Auction items added for
tonight’s Pigskin Pigout
Tickets remain available for tonight's Murphy's Warrior Pigskin Pigout fund-raiser for Hawaii football.
The fully-hosted event gets under way at 5:30 p.m. at Murphy's Bar & Grill.
Owner Don Murphy said auction items were continuing to flow in yesterday. The latest include:
>> A Tampa Bay Buccaneers helmet with autographs from several players on the 2003 Super Bowl championship team.Pigskin Pigout tickets are $100. Call 531-0422 for more information.>> A poster autographed by 2002 Skins Game participants Tiger Woods, Fred Couples, Mark O'Meara and Phil Mickelson.
>> Tickets to the San Franciso Giants' 2004 season-opener, along with a baseball signed by Giants pitcher Jerome Williams of Waipahu.
>> A baseball signed by Giants slugger Barry Bonds.
Money from the event helps fund the Warriors training table and summer school tuition.
Dotted line: Nearly a month has elapsed since the UH Board of Regents approved a new contract for football coach June Jones that compensates him more than $4 million over the next five years.
Jones has yet to sign the deal, though. He referred questions about it to his agent, Leigh Steinberg.
Steinberg said there is no reason for concern.
"We're still working on some of the language of the contract. We're down to the last few items," he said. "It's easy in the NFL. Every player signs the same standard player contract. It's a lot different for a college coach. And June's first contract (with UH) was a little more basic."
When Steinberg was asked how many pages the contract is, he laughed and said, "a lot."
When Jones does sign the contract, it goes into effect retroactive to July 1.
An official from the UH athletic department also said Jones' not having signed the contract yet is not a problem.
Williams gone: Lamont Williams, a freshman receiver last year who walked on to the Warriors with speed and potential, has left the team.
After spring practice, Williams returned to Florida. He is not expected back. He had lived there before graduating from Aiea High School in 2002.
Another young receiver, second-year freshman Denny Flanagan, could miss the coming season with hamstring problems that have plagued him since a high school track injury in 2002.
"It's his choice, but I recommended to him he rest it and make sure it's completely healed," Jones said.
The status of junior receivers Mark Tate and Kanale George remains in question.
"I haven't seen him or talked to him," Jones said of Tate, who missed last season with a knee injury. Tate is enrolled in summer school.
Receivers coach Ron Lee said he spoke with George earlier this week.
"I don't know. He's a good kid and everything's fine with him, but he may have lost his desire," Lee said. "We'll see when camp starts."
George performed well in practice last year. But playing time was scarce as he was stuck behind senior Justin Colbert at left wide receiver. Colbert finished as the leading pass-catcher in UH history.
Junior Britton Komine, a converted slot receiver, goes into camp penciled in as the starter on the left flank.
Another signing: Former UH offensive lineman Lui Fuata is scheduled to sign a free-agent deal with the New York Jets, his agent, Joe Linta, said yesterday.
Fuata will fly out today, then sign and take a physical tomorrow. Jets camp opens Sunday.
Fuata is expected to fail the physical because of a torn lateral meniscus in his left knee. He suffered the injury Nov. 30 against Alabama after starting 32 consecutive games.
The Jets will cut Fuata and hope that he clears waivers without being picked up by another team, with the understanding they will then re-sign him next week to the physically unable to perform list. From there he could be promoted to the practice squad or active duty as his condition and the Jets' needs warrant.
"They don't really want me to play this year," Fuata said. "They want to rehab me and get me back to 100 percent." Fuata thinks the Jets will eventually assign him to NFL Europe for game experience.
"This is what I was hoping to happen," the Lahainaluna alumnus said. "That somebody would give me a chance, and then when I get healthy I can show what I can do."
The Star-Bulletin's Kalani Simpson contributed to this report.