Fa‘avi and Peters
named captains

His teammates have long considered Derek Fa'avi a leader on the Hawaii offense. Now he has the title to go along with the duties.

Fa'avi and fellow senior Leonard Peters were selected as the Warriors' captains this season by a vote of the players, UH coach June Jones said yesterday.

	Derek Fa‘avi: Senior center said he was surprised to be picked as captain
	Leonard Peters: Senior safety led Warriors in tackles last season with 120

"I'm surprised," Fa'avi said after learning the outcome of the vote. "I never thought they would put me in this position, but I guess they see something in me, so I'll do my best."

Fa'avi, the Warriors' center, and Peters, a safety, are both fifth-year seniors and have been starters for most of their careers.

"They're both good guys," Jones said. "I think they both consider themselves leaders, but it's an honor to be a captain and they appreciate it."

Fa'avi, a Campbell graduate, has been a fixture in the middle of UH's offensive line since working his way into the starting unit for the last three games of the 2002 season. He's started 25 games over the last three seasons, and had a string of 19 consecutive starts snapped by a knee injury last season.

He still had eight starts as a junior, allowing one sack, and returns healthy this season.

"He's always been a leader," junior guard Samson Satele said. "Since I've been here I felt he was the leader of our team. ... It'll be the same because I already thought of him as a captain."

"Derek is the brains of our offense," freshman quarterback Tyler Graunke said. "He's the general, he calls out the coverages for the line, he makes it all possible."

Peters, a Kahuku graduate, started every game in the secondary last year and led the Warriors with 120 tackles. He was second on the team with four interceptions and broke up nine passes.

"Me and Derek are two of the older ones, we've been here a while and I'm honored to be a captain," Peters said.

Although they have the distinction of being this season's captains, Peters and Fa'avi don't necessarily feel it'll put more weight on their shoulder pads.

"The guys do what they need to do," Peters said.

"All the seniors should be captains the way I see it," Fa'avi said. "We're all trying to achieve the same thing, we're all trying to keep the team in check."

Tickets going fast: Ticket sales for UH's opener against USC on Sept. 3 have reached 43,000, UH athletic director Herman Frazier announced in a release yesterday.

A limited number of tickets are currently available to the general public, but more may become available after next week's student sales.

UH students can purchase tickets for the game for $5 (with valid ID) starting Monday. Any tickets remaining at the end of business on Aug. 31 will go on sale to the general public.

Tickets are available at the Stan Sheriff Center ticket office, by phone at 944-2697, and on the Internet at HawaiiAthletics.com.

UH last had a sellout at Aloha Stadium when Alabama visited in 2002.

Corner concerns: UH defensive backs coach Rich Miano is holding out hope that cornerback Kenny Patton will be available for the season opener despite having knee surgery early this week. Patton was on crutches yesterday.

"We won't know until the swelling goes down and he starts to try to jog on it and see how he feels," Miano said. "He's not close now, but once the swelling goes down we'll see how he feels."

Turmarian Moreland also sat out yesterday's practice with a sore left knee.

In the meantime, Keao Monteilh, Ryan Keomaka and Omega Hogan continue to get the bulk of the work at the cornerback spots.

From the AD: Athletic director Herman Frazier said more than 40 people have applied to replace swimming coach Mike Anderson, whose contract was not renewed. Women's tennis coach Carolyn Kateyama's contract was also not renewed and UH is in the process of hiring a replacement.

Applicants are now beng accepted to replace outgoing associate athletic director Tom Sadler, he said.

Two openings remain in the 2006 football schedule. Frazier said he expects to have one contract done "hopefully in the next two weeks," and UH is in early negotiations with another school.

"We had a hot (prospect) recently, but lost it, but we're on another hot one," he said.