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Sports Notebook
Star-Bulletin staff
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Letuli hopes hard work heals injured shoulder
Laupepa Letuli will be pretty easy to find for the next couple of days.
As the Hawaii tackle works his way back from a shoulder injury, he plans on spending as much time as he can in the training room prior to the Warriors' departure for Oregon.
"I'm going to live in there when I'm not in classes and meetings," Letuli said. "I'm going to rehab all this week before we leave and do the best I can to help the team because this is a big game."
Letuli started at left tackle against Florida but injured his left shoulder in the opener and sat out last week's win over Weber State. He returned to practice yesterday in hopes of being ready for Saturday's game at Oregon State. He finished practice with the first group as the offense worked against the scout team.
Letuli said he'll wear a harness to help protect the shoulder and will test it again today when the Warriors put the pads back on.
"I just wanted to see what it felt like without it and see my range of motion and it felt OK," Letuli said. "(Today) with pads it'll be a different story."
With Letuli out and Aaron Kia bothered by sore knees, Keith AhSoon played left tackle against Weber State with Brysen Ginlack starting his first game at left guard. Raphael Ieru also played guard in the second half against the Wildcats.
UH offensive line coach Brian Smith said the Warriors will go with AhSoon and Ginlack on the left side again against Oregon State if Letuli isn't back up to speed.
"We'll see where he's at and then we'll make a decision from there," said Smith, who served as a graduate assistant at Oregon State in 2006.
Heun returns
Running back
Jake Heun was back in drills after missing more than a month with a back injury.
"This is the most practice I've gotten since spring," Heun said.
"The legs aren't quite under me all the way yet, that's just from being out the last month or so. It felt good to be back in there. ... It's just a matter of getting used to Coach (Alex) Gerke's drills again."
UH coach Greg McMackin said the staff isn't going to rush Heun into action and although the junior transfer hopes to make the travel roster "it's going to be the coaches' decision, not mine," Heun said.
Leon Wright-Jackson didn't practice yesterday, resting a case of turf toe, but McMackin expects UH's leading rusher to be ready by Saturday. McMackin wasn't so sure about the status of Daniel Libre, who's recovering from a high ankle sprain suffered against Florida.
David Farmer, out since the last week of fall camp with a sprained knee, did some running yesterday and could be back after UH's bye next week.
The injuries created an opportunity for Jayson Rego last week. The Kamehameha grad carried the ball nine times for 54 yards, all coming in the fourth quarter as UH chewed up the clock.
QB notes
Junior
Inoke Funaki, who started last week's game but didn't play the second half due to a concussion, backed up
Tyler Graunke in practice yesterday. Funaki shared the No. 2 repetitions with
Greg Alexander. Graunke finished the morning with his last set of rolls and bear crawls. He had endured the grueling post-practice drills to make up for the time he missed during camp.
Short yardage
Rockne Freitas, chancellor of Hawaii Community College in Hilo, will accompany the Oregon State captains for the coin toss on Saturday. Freitas played for the Beavers from 1964 to '66, holds degrees from both OSU and Hawaii, and served as UH's assistant athletic director. ... Former Saint Louis and Washington State quarterback
Jason Gesser will be an analyst for the Fox Sports Net telecast of the UH-OSU game. The game, set for 10 a.m. Hawaii time, will air live on Oceanic Pay-Per-View Ch. 255, with replays on KFVE at 9:30 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. Sunday.
