Sidelines
For LaBoy, there’s
no ‘I’ in schemeONE of my favorite things about this job is talking to Hawaii defensive line coach Vantz Singletary about Travis LaBoy. I love it. First of all, it's always fun to talk about a player like that. But it's even better when it comes with Singletary's deep, rich Houston drawl and he's saying things like:
"Now, Travis, he's just a different animal."
And, "This cat has another gear."
And also, "He plays like he doesn't even have a heart." (The cardiovascular kind.)
This is the kind of description you need when talking about this cat. (See, now I'm doing it.) You can't help yourself when talking about LaBoy. You saw it Saturday night. He can do things that make you want to come up with words to match.
"He made a real huge play at the end of the game that probably only he can make," June Jones said. "I don't care who it was, nobody was going to block him."
LaBoy can be that type of player. I continue to say that he can be Hawaii's Best Defensive Lineman Not Named Noga. And if he does what he's capable of, they just might adopt him.
But LaBoy's outbursts of greatness have been merely that this season -- outbursts. Too often he was quiet, missing, hurt. Trying to run the scheme, and do the right thing. He's been a project this year. Last year he ran around and made plays on pure ability. Now, UH coaches are trying to get LaBoy to fulfill his responsibility, to fit into the system. Left foot here, right foot here. Fight the pressure, stay on his inside shade. Do your job.
That's what defense is about, really. That's what makes it work. Everyone taking care of his responsibility. Everybody running the defense as designed. Some players thrive on it. On the other side, La'anui Correa is wrapping up an outstanding career based on being tough and smart and always in the right place at the right time.
But LaBoy is a different animal. He can make a mistake and then make a great play. He can just run down that ball like something out of a National Geographic special on lions of the Serengeti.
His last sack? That wasn't scheme.
"All that was was No. 1 making a play that he can make," UH defensive coordinator Kevin Lempa told our Dave Reardon on Saturday night. "That's all that was."
LaBoy said he was so psyched on that play that by the time he got in his stance he had no idea what the play was. He just found the ball and hit the guy holding it.
He's trying. As Jones said yesterday, he's working on those details, concentrating on doing every little thing just right. He's a smart guy. You can see the effort being put forth, by both LaBoy and his coaches. Maybe he'll someday be able to combine system and talent, as Pisa Tinoisamoa has, and be better than we've even dared dream.
Or maybe they should just turn him loose, and tell him to find the ball, and hit the guy holding it. A different animal. Different rules.
>> You can't write about defensive ends without mentioning what a year Houston Ala has had. Who knew he was capable of this? Well, UH's coaches did, obviously. They gave him a scholarship, after all.
Kids at home, take note. This is what putting your motor in overdrive can do for you.
>> The Senior Walk is officially sponsored. Lord help me, now I have seen it all.
>> Tulane. Reminds me of that skit in the "Wayne's World" movie, in which the guys are fooling around with backdrops of different states, finding something snappy to say about each one. ("Texas! Howdy, partner! New York! Let's go to a Broadway show!"). Until: "Delaware. ... We're in ... Delaware."
>> In the NCAA Central Regional in Lincoln, Neb., this week the Wahine are in perhaps the nation's second-best volleyball atmosphere. They'll have a great time playing there, if they can get into the building without freezing solid. Now, back to giving our Grace Wen tips on driving in snow: "Verrrrry carefully."
>> And in closing, let's go to an e-mail from a concerned reader regarding the level of civility in the stands at Aloha Stadium:
"I was with you tonight (Dec. 3), Kalani, in your column about disrespecting the opposition. Then this, 'You don't live in Cleveland, you live in Cincinnati.'
"You are a world-class (blanker-blanker), Kalani.
"World class."
Do I get a plaque with that?
Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com