High time for hitting

And the award for best portrayal of a Heisman Trophy winner goes to ...

... Chris Brown.

Brown, the bruising former Hawaii linebacker, did his best Tim Tebow impersonation yesterday as the UH defense did some prep work for the season opener nearly five months from now at Florida.

"We got 30-40 minutes on the option in today," coach Greg McMackin said. "Way ahead of where we were last year. Sharp, smart players."

Offensive coordinator Ron Lee described the work of his rebuilding group as "better" than the first practice Monday. The guys in white focused on blitz reads yesterday.

"But we've still got a long way to go," Lee said. "As long as we make progress each day, that's good."

The real fun was to start today, as the Warriors were scheduled for full pads and offense against defense for the first time this spring.

"There will be some poppin' going on," McMackin said with a big grin. "The offense and defensive linemen will go one-on-one. The quarterbacks, receivers, linebackers and DBs will go seven-on-seven, and we'll have some team at the end."

They might have to lock up Brown somewhere to keep the student assistant out of the action. He was looking to initiate contact yesterday in shorts and T-shirt.

"You know me, I'm always going to try to take it to another level. It was fun pretending to be Tim Tebow. Pretty cool," said Brown, UH's leading tackler in 2001 and 2002. "There were a couple of times I caught myself trying to head-butt guys wearing helmets. I still got that itch in me."

Running backs coach Alex Gerke is also anxious for a contact fix.

"I can't wait to see those guys bang," Gerke said. "I know our front seven's outstanding, and I'm excited to watch our offensive line and our running backs banging against those guys. You get better banging against the best."

The final practice of the first week of spring camp was set for 7 to 9 this morning at the UH grass practice field.