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Group secondary
has it covered
Sometimes it takes a village to defend the pass.
A Hawaii secondary hit hard by injuries went deep down the depth chart to fill two holes in the defensive backfield in the Warriors' 46-28 win over San Jose State last night at Aloha Stadium.
With Lono Manners out for the season with a broken ankle, senior Matt Manuma made his first career start at free safety and shared time with freshman Keao Monteilh and juniors Landon Kafentzis and Lamar Broadway during the game.
"It was like a dream come true," Manuma said of being introduced with the starters before the game. "Unfortunately it had to happen the way it did when Lono went down. But I was fortunate and thankful I got to go in there."
Freshman Ray Bass started in place of injured cornerback Kenny Patton, who missed his second straight game with a hamstring injury. Bass shared time with Turmarian Moreland and Cameron Hollingsworth at the spot opposite Abraham Elimimian, who played through a hamstring injury of his own.
Timo Paepule, a redshirt freshman, also made his first start at linebacker.
"I thought they did a really nice job," UH defensive backs coach Rich Miano said of the patchwork secondary. "We played so many different people and they all understood what our calls were and they all came out and played pretty well.
"It's something I haven't done in the past. I always wanted to get four guys out there and let them play with continuity. But today I was like, 'I don't know who's better.' None of them have really stepped up, so let them all play and then evaluate them."
Manuma, who last started a game as a senior at Radford High School, bided his time as a reserve safety and special teams player much of his first three seasons and entered last night's game with three career tackles.
"He's one of the smarter guys back there and I really wanted to see what he could do because he deserves it," Miano said. "He's always kept his head up and never complained about not playing."
Manuma got into the books in the first quarter with a big hit on SJSU running back James Callier. He helped protect Hawaii's 21-14 lead late in the first half by breaking up a deep pass intended for SJSU receiver Rufus Skillern.
"It was nice to see them play," said starting safety Leonard Peters, who intercepted his third pass of the season last night. "They work so hard in practice and sometimes they don't get a chance to play in the game and I was really happy for them."
School of hard knocks: Last night, it was easy to tell that power back West Keli'ikipi is back in top form.
"All I heard was the roar," UH receiver Britton Komine said.
After a slow start thanks to offseason knee surgery, Keli'ikipi's school of hard knocks was open again last night.
"I have been talking to West about that," Hawaii coach June Jones said.
"Coach Jones snapped at me last week," Keli'ikipi said. "He told me he wanted me to hit the guys, so that's what I had to do."
To great effect. He pounded defenders, most notably bowling over San Jose State's Bobby Godinez in the second quarter on a play immediately following a 66-yard kickoff return by Jason Ferguson. The stadium went nuts.
"We were in the huddle," Keli'ikipi recalled. "Timmy Chang was yelling, 'Don't look at the Jumbotron! Look at here.' Everybody wanted to see the hit, but we had to concentrate on Timmy Chang. So none of us got to see the replay."
Keli'ikipi had only six carries for 21 yards. But he scored two touchdowns. And his presence was felt.
"He KO'd some guys," Jones said. "They didn't want to stay in the game. They were shaking their heads."
Hawaii ran 30 times in the game. Keli'ikipi's fellow back Michael Brewster added 49 yards and a score on 16 carries. One would be tempted to call the pair "Thunder and Lightning," but the two have another idea. Keli'ikipi sees himself as "F-450 Diesel," and Brewster is a Nissan Z-350.
"I'm not fast like a Z-350," Keli'ikipi said.
Satcher makes QB debut: Freshmen quarterback Brandon Satcher took his first snaps at quarterback for Hawaii in the second quarter. After fumbling on his first collegiate play, he recovered to run the ball for 15 yards and a first down on the next play before being replaced by Chang.
"I was excited and nervous," Satcher said. "That first play I was looking to throw the ball as far as I could on a fly route, but they got some pressure on me and I ran into (Samson Satele) and the ball came out."
Satcher returned to action in the fourth quarter and finished with six carriers for 34 yards and completed a pass for 23 yards.
Prior to the game, Satcher told his parents he might play, so they watched the game on ESPN Game Plan.