Posted on: Saturday, June 16, 2001

Four Warriors will play in Hula Bowl

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

Four University of Hawai'i football players, including three who joined the program as walk-ons, have accepted invitations to play in the Hula Bowl all-star game at Maui's War Memorial Stadium on Feb. 2.

"It's exciting," UH assistant coach Rich Miano said of the invitations extended to slotback Craig Stutzmann, safeties Jacob Espiau and Nate Jackson, and outside linebacker Joe Correia.

Espiau, Jackson and Correia joined the Warriors as non-scholarship players; UH was the only NCAA Division I-A program to offer Stutzmann a football scholarship.

"It's a great honor to be able to play in the game," said Stutzmann, a St. Louis School graduate who attended the Hula Bowl regularly as a youth.

Stutzmann remembered waiting outside the stadium and asking the Hula Bowl players to sign his program.

"I collected all of the UH players' autographs," Stutzmann said.

As a high school junior, Stutzmann was introduced to Hula Bowl wide receiver Kaipo McGuire, a former St. Louis standout. They quickly forged a friendship. "He taught me the ins and outs of playing college football," Stutzmann said. "To now be able to play in the same game, that's awesome."

Miano said the four players overcame long odds to achieve success at UH. At Kalaheo High, Espiau excelled at soccer. Jackson, a Wai'anae High graduate, enrolled at UH as a 150-pound freshman.

Correia, who was a quarterback at St. Louis School, returned to football after his minor-league baseball career was short-circuited by an injury to his pitching shoulder.

Correia, who was invited to play in this year's Hula Bowl, was expected to complete his UH football career last December. But he missed most of the 2000 season with a broken bone in his right foot. In March, the NCAA awarded Correia a fifth year of playing eligibility. In May, he underwent successful surgery to repair a broken left foot injured in a basketball game.