The Hawaii football team will go with a re-tooled defensive line in its Aloha Stadium opener Saturday against Rice. UH shuffles
defensive lineStar-Bulletin staff
Mike Iosua is expected to start at left tackle and Lance Samuseva at right tackle, and Travis Laboy may start at right end, defensive line coach Vantz Singletary said today.
Iosua did not play last week due to a hyperextended knee.
The lone starting holdover would be left end Laanui Correa.
Tackle Lui Fuga is now practicing, but still recovering from a shoulder injury. He said today he won't be ready to play Saturday.
Tackle Wayne Hunter is moving back to end, his natural position, but is not expected to start.
Also, offensive lineman Sione Tafuna has been moved to defense to help beef up the interior line depth.
Defensive end/outside linebacker Joe Correia did not practice today. He aggravated an old injury to his right foot in Saturday's 28-20 loss at Nevada.
The Warriors front had trouble stopping the Wolf Pack's running game. UH yielded 220 yards on the ground, including 162 by Chance Kretschmer.
Hawaii (1-1) faces another challenge Saturday in Rice's (2-1) option attack. The Owls rolled up 315 yards of 360 total on the ground in its 38-13 victory over the Warriors last year at Houston.
"You have to play assignment football," Singletary said. "You can't go out there trying for killshots."
Jones not worried: Coach June Jones made it clear yesterday that he isn't worried about UH's ability to punch in touchdowns from the red zone.
Jones said his team's difficulty in scoring touchdowns from inside the 20 came from execution, not design. After reviewing the game film, Jones said he saw several instances where the Warriors should have cashed in.
"We didn't throw and catch," he said. "Guys wide open and we didn't do things that we do every day in practice. In fact, if you come to the Na Koa meeting you can watch the tape for yourself."
Miscommunication plagued the Warriors throughout the game, Jones said, where one or two players on the field were doing different assignments than the rest of the team.
"Well when the kids look at this tape, they're going to see," Jones said.
"Just things like if you're a receiver, running a guy off and not dogging it -- is the difference in scoring a touchdown when Michael Bass breaks the line of scrimmage, and not scoring a touchdown. Just little things like that."
O-line OK: Despite six sacks of quarterback Tim Chang, Jones said that the UH offensive line did not turn in a bad performance.
"Actually the O-line, I'm not disappointed," Jones said. "I mean, we didn't play as good as we should have or could have, or we have in the past. But, Dan Robinson got hit 25 times a game -- like Timmy got hit five times -- in our 9-4 season. That happens. You've got to take one for the team. Some days, it's that way."
Injuries: UH escaped Reno with just minor bumps and bruises, Jones said. Kelvin Millhouse got dinged with a possible concussion after being hit by his own teammate, Watson Hoohuli, but should return. And another defensive lineman is back at practice.
Backup quarterback Nick Rolovich played just one play at Nevada, but might have fractured a finger.
"I guess when he took the snap it kind of hit him funny," Jones said.
Game moved: As reported in the Star-Bulletin last week, the season-ender with BYU was moved from Dec. 1 to Dec. 8 to allow the Cougars to make up a game with Mississippi State on Dec. 1.
The game will be televised nationally on ESPN, which means Hawaii will have two games on the major sports network.
The other is against Fresno State on Oct. 26.
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