Warriors land commitment
from lineman Letuli

Laupepa Letuli, a 6-foot-4, 265-pound offensive lineman, has orally committed to accept a football scholarship at Hawaii.

Letuli, who goes to North Torrance High School in California, is the nephew of former UH football player Larry Goeas.

"It's a perfect fit for him," Goeas said. "He told me, 'Uncle, I'm coming here.' "

UH was the first college Letuli visited. He had also been scheduled to go to Oregon State and Boise State, but canceled those trips, Goeas said.

Letuli can make his commitment binding on Feb. 2, national letter of intent day.

The Warriors also offered a scholarship to Saddleback College (JC) wide receiver Jerard Rabb, a highly sought-after 6-3, 200-pound athlete who can sign immediately and transfer midterm. Rabb was expected to also mull offers from Arizona, Boise State and UNLV before making a decision.

Blazers in blazing sun: UAB arrived about an hour late yesterday after flying from Alabama to Hawaii with a stopover in San Francisco. But the Blazers looked refreshed after a half-hour workout at Aloha Stadium, straight from the airport.

"I think we're fine," coach Watson Brown said. "I wanted to get them here in the morning, to give them the first day to get used to the time change. I also wanted to bring them straight to the stadium and let them know what we're here for."

Not his brother's keeper: Brown's brother, Mack, is the head coach at Texas.

Mack Brown and Hawaii coach June Jones were involved in a minor controversy when the Longhorns pulled out of their season-opening game against UH at Aloha Stadium in 2000.

Jones was upset enough about it to fire off this verbal six-shooter:

"I've never known a Texan to back down from a fight before. I guess their coach isn't from Texas," he said at the time.

Watson Brown laughed and shrugged when the subject was brought up yesterday.

"That's between Mack and June," the UAB coach said. "I didn't even know that happened. We're here, and I promise you we're really excited about being here."

With this being their first bowl game, the Blazers are obviously pumped. And Brown -- in his first bowl game as a head coach -- said he's happy Hawaii is the opponent, not Akron, despite UH's 6-1 record at Aloha Stadium this year.

"We wanted to play Hawaii. Not meaning we think we could beat 'em. We wanted the excitement around town, they're a good team with a lot of great players that this city's proud of and so I think our kids really wanted this," Brown said. "We might not want it after Friday night, but I think that's what everybody wanted, the excitement around the city about this team."

Busy, busy, busy: The Warriors will practice today at Saint Louis School from 8-10 a.m. while the Blazers run through drills from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. at Aloha Stadium.

The Warriors will visit Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park today and the Blazers will take in Pearl Harbor. The teams will switch spots tomorrow.

Hawaii is staying at the Sheraton Moana Surfrider and UAB is checked into the Sheraton Waikiki.