let actions speak louder than words.
It's a tough job but somebody's got to do it.
Kanoa thinks he can step forward and take a leadership role.
"We had some good leaders last year, we need some leaders this year," Kanoa said. "I feel I can handle it."
It's a matter of doing what has to be done, he said.
You can count on it, much like how Jones was able to count on the 6-foot-4, 313-pound Kanoa, who started all 12 games at right guard as a redshirt sophomore.
This season, you'll see Kanoa, who wears No. 76, starting at left guard.
Look for him to be the "Spirit of '76" this year.
Interestingly, Kanoa, a 1997 Kamehameha Schools graduate and the lone Isle blue-chipper to sign with UH that year, came in the same recruiting class with Brooks.
A junior college transfer from New Mexico Military Institute, Brooks made an immediate impact for then second-year coach Fred vonAppen.
Who can forget Brooks' fumble-causing play that led to a touchdown in Hawaii's 17-3 upset over Minnesota in the season opener?
He shed a blocker, got into the Gophers' backfield and disrupted a quarterback handoff. Chris Shinnick picked up the loose ball at the Minnesota two-yard line and scored.
BROOKS played in 11 games that season. He started the first two games in 1998 and played briefly in one other game before sitting out the rest of the year because of a number of concussions.
He never quite recovered from frequent dizzy spells. That forced him to sit out all of last season. But he got another year of eligibility from the NCAA because of medical reasons.
No one was more pleasantly surprised than Jones when Brooks, a Houston native, showed up for spring practice and asked if he could return.
After being away a year, Brooks is feeling a lot better and is now ready and anxious to play again.
So, it'll be once more with feeling for Brooks, who's looking forward to making the most of his "second chance."
And he's definitely being counted on to be one of the ring leaders on defense this season.
With fall camp about one-third over, Jones is starting to get down to the real basics.
Yesterday, Jones trimmed his "Survivors" list of quarterbacks to three -- Mike Harrison, Nick Rolovich and freshman Timmy Chang.
They will get equal repetitions in practice the next several practices before Jones focuses on two of them and then names the starter.
"We're getting better," Jones said. "There are still things we need to do to play Portland State."