WARRIOR FOOTBALL
Special teams alight with McKnight
The Hawaii assistant says Malala's extra-effort somersault tackle set the tone in the EIU game
Anyone who doubts that Dennis McKnight has helped put the special back into special teams at Hawaii only had to see the Warriors' first kickoff of last Saturday's 44-9 win over Eastern Illinois.
Mike Malala's somersault over the Panthers' wedge that ended with him toppling ballcarrier Adam Kesler with his foot looked like something from a video game. It was just one of several outstanding plays by the UH kickoff coverage team that had EIU starting behind its own 20 five times.
"Mike Malala was our Airborne Ranger last week," said McKnight. (And before you want to argue with him about using military metaphors, consider that McKnight trained with Navy SEALs in San Diego).
McKnight said he saw a similar effort more than 25 years ago.
"Hank Bauer, one of my teammates on the Chargers, was the first I ever saw do it," he said. Then, in praise of Malala, "It's inspirational, kind of the definition of a hero. A guy performing his job does it in a way that it inspires others to greatness. He set the tempo for the whole game."
Malala said he planned the leap of faith.
"We talked about it all week," said the former Hawaii-Hilo basketball player.
Nevada coach Chris Ault enjoyed watching the play on tape, though he surely doesn't want a repeat when the Warriors (2-2, 0-1 WAC) and Wolf Pack (3-2, 0-1) meet up tomorrow at Aloha Stadium.
"Oh yeah. Yeah, I saw it. You don't miss that kind of a play. It was a great play. You see efforts like that and that's exciting. I think everybody wants to be on the kickoff team."
They do now at UH.
"Guys want to go on it now," McKnight said. "I'm going with the guys who were wanting to do it since August."
The Warriors kickoff team needs some new recruits for tomorrow. Brashton Satele and Blaze Soares pulled hamstrings and Ryan Keomaka sprained an ankle in practice this week. Soares and Keomaka both made tackles on kickoffs behind the 20 last week.
"We have a pretty extensive list to choose from, so that's a good thing," McKnight said. "We've just got to put the right combination together.
"Bully (Fergerstrom), he's gonna be on there. He earned it, stepped it up," he said.
Fergerstrom was a special teams standout last year who missed several practices when he injured his back in fall camp.
J.P. Davis and Guyton Galdeira are also candidates for the open spots.
"You get one shot and if you don't make the shot something bad can happen," McKnight said. "I try to preach to the guys don't worry about that, set sail into harm's way like a jet flying off an aircraft carrier and if something happens, midstream adjust."
The Warriors are ranked 38th in kickoff return yardage allowed with 18.30 per return.
"Backup guys with speed," UH coach June Jones said. "That's where we've really improved our teams."
No Aloha: Nevada was supposed to have flown an Aloha Airlines charter, but the Wolf Pack arrived via ATA yesterday because Aloha didn't have a plane available, Nevada sports information director Chad Hartley said.
Hartley was told the change was related to UH's problems with its charter flight out of Boise two weeks ago. That flight was delayed three times and kept the Warriors at the airport overnight following their 41-34 loss to the Broncos.
The Wolf Pack arrived yesterday after a 5- 1/2 hour flight with no problems and immediately went to Aloha Stadium for practice.
Holmoe wants series: BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe said he wants to start playing Hawaii again, but probably can't start a series until four years from now.
"From 2010 and beyond, we could do it," Holmoe said. "I'd enjoy that game. It was a great rivalry in the past, and we get another game when we play at Hawaii. We like playing an additional game, but we have to be careful about how we schedule."
Holmoe said he hasn't spoken with UH athletic director Herman Frazier "in quite a while."
Frazier and Holmoe discussed playing this season, but BYU wanted a home game and Frazier was able to secure a game at Aloha Stadium against Oregon State, instead.
Holmoe said he's open to playing home and away games against UH in future years.
The Warriors have three nonconference openings for games next season, and Michigan State officials want out of the Spartans' game set for here Nov. 24, 2007.