With spring football under way across the country, players with local ties are getting their first chances at proving their abilities.

At Southern California, an injury to starting center Kristofer O'Dowd opened the door for walk-on Abe Markowitz (Punahou '08) to get valuable snaps at center.

Markowitz has practiced at both center and left guard and drew comparisons from offensive line coach James Cregg to a similar situation last year at Tennessee.

“;It's funny because when I was at Tennessee last year, we played with a walk-on center,”; Cregg said in an interview with Scout.com. “;Seeing Abe, it resembles a little bit of what the kid last year brought to the table with toughness and durability.”;

In Eugene, Ore., Ducks freshman Wade Keliikipi (Waianae '09) has gotten his first real practice time at defensive tackle.

An injury to Zac Clark has paved the way for Keliikipi to get snaps with the first-team defense and fellow defensive tackle Brandon Blair told the blog OregonLive.com he's been impressed by Keliikipi's ability.

“;He's got all of us defensive tackles on edge and making sure we're doing our job right, because if we don't, he's going to take over,”; Blair said.

Washington sophomore Mykenna Ikehara (Kamehameha '08) started one game last year at center and has moved to right guard this spring.