Hawaii’s Meatoga already fits in

Jeff Reinebold hadn't heard much about Vaughn Meatoga prior to working a summer camp for linemen last summer. But what he saw that week convinced the Hawaii defensive line coach that Meatoga had a future in college football.

Practice makes perfect The Warriors have a full schedule of practice this week at the grass practice field: Today: 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Tomorrow: 8:30 a.m. Wednesday: 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Thursday: 8:30 a.m. Friday: 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Saturday: 8:30 a.m.

For his part, Meatoga -- then a senior-to-be at Kamehameha -- didn't need much convincing to join a UH program he had longed to play for while growing up on Kauai. Now he's participating in his first fall camp with the Warriors.

"He's got a great first step, he's got great quickness off the line of scrimmage, which is what you need in a tackle," Reinebold said of the freshman.

Though he's one of the new guys, Meatoga worked his way in with the Warrior linemen by showing up for voluntary workouts this summer and displayed some of his potential over a solid first week of camp.

Following a day off, the Warriors return to work today for their first day in full pads and their second set of two-a-day practices. A three-hour workout is scheduled to start at 8:30 a.m. The team returns to the field at 3:30 p.m. for a 90-minute session.

Single practices are scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday and Saturday mornings, with two-a-days on Wednesday and Friday.

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Vaughn Meatoga approached his first year of college with some of the trepidation typical of an incoming freshman.

A week into fall camp, the Hawaii defensive tackle had already eased some of those concerns.

Of course, he's still a pup compared to the line's veterans and continues to adjust to the speed of the college game. But as far as gaining acceptance with the established group of Warrior linemen, he's ahead of the game there.

"I thought it was going to be harder, especially being the rookie here," Meatoga said. "But a lot of the upperclassmen took me under their wing and helped me a lot."

Meatoga, who celebrated his graduation from Kamehameha earlier this summer, got a head start in his immersion into the D-line as a regular at the team's voluntary offseason workouts, where his efforts endeared him to the returnees.

"He's like one of the boys now, we're showing him how things are done," said tackle Mike Lafaele, the defensive front's senior leader. "He's learning real fast."

Meatoga admitted he was a bit nervous about being overwhelmed by the experience of moving up from high school to college. But once camp opened, Meatoga -- one of three Warriors from Kauai -- displayed some of his potential during drills with a combination of strength and quickness at the line of scrimmage.

"He can be a special player," UH defensive line coach Jeff Reinebold said. "He can be in the line of all those before him if he wants to work and stays focused and pushes himself.

"He got the respect of the older guys like Mike and Keala (Watson) because he came in and worked. He didn't come in with his chest puffed up, he was 'let me show you I want to be a part of this.' That speaks volumes about the character of the kid."

Meatoga wasn't on the UH coaching staff's radar until Reinebold happened upon the Kamehameha senior-to-be while working at last year's Big Man Camp at Moanalua High School. By the end of the week, Reinebold was ready to offer Meatoga a scholarship.

Meatoga went on to earn second-team All-State honors last fall and drew interest from Washington, Colorado, Boise State, New Mexico State and Utah and was offered a scholarship by UNLV. He picked Hawaii without visiting any of the other campuses, declaring his commitment midway through his senior season.

"I wanted to be a part of the program and with the team being made up of Polynesian players it's like we're representing the state wherever we go," he said. "We represent something a lot bigger than ourselves."

Whether he can break into the tackle rotation as a freshman remains to be seen with Fale Laeli, Rocky Savaiigaea and Siave Seti currently backing up the starting duo of Lafaele and Watson.

Meatoga reported for camp at 6-foot-2, 286 pounds and has shown he has the strength to hold his ground. But he's already learned that brute power is only part of the equation as he works on mastering some of the subtleties of line play.

"I just need to get better habits," Meatoga said. "Something different (from high school) is they expect perfection here. A lot of the upperclassmen have been practicing that for four years and I just need to start as soon as I can perfecting my moves."