Future bright for Warriors

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

From somewhere beneath the pile of lei that was rumored to contain wide receiver Craig Stutzmann Saturday evening, a voice emerged.

"This is going to be a great team next year, I wish I could be here for that, too," Stutzmann said following the University of Hawai'i's Senior Walk at Aloha Stadium.

If there was a common lament to the Warriors' departing seniors, it was that their careers, rich as they have been in memory and deeds, won't allow them to be a part of what next year promises.

If the just-completed 9-3 season was the Warriors' breakthrough year, then 2002 stacks up as a payoff year. If the record-setting 72-45 drubbing of Brigham Young University capped one remarkable season, it also offers a glimpse of the considerable promise the future holds.

A future that includes a shot at the Western Athletic Conference title and, you would hope, a postseason with a bowl in it.

When coach June Jones took over the 0-12 train wreck that had been UH football, he said three years were required to get the Warriors on the road to being the kind of team he envisioned. Give him three solid recruiting classes, three years with which to build an offensive and defensive system and forge a mindset and the Warriors would turn the corner.

That corner, at the intersection of respectability and prominence, was turned in a way that few saw coming. Even Jones, when asked what he would have said of the prospects of a 9-3 year at the season's beginning, said, "I'd have taken it right there."

Indeed, what looked like the possibility of a 6-6 or 7-5 year going in — or a lot less after a 1-2 start — ended up matching, at 9-3, the third-best (percentage) season in the school's Division IA history.

All of which positions the Warriors well for the rigors of their first 13-game regular season, one that stretches from Aug. 31 to Dec. 7.

There will be holes to fill and leaders aplenty to replace. You do not lose a possession receiver such as Stutzman, a leader like quarterback Nick Rolovich or the big-player performances of Nate Jackson, Joe Correia, Jacob Espiau and Channon Harris and not feel the loss. You do not take vacancies left by Manly Kanoa III, Brian Smith and Mike Iosua lightly.

Still, with the potential to return 12 starters from the BYU game and 34 of their top 50 players, the Warriors do not lack for help, experience or depth, three things they have been building toward.

One of the best things about the 2001 season is what it means for 2002.