DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM
UH defensive tackle Lance Samuseva graded out with no minuses Saturday against Rice.
Perfect tackle In a fantasy football draft, Lance Samuseva is nowhere near the top choice.
Samuseva doesn't pile up
stats, but his presence makes
UH's defense betterBy Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.comBut if you're choosing up sides for a real game, he might be the first pick.
Hawaii's junior defensive tackle does the dirty work that allows linebackers to go unblocked. He doesn't make many tackles. But without him doing his job, others can't make the spectacular plays.
His teammates and coaches know what the casual fans and the stat freaks don't: Samuseva is one of UH's most productive and valuable players.
"I see Lance plugging up gaps and allowing the linebackers to scrape off and blow up the running back," quarterback Tim Chang said. "It's beautiful to see. A lot of it goes unnoticed."
Samuseva's game isn't pretty, but, like Chang said, it's beautiful. And on a glorious afternoon five days ago in Houston, it was perfect.
"In our defense, everything we do is for a reason. I just go in there and try to do what I'm supposed to do," he said.
Samuseva's assignment usually is to throw his 5-foot-11, 290-pound boulder of a body at offensive linemen, colliding with them and moving them to where the defensive scheme calls for.
He was so successful at it in Saturday's 33-28 victory at Rice that the junior from Farrington graded out perfectly in 68 plays.
"No minuses," defensive line coach Vantz Singletary said. "That is unheard of. I'm a tough grader, so I was upset because I couldn't find any minuses.
"He took on double teams, bull blocks, scoop blocks, he applied pressure. He played the chop block. He did all that and he didn't go to the ground one time.
DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM
Lance Samuseva worked on his technique at practice yesterday morning.
"Not only that. He was a coach on the field helping me make sure Isaac Sopoaga did all the little things he needed to do. That's part of why (Sopoaga) played so well and the ends played so well."
Defensive coordinator Kevin Lempa said the defensive line graded out with a mere six errors in 270 snaps, led by Samuseva, who did not make one mistake in alignment or technique.
"He played a perfect game. I've never heard of that before," Lempa said. "Lance doesn't get enough love. He's the unsung hero inside. He's a quiet guy who always has a smile on his face and he's having fun. He's a consistent player, play after play. He knows his role and he executes."
Samuseva is so consistent, there are those who think he is the team's MVP.
"It's not even close," defensive end La'anui Correa said. "Right now Lance and Ice (Sopoaga) are stuffing their guys, but you don't get recognition for taking on blocks. But he pushes through everything. He doesn't grumble."
While Samuseva's name doesn't show up much on the stat sheet (he's 11th on the team in tackles with 35), it also is rarely on the injury report -- despite a world of hurt.
"He's got shoulder, ankle and elbow injuries and he plays through it all," Correa said. "He just goes and puts tape on it and takes some aspirin and goes back in the game."
Coach June Jones -- who had some pundits scratching their heads when he gave Samuseva a scholarship three years ago -- is also a big fan.
"More than anything his spirit is unbelievable. Our guys respond to his effort, the things he does. He's a quiet leader. He's really helped Isaac this year, in particular last week," Jones said. "It's fun to see him succeed. He played that way in high school and that's why we scholarshiped him. He's not one of those guys that fits the height, the speed, all those things you're going to draft in pro ball or give a scholarship in college."
Said Singletary: "He played hard, and we knew his best football was ahead of him."
Samuseva said Arizona, Utah and Oregon State also recruited him, but eventually backed off, and UH was the only Division I school that maintained a consistent interest in him.
"That was fine because this is where I always wanted to go anyway," said Samuseva, who is a nephew of former UH defensive standouts Niko, Al, Pete and George Noga.
Singletary said Samuseva leads off the field the same way he does on it: effectively without fanfare.
"I told him I needed him to take charge with the weight room, helping getting some of the guys to class and those kinds of things," Singletary said. "He really responded well to that."
The low-key aspiring FBI agent would be great at undercover work; it's hard for a 300-pound man to be great at his job and go unnoticed, but that's what Samuseva does.
"He ain't one to give speeches," Chang said. "He's more like come play football with him and watch him bang heads, step on people and make big plays."
Where: Aloha Stadium Hawaii vs. Cincinnati
When: Saturday, 6:05 p.m.
TV: KFVE (Channel 5), delay at 10 p.m. Also available live on Pay Per View. Call 625-8100 on Oahu or (866) 566-7784 on neighbor islands to subscribe.
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