Warriors tackle
concerns on defense
The Hawaii defense has spent this week tackling a serious tackling problem as the Warriors (5-3, 3-1 Western Athletic Conference) get ready for Saturday's game at San Jose State (2-5, 1-3).
Coach June Jones has acknowledged what anyone watching can see: UH doesn't stop opposing ballcarriers very well.
Senior linebacker Keani Alapa said he's sure the Spartans have noticed, too.
"They're a passing team, but they probably looked at our tape and think they can run on us," Alapa said. "We're going to stop that first and make them one-dimensional and make them pass. We want them to run so we can shut it down and prove ourselves."
Jones is known for limited contact in practice. Tackling is rare; the only full-contact is usually during short preseason scrimmages, or a rare bye-week young-guys scrimmage.
Although the defense worked harder on tackling this week, that philosophy didn't change. Alapa said you don't have to tackle in practice to get better at it.
"It's not so much that. In practice we wrap and drive and stay on our feet. But in the games sometimes we lunge and leave our feet and that's when we slip up," he said. "(In practice) we've got to be more intense with it. Hit them, wrap them and drive until they don't move anymore."
The Warriors have done more tackling work in their individual circuit drills that start practice.
Junior cornerback Abraham Elimimian said he doesn't think actual tackling in practice is needed.
"I don't know. It's one of those things. I don't really like tackling in practice. I think it just wears you down for the games and we're banged up as it is," Elimimian said. "Especially with our offense, the way we pass so much. If we tackled in practice, we'd be laying guys out across the middle. Maybe on scout, not on team or 7 on 7 (when first string goes against first string)."
Alapa said the players are tired of hearing about their lack of ability in the important skill, and they plan to do something about it Saturday.
"It's definitely frustrating. In the game you miss a tackle and oh, you're going to hear it from the coach. The solution is don't miss the tackle," he said. "You tell a defensive player he can't tackle, he takes it personally. The defense as a whole, we have to hush the critics."
Did him proud: UH associate athletic director Tom Sadler was in charge of running big events at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Ariz., for nearly 15 years -- including the Super Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl.
The former Arizona State associate AD spent part of Tuesday sending congratulatory e-mails to some of his former colleagues for successfully staging Monday's Miami Dolphins-San Diego Chargers game. The game was moved Sunday from San Diego because of the fires in Southern California.
"To do what they did, do a Monday Night Football game with less than 12 hours' notice, that's just amazing," Sadler said. "When you've got to do an event for 50 or 60,000 people like that in that amount of time, there are so many things you have to do that at some point you just prioritize and some things don't get done. But they seemed to have pulled it off."
Fire alarm: One of the major fires in Southern California is very close to Chaffey College, where the Warriors practiced the week between the USC and UNLV road games last month. The families of senior receiver Jeremiah Cockheran (Fontana) and second-year freshman quarterback Ryan Stickler (Alta Loma) live in towns near Chaffey.
"(The fire) came three houses away from Ryan Stickler's house and pretty close to my house," Cockheran said. "I called my mom, she's all right. Just a lot of smoke in the air."
Short yardage: UH junior receiver Britton Komine (strained calf) and Cockheran (sprained ankle) returned to practice yesterday. ... Tala Esera has played with the first team offensive line at left tackle after being pulled from the lineup in Saturday's 31-15 victory over Texas-El Paso. ... Sophomore backup linebacker and special teams player Anipati Mailo (knee) has returned to practice after missing the last five games. ... SJSU safety Gerald Jones has intercepted passes in all of the Spartans' games this year but two. ... UH senior defensive end Travis LaBoy is expecting a sizable contingent of family and friends at Spartan Stadium on Saturday. LaBoy grew up in San Rafael in the Bay Area.
