UH's Owens is controlled fury on football field

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

"I'm not trying to sound selfish, but I want the ball on every play," says UH slotback Chad Owens, who has emerged as the nation's No. 2 receiver with 8.44 catches per game. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser Hawai'i vs. Alabama When: Saturday, 2:45 p.m. Where: Aloha Stadium TV/Radio: Live on ESPN/1420 AM. Parking lots open: 11:15 a.m.

Every time he falls down, it seems, he gets mad and then gets even by fighting his way back up.

"He's got my temper," University of Hawai'i football player Chad Owens Sr. said of his 6-month-old son. "My mom says he's just like me when I was a baby. He throws tantrums, just like his daddy. I've got my anger problem, but it's in control."

This season, Owens, a fourth-year junior from Roosevelt High, has been on a different mean streak, emerging as the nation's No. 2 receiver with 8.44 catches per game. He is poised to shatter the school's single-season record of 7.0 catches per game, set by Ashley Lelie in 2001.

With 76 receptions and three games remaining, the 5-foot-9, 174-pound Owens likely will surpass Justin Colbert's UH record of 92 receptions last season. Colbert played 14 games last year; Owens has played nine games so far this season.

In the six games since being activated from a two-game suspension for breaking team rules, Owens has 53 catches, the most prolific half-dozen-game stretch in school history. Lelie, the Denver Broncos' first-round pick in 2002, had 46 in the first six games of 2001.

"He's a playmaker," UH quarterback Tim Chang said.

"It's not just Chad making the catches," said wide receiver Jeremiah Cockheran, a co-captain, "it's like, 'What's he going to do next?' Sometimes you become a spectator after he catches the ball — I forget to block, you know — because I'm watching him do things. It's amazing when he catches the ball. You know something good is going to happen."

Against Army last week, Owens made a school-record 14 catches, finishing each with pirouette moves. If football were a game of freeze tag, Owens would never be "It."

"I'm not trying to sound selfish, but I want the ball on every play," Owens said. "Everyone should want the ball on every play, to be that impact player. I tell myself every time: 'I want to be that guy making that play.' "

Cockheran noted that "after the suspension, Chad focused on being great. You could see it in practice" — and even after practice.

Yesterday, Owens was held out of contact drills to rest a "turf toe" on his left foot. He jammed the big toe during the Army game, and afterward it was so painful "I couldn't put any pressure on my toe." After practice ended yesterday, Owens worked out with Cockheran, hobbling at full speed.

Owens, like UH's other three starting receivers, sprints more than 50 times each game. "We're not tired," he said. "We run all day. That's what we do."

In previous years, the Warriors would run six 110-yard sprints on Mondays. This year, they expanded the workouts to three sprints of 100 yards, three of 60 yards, three of 40 yards, and three of 20 yards. Then they would repeat the sets, for a total of 1,320 yards. All in about 30 minutes.

"After a while, you find you're not getting as tired as easily," he said.

During the offseason, Owens adhered to a strict conditioning program created by strength coach Mel deLaura, requiring daily running and weight training.

"If this is your job, if this is what you want to do, there's no such thing as an offseason," Owens said. "When you work a regular job, you don't have an offseason. You wake up early and you go to work. I wake up early, and I run and do the things to get extra prepared for that next game, even if that next game is months away. I look at the offseason as a long bye."

The workouts have sculpted his body into a work of art. His life story, quite literally, has become a body of art. Owens' right shoulder sports the image of Mighty Mouse, his nickname. It was his first tattoo, etched during his junior year at Roosevelt High.

His left arm and legs are a collage of dragons and sayings. Each tattoo "has its own special meaning," Owens said.

He has not added a tattoo in several months, although there is space on one of his legs.

"I don't know when I'll get my next one," he said. "I might not get one for a month. I might not get one ever again. Who knows. Who knows what the future holds."

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8051.