HAWAII FOOTBALL
Warriors pay the price for late night
Hawaii football coach June Jones enforces a bit of discipline following the team's practice
June Jones isn't the strictest disciplinarian, but he's not a pushover, either.
The Hawaii football coach made the second point clear yesterday when he had the entire Warriors team on the ground doing grass drills for 15 minutes after a 2-hour practice.
No one would go on the record as to the reason for the punishment, but a team source said around 25 players missed Sunday's 11 p.m. curfew after a day off from practice just three days into fall camp.
"They just needed a little extra work," said Jones, with a wry smile, when asked to comment on the drills.
Did the fellas have too much fun over the weekend?
"Well, I don't know. It's always good to have fun," Jones said.
Senior center Sam Satele yelled at teammates who weren't taking the drills seriously.
"He just wants us to be more disciplined," said backup center Marques Kaonohi, who was
also Satele's teammate at Kailua High School. "He's right, we need to be more of a team."
Smooth transition:
Strong safety Jacob Patek ran with the first-team nickel defense yesterday. The junior-college transfer seemed to fit right in on the first day of contact in shoulder pads.
"The first day in pads is always great. Especially for me this year, coming from JUCO (Blinn JC, Texas) and not doing anything last spring," Patek said. "I'm seeing everything all jell together already. The defense is starting to work. Everybody's starting to get that defensive mentality in their heads."
The 6-foot, 202-pound Patek said there's more speed in Division I than in junior college, but other than that the levels aren't that different.
"At my JUCO there were probably two or three guys who were as fast as me. But here, everybody's a step faster than (their position) was at JUCO," he said. "There were big guys and there's physical stuff. I've always been physical. I like coming up against the run and doing all that stuff. There's no difference in that part."
Defensive backs coach Rich Miano said he would not be surprised if Patek gets meaningful playing time in the season opener Sept. 2.
"He's what we thought he'd be. Runs well, hits. He's impressive," Miano said. "He's somebody we'll continue to watch, and possibly he'll play against Alabama."
White to green:
Offensive lineman Jared Lene switched to outside linebacker. It seems a natural move for Lene, since he is a rangy 6-foot-3 and 222 pounds.
"It's good, it's a learning experience to switch positions," the true freshman from Altus, Okla., said. "I'm mostly getting visual reps to learn the defense and what to do."
Holloway arrives:
Kenji Holloway, a receiver/kicker from Pennsylvania, arrived in camp after being delayed by home-school work.
Holloway had to provide UH with a portfolio of the academic work he did while being schooled at home the past year. Although he didn't attend a traditional school his senior year, he was still allowed to play at East Pennsboro High School.
He chose to walk on at UH because his grandmother lives in Hawaii and he enjoyed watching the Warriors on TV.
"Usually at midnight, when Timmy Chang and Chad Owens were playing, that got my interest up," Holloway said.
Jones said Holloway is not the replacement for safety Geoff Hayth, who left the team after Friday's first practice.
"(Holloway) was already included in the 105. We're just waiting for a procedure on that (to name Hayth's replacement)," Jones said.
History project:
Defensive line coach Jeff Reinebold has assigned each of his players to choose a defensive lineman from UH's past to learn about.
"I want these guys to learn about their tradition," Reinebold said.
Also, graphic artist Kara Nishimura of the UH sports media relations department has designed a mural of the Warriors and Rainbows D-linemen who made it to the NFL or received All-WAC honors. It was put on a wall in the unit's meeting room wall Saturday.
O vs. D?:
Although fourth-string quarterback Will Brogan worked scout with the defense yesterday, there hasn't been much other offense-against-defense action yet in camp.
"We're trying to make sure everybody knows what they're doing before we go up against each other so we don't get somebody hurt," Jones said. "We're going to give the rookies a chance tomorrow and give them a little bit more of a chance."
Visitors:
Army Lt. Col. Doug Nomura, who played long snapper for Hawaii in the early 1980s, was among the visitors at yesterday's practice. He'd just arrived from Turkey for temporary duty at Fort Shafter.
His Saint Louis School classmate, Mark Rodrigues, also visited. Rodrigues is well known as a guard on the Chaminade team that beat Ralph Sampson and Virginia in one of the more stunning upsets in college basketball history.
Another former UH snapper, Grant Sim, also took in the workout.