It's nearly a week into fall practice and Kevin Lempa is happy. But he lives in constant fear of the unknown. Staying healthy
key for RainbowsBy Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.comThe University of Hawaii football team's defensive coordinator knows that the wrong injury to the wrong player could seriously hurt the Warriors' chances before the season even begins Sept. 8 on Maui.
"We look good, especially our overall effort and pursuit," Lempa said. And then, whispering, "But knock on wood. We have to stay injury-free."
There will always be the little nagging injuries. Yesterday, defensive lineman Mike Iosua (shoulder) joined linebacker Bronson Liana (hamstring) and Travis Laboy (hamstring) on the exercise bikes, while Hyrum Peters (hamstring) limped around behind his fellow defensive backs. All are expected back soon.
But defensive lineman Lui Fuga is out after shoulder surgery and not expected back for at least a month. Lempa and head coach June Jones know that no matter how good the defense looks now, losing one more player of Fuga's caliber -- especially among the front seven -- could be devastating.
"Josiah Cravalho has done some good things at corner. (Cornerback) Kelvin Millhouse has done pretty well," Jones said. "The first-team D-line has really been getting after it; Houston (Ala), Wayne (Hunter) and Laanui (Correa). Chris Brown's done a good job at inside linebacker.
"I feel good about our first group. We need a little more depth. That's kind of scary. Defensively we're a little skinny in some areas."
Special stuff
The Warriors spent most of yesterday afternoon's practice on special teams.Mike Bass, Clifton Herbert, Justin Colbert, Omar Bennett and Cravalho took the reps at kickoff return.
Aaron Barret sat out with a sore quad, so Justin Ayat did all the kicking. Ayat, a redshirt freshman, missed a few field-goal attempts, but tried not to worry about it.
"It's better now than during the games," he said. "Pressure situations don't really bother me much, I'm looking forward to a chance to contribute after standing around a lot last year."
Minister of Defense
Kevin Jackson spread the gospel of peace, love and understanding in Japan for two weeks over the summer. But the 6-foot-4, 246-pound sophomore wants to destroy opposing offenses from wherever the UH coaches decide to put him.Jackson was a defensive end last fall, a linebacker last spring and a missionary last month. Now he's back at defensive end.
"We really liked Kevin in the spring at strong side linebacker. He really showed he could play that position," Lempa said. "But for the team, because we were short defensive linemen, we moved him back to defensive end and he's doing a real nice job in pass rush situations."
Jackson said he plans to be a fulltime missionary after college.
"I really enjoyed my time in Japan, spreading my (Christian) faith," he said.
Is it tough balancing blitzing and The Bible?
"From the outside looking in I guess it looks like that," Jackson said. "For me, starting off it did seem like that. But God wants us to go afer him aggressively and do everything we do wholeheartedly and give it our best effort. The position that I play requires me to do that."
Said Lempa: "When he's on the field he's able to cut loose."
Tubular
UH's game at Southern Methodist on Oct. 6 will be televised regionally by the Fox Sports Net, the Western Athletic Conference confirmed yesterday.Hawaii's game against Fresno State on Oct. 26 will be televised nationally on ESPN. Also, the Hawaii-Air Force game scheduled for Nov. 24 might be changed to Nov. 23 (the day after Thanksgiving) and be televised by ESPN.
Short yardage
The times of today's, tomorrow's and Friday's practices have been changed. The first sessions are 2-5 p.m. at the grass field and the second sessions are 7:45-9:15 p.m. at Cooke Field. They remain open to the public. ... Visitors to practice yesterday included the Dimond High School team from Alaska, which had played Waianae in a preseason game last weekend. ... Former offensive lineman Joe Onosai and defensive back Alan Hackbarth also attended.