UH wants to feel at home on the road
| • | Montana coach could be Grizzlies' ace in the hole |
| • | Warrior football preview: Plotting a comeback |
By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
Although Saturday's season opener against Montana is on Maui, the University of Hawai'i football team is treating the game as if it were being played at Aloha Stadium.
The Warriors will practice Friday afternoon at the school's Cooke Field, then spend the night in a Waikiki hotel.
At the hotel Saturday, they will have meetings, eat their pre-game meal and then have their ankles and wrists taped.
At 2:30 p.m., the team will take two buses to the Honolulu International Airport, then board a chartered flight to Maui for the game, which starts at 6:05. The team will return on a chartered flight shortly after the game.
"We wanted to do our normal routine," UH coach June Jones said, noting the team usually leaves the hotel three hours prior to a 6:05 p.m. game at Aloha Stadium.
Jones said he considered having the team spend Saturday night on Maui, but "after looking at the cost of the rooms, we decided it would be better to come back here that night."
He said returning to O'ahu on Saturday night will give his staff more time to prepare for the Sept. 15 road game against Nevada.
The team will bring a full athletic training staff, 30-member pep band, cheerleaders and the Rainbow Dancers to Maui.
• The winner is. . .: Jones said he will not publicly announce the starting running back until Saturday.
"There's no point in telling anybody," Jones said. "It doesn't help us."
Mike Bass of California is expected to be selected as the fourth true freshman to start full time at running back for the Warriors in the past 25 years. The lone running back job was vacated when James Fenderson, Afatia Thompson and Avion Weaver completed their eligibility in December.
• Update: Brian Kajiyama, a UH student with cerebral palsy who was featured in a story in Sunday's Advertiser, said the school-sponsored Kokua Program helps provide him with class notes. The program workers also assist in drawing charts.
Kajiyama, who has a cumulative grade-point average of 3.55, is considered to be an "honorary Warrior." Although he is in a wheelchair, he attends most of the team's practices.
