Warriors putting
in the work

The UH football practice field is full
of players participating in voluntary
summer workouts

It's another scorching midsummer afternoon and the University of Hawaii practice field is a little more crowded than Kenny Patton is accustomed to.

"This is the most we've had since I've been here," the UH cornerback says, looking out at the Warrior football players assembling for a voluntary workout. "This is my fourth summer and this is the most guys I've seen out here this early in July."

Patton is among the 40 to 50 UH players who have elected to spend their summer days toiling under the summer sun rather than lounge at the beach, and their motivation can be summed up in three letters: USC.

"It makes you want to come out here," receiver Jason Ferguson said of UH's opener against the Trojans. "It's a dream to play against teams like that."

The Warriors' fall camp is still close to a month away and the matchup with the defending national champions a month after that. But the opportunity to line up against the Trojans is already prominent in the minds of the players, helping them maintain their offseason workout regimens.

"That's my drive to work hard, get stronger and faster," safety Lono Manners said. "If we can do well against them it's going to show that our program is up there."

The day often begins with a 7:30 a.m. weight-lifting session and includes the afternoon workout at the UH practice fields.

Coaches aren't allowed to participate in the unsupervised practices, leaving the players to organize the seven-on-seven passing drills on their own.

Along with many of the local products on the UH roster, several players from the mainland also stayed in the islands during the break to get a head start on their preparations for the season.

"A lot of these guys stayed out here over the whole summer," Patton said. "If they went home, they went home for a week."

In case they need any reminding, a quick trip to the bookstore would let the Warriors know what they'll be up against on Sept. 3. Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart, who graces the cover of many of the preseason magazines that have hit the racks recently, returns along with most of the elements of an explosive USC offense that includes running back Reggie Bush and receiver Steve Smith.

As daunting as the challenge may be, it also fuels the Warriors in their workouts.

"I was thinking about that last night, I can't wait until Sept. 3," cornerback Turmarian Moreland said. "We have to step up."

Said Patton: "If you don't get motivated from that you shouldn't be playing football."

The extra work figures to be of even more importance this season as UH has no returning starters at the skill positions on offense and are looking to improve on a defense that struggled through the 2004 season.

Ferguson is among the candidates to fill one of the receiver spots left vacant by graduation and one of the mainland players who stayed in Hawaii over the summer.

"You want every receiver to be good," he said, "but at the same time you want to make sure that you can separate from the pack and let the coaches know you can be the man."

Having grown up in Los Angeles, the USC game is especially significant for Ferguson.

"I call home and that's all my family and friends talk about," Ferguson said. "Growing up there you either want to go to SC or UCLA. You get bred, out of the womb it's UCLA and USC. Now to get the opportunity to play them, I couldn't ask for anything more."

Pay-per-view update: KHNL/KFVE general manager and vice president John Fink said the station plans to announce its UH pay-per-view package by the end of next week.

He said he is finalizing the plans, which may include two road football games as well as UH volleyball and basketball games for the first time.

Fink said KFVE is limited in which road games it can carry on a pay-per-view basis. When KFVE picks up the feeds of UH games televised by ESPN Regional, those games must be shown over the air. UH's game at Michigan State has been picked up by ESPN Regional and the game at Idaho may also be included.

With ESPN and ABC also picking up three of UH's seven home games, Fink said the limited number of games available to KFVE prompted the decision to use pay-per-view for selected road games.

"We only have four home games this year so we have to make it a complete package in terms of value and pricing and that was one way to do it," Fink said. "I don't know if I would say that would be the rule from this point forward.

"Next year we would redo the package based on the number of games we have. This is not a guarantee that this is a trend, although we'll take a look and see how it does. It really correlates to how many games can be done."

KHNL/KFVE and UH agreed to a $1.75 million contract last month, a $1 million increase over the previous TV deal. The three-year deal calls for KFVE to televise 80 events per year, but Fink said that number could be closer to 100 events.