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Tuesday, November 21, 2000
Jacob Espiau may not be the first person coaches in the Western Athletic Conference consider as the top strong safety, but in the eyes of University of Hawaii head coach June Jones, he should be. Sure-handed Espiau
WAC’s defensive
player of weekBy Paul Arnett
Star-Bulletin"If the players around the league voted for the all-conference team, there's no question Jacob would be their guy," Jones said at yesterday's weekly press conference. "He's had an all-conference kind of year.
"He leads the league in tackles. He's been an unbelievable leader for us back there. He makes those kind of plays all the time in practice. They just finally came to him in the game."
Espiau finished tied for second on the team with six tackles in the 27-10 win over Louisiana Tech, but the three interceptions that tied a school record were why he was selected the WAC's defensive player of the week.
Not always blessed with the best set of hands during a game, Espiau finally managed to put them to better use.
"Everybody is always kidding me about how the football bounces off my hands during the games," Espiau said. "I've been good in practice, but for some reason, in the games I've had some problems.
"But not anymore. Those three picks were great for me. The last one I had everybody was yelling I didn't get it before it hit the turf. I told them no way. I had that one. You're not going to take that away from me."
Espiau and fellow safety Nate Jackson are tied for the team lead in interceptions with four. In Jones' mind, Espiau and Jackson are not only the top tandem in the league, but one of the better safety combinations in the nation as well.
"Both of our safeties should be All-WAC," Jones said. "Nate has played on a broken foot all year and Jacob fought back from a bad hamstring pull last year.
"Both of those guys are what we're all about. They both walked on and they both earned everything they've had. I can't say enough good things about those guys. They've been the glue."
Espiau is the second defensive player to capture All-WAC honors. The first was middle linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa, who won thanks in part to three sacks against Southern Methodist.
The defensive revival can be traced to Tinoisamoa's play at middle linebacker, the shift of Rinda Brooks to outside linebacker and the production of the defensive secondary.
"I thought the safeties had opportunities to make plays because the corners did such a good job," UH secondary coach Rich Miano said. "For me, this is the most productive the secondary has played as a unit since I've been here."
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