Estes to start fall camp in middle of UH's line

Sophomore John Estes will be the starting center for Hawaii when fall football camp starts next month, coach June Jones said yesterday.

Estes was originally ticketed to move to the middle of the line from his starting right guard spot before spring practice. But junior Clarence Tuioti-Mariner and sophomore Aaron Kia took most of the reps there, and there was some thought Estes might remain at guard in 2007.

"I'm thinking he'll be the first center," Jones said yesterday. "All spring we worked with the others to make sure we had two or three (experienced centers). We had to try to develop some other guys."

Jones said Kia is a strong candidate to take Estes' old spot as the starting right guard. Other possibilities there are Tuioti-Mariner, sophomore Laupepa Letuli and senior Larry Sauafea.

At this point, senior left guard Hercules Satele is the lone returning starter at the same position as last year.

"Herc was one of our most underrated players last season and is working very hard this season," Jones said.

Juniors Keith Ah-Soon and Keoni Steinhoff are the No. 1s at the tackle positions. Jones hasn't decided yet who will be on which side.

"Keoni and Keith are pretty solid going in there," Jones said. "They're the front-runners right now and we're playing (Steinhoff) on both sides."

Converted defensive tackle Ray Hisatake, a junior JC transfer, is a project at offensive tackle.

"He's battling for a second team spot right now," Jones said. "But I think he has a chance to be a great offensive lineman. He's had just 15 days of playing it," Jones said. "He's kind of like Tala (Esera) when we moved him over (from defense) before the USC game (in 2003)."

Esera ended up being a four-year starter at left tackle. UH must replace him, center Samson Satele and right tackle Dane Uperesa from last year's starting lineup. All three played every game as UH went 11-3 in 2006.

On the table

The Warriors offered scholarships to Kamehameha offensive lineman Mykenna Ikehara and Pac-Five defensive end Aaron Tipoti after getting a look at the high school seniors-to-be at the Just Win camp on Maui last week.

Ikehara (6-3, 271) said he also has offers from UNLV and San Diego State and there is no leader.

"I'm just trying to keep an open mind until the season starts," said Ikehara, who is fully qualified academically.

Tipoti (6-3, 250) is also qualified. He also has an offer from Arizona.

Pushing Colt

It's usually impossible to get 12 members of the Hawaii sports media to agree on anything. But when KITV (Ch. 4) sports director Robert Kekaula asked for help in producing a CD for Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan's Heisman Trophy campaign, his fellow sportscasters and writers jumped aboard quickly.

About a thousand copies of the CD will be sent to Heisman voters and other college football media members. The work is in the final approval stage, and Kekaula said the official unveiling will be at the WAC Media Preview on July 23. Later in the week, it will be available for public consumption at the UH athletics Web site.

Kekaula said UH paid for production of the video, but he volunteered "countless" hours of free labor.

"Like Timmy, Colt's a good kid, and he was very hands-on involved, which made it fun," said Kekaula, who also did a CD for Tim Chang's 2003 Heisman campaign.