By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

Success on the football field is becoming something of a double-edged sword for the 24th-ranked University of Hawai'i football team, it seems.

The better UH does on a national scale with Hawai'i players in its lineup, the more other teams have come to covet the local talent.

This week, for example, No. 14 Alabama is coming 4,370 miles to shop for some.

Alabama coach Dennis Franchione yesterday made clear that along with hopes of leaving Aloha Stadium with a victory in Saturday's national cable game, he'd also like to take a recruit or two back to Tuscaloosa.

Not content with the usual souvenirs, Franchione apparently wants a few good men, too. Why settle for macadamia nuts or pineapples when you can get an offensive lineman or a defensive tackle?

Dec. 1, the day after the UH-Alabama game, is the first date coaches can go into the homes of potential recruits, and Alabama says it will keep a coach here to contact the prospects the Crimson Tide said it has targeted.

"We have looked at a lot of them; I think we're probably getting it down to about a half dozen or so," Franchione said.

The interest is noteworthy because the Crimson Tide has not made a recruiting stop here before.

The only player from Hawai'i that anybody at Alabama could even remember filling a Crimson Tide uniform was Peter Kim (1980-82). Now a successful Honolulu businessman, Kim's enterprises have included "Bear's Drive-In," in deference to his late coach, Paul "Bear" Bryant. But Kim, who kicked for UH in 1978, was a walk-on in Tuscaloosa, where he remains fourth on the Tide's career field goal list, not a recruit.

Franchione, who coached against UH while at New Mexico and Texas Christian, says he's come to appreciate the caliber of football players produced here. "The island has always had some good football players, tough, hard-nosed good football players," Franchione said.

Now, with Alabama booked for visits in back-to-back seasons here, Franchione says he plans to sell prospective recruits on, "the opportunity to play in the Southeastern Conference and play at a tradition-rich school like Alabama; a great education, a great schedule, lots of things if they are interested in going a little bit of a distance from home."

Unfortunately for UH, distance is no longer the barrier it used to be. In recent years, some of the top local players have shown no hesitation to go far and wide. Nebraska, Wisconsin and, last year, even Tennessee, have signed prospects from here.

When Alabama went up on the schedule for this season and '03, the Warriors knew they'd be challenged at the line of scrimmage. But who thought they would also be forced to defend their backyard in recruiting, too?