Sidelines
August pau as college
grid season startsFOOTBALL is everywhere. College football is swinging, baby. A few feet away, my wife is freaking out because her beloved Nebraska Cornhuskers are not leading by 50 points in the first half. Iowa State is working on a miracle. Fresno State has already lost its most dangerous offensive player for a game, or a few.
September comes early this year.
August? It's already gone.
But in Manoa, there is one more week, and yesterday, they danced. Hawaii's defensive linemen shimmied and shook and sang. It was the last practice of the last day of camp, and the defensive linemen had made it. They'd made it through and they celebrated. In a week, it'll be game time at last.
IF THE LAST couple of weeks have dragged, this next one will be a flash. It will fly. No more double days. No more drudgery. Just lots of things to do and not enough time to do them. Before you know it, it's Wednesday. Then Thursday. Then Friday. Then 6 o'clock Saturday night.
This week is walk-throughs and timing, and first units getting all of the work. Scout teamers are scout teamers again. In these weeks we've watched big plays by youngsters like Sam Satele, Lono Manners, Ross Dickerson. We'll see if it's spring before we hear their names again.
Now it's all business. Now Hawaii has a week to get things down and get people back.
But today camp is over, and for a second we can pause. We have lots to think about before the tsunami overtakes us in the week to come.
Will Timmy Chang come back in time for the first game? We'll see. Should he? Only he and his doctor know. Will Travis Laboy be ready? I think we've seen this before.
Will Isaac Sopoaga be even half as good as his legend has been pumped up to be?
Well, since that would mean he would have more than 15 sacks, probably not.
But he's big and eager and he shows promise, and for depth, that's not bad at all.
Hawaii's defensive line looks very, very good.
Chad Owens could be a Dane McArthur type of player. (With Matt Harding's kind of excitement.)
Could be.
Chris Brown -- a guy whose job it is to wade into chaos and not let anything past -- is playing middle linebacker with his brain as well as brawn. In the heat of summer, you can see it.
Jason Whieldon will be fine. Hawaii should be able to beat Eastern Illinois with him. UH can win games with Whieldon. With him, Hawaii will be ... OK. And Nick Rolovich went from rags to riches last year, so you never know. But if Hawaii wants to keep building, if it wants to have a season like the last one, it probably needs to have Chang under center.
That finger is healing, but the clock is ticking. Camp is pau and now come game plans and games. Here it comes. Ready or not.
Your calendar is wrong. August is already over. College football season is here, and the weeks will pass in the blink of an eye. Eastern Illinois will be here before you know it. Then we'll see. Then we'll see if this team has reason to dance.
Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com