Posted on: Monday, August 9, 2004
UH defense unproven
| • | UH defense, special teams |
Second of a two-part series. Yesterday: The offense
By Brandon Masuoka
The Warriors return just three starters this season, and must fill all four defensive linemen positions following the departures of Houston Ala, Travis LaBoy, Lance Samuseva and Isa'ako Sopoaga.
"We're going to be young on defense," Hawai'i coach June Jones said. "We've got a lot of good-looking freshmen coming in that I think are going to compete for some positions. As long as we survive the first month of the season, and those kids get better and better, I think we have a chance to be pretty good."
The Warriors open fall practice today. Hawai'i (9-5 in 2003) opens the season Sept. 4 against Division I-AA Florida Atlantic.
Compounding the losses, Hawai'i enters camp without projected starting right tackle Albert "Abu" Ma'afala, highly touted junior transfer Austin Jackson, who was described by Jones as a possible "real impact player," and junior college transfer Lawrence Wilson, who played at Farrington.
Ma'afala decided to leave school for undisclosed family reasons, and Jackson will not play this season for undisclosed reasons, according to coaches.
The 6-foot-4, 270-pound Jackson played two seasons in junior college after redshirting as a freshman at Southern California in 2001. He comes from a good football family with his father, Melvin, having played five years with the Green Bay Packers.
"I don't know if he's going to be with us, period," defensive line coach Vantz Singletary said of Jackson. "He's a guy who certainly had to come in and work hard to become a part of our unit. I don't know if he was willing to do that. I think our head coach (Jones) has wiped him off the slate."
Singletary said he remains optimistic about this year's unit despite the losses on his defensive line. Singletary is currently working on a coaching internship with the Cincinnati Bengals and is scheduled to return to the Warriors on Friday.
"All I know is, I got a core of guys who are really excited about being here," Singletary said. "You just press on."
With the uncertainty of this year's defense, Hawai'i coaches said they have seriously contemplated starting freshmen. The last redshirt freshman to start the season opener on defense was defensive tackle Lui Fuga against USC in 1999.
Hawai'i has 14 freshmen listed on its defensive roster, including highly prized recruits Khevin Peoples, a 6-foot, 205-pound linebacker and strong safety from Florida, and Carl Stokes, a 6-2, 220-pound linebacker from Maryland.
"I like the guys we have now, but I'm saying I would not play a player that I felt could be a starter just because he's a freshman," linebacker coach Cal Lee said. "I think my job and my responsibilities are to put the best person out there.
"We're not going in saying, 'he's a senior now, he has to play.' It's what have you done lately. That's the way it should be, I think."
Other than returning starters — linebacker Ikaika Curnan, left cornerback Abraham Elimimian and strong safety Leonard Peters — the Warriors' defense will be a work in progress.
Last season, the Warriors' defense ranked fifth in the 10-team Western Athletic Conference, allowing 30.5 points per game and 397.7 yards per game.
"I think we have good enough athletes," defensive coordinator George Lumpkin said. "How strong they'll be, we'll have to wait and see. How well they jell as a defensive unit, we'll just have to wait and see."
Reach Brandon Masuoka at bmasuoka@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2458.
UH DEFENSE, SPECIAL TEAMS Returning starters in bold
Secondary
SECONDARY Ht. Wt. Cl.
The skinny: Left cornerback Elimimian and strong safety Leonard Peters will lead a young defensive secondary that lost three starters — safeties David Gilmore and Hyrum Peters, and cornerback Kelvin Millhouse Jr. "We have a good veteran in Abraham Elimimian who has worked very hard and performed under pressure," secondary coach Rich Miano said. "We feel that we have good leadership. Leonard is the fastest guy on the team. He just needs to be focused, cut down on his mistakes and tackle better. He's a very talented kid." Broadway is penciled in to start at free safety and Patton at right cornerback. In a five defensive back formation, Hogan, Moreland or Manners will play safety, and Broadway will move to the nickelback position.
Player to watch: If he stays healthy, Patton could be in for a big year. "It wouldn't surprise me if he led the league in interceptions," Miano said. "He has great hands, great ability. He's smart and he's a great athlete. He needs to perform up to his athletic potential. He could be a big-time player."
• • •
DEFENSIVE LINEMEN
The skinny: Left end Purcell, left tackle Fuga, right tackle Faga and right end Akpan are penciled in to start. However Akpan will likely miss the season opener because of a one-game suspension for his role in a fight following last season's Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl. With Alama-Francis nursing a back injury, the starting right end for the season opener might be Kamakawiwo'ole. "Kila could open up on game day," defensive line coach Vantz Singletary said. "I know he's reliable. He's done everything and more that we've asked him this spring."
Player to watch: Faga. "He's done all the things that needed to be done from the classroom, the weight room and the kitchen table," Singletary said. "He's learned to condition himself and weight train. He's an NFL guy. I think he'll be playing on Sundays. When I look at the conference — or any other conference — there isn't a lot of Matt Fagas walking around."
• • • LINEBACKERS
The skinny: Team tackle leader Curnan switches from weakside linebacker to middle linebacker. Penciled in at the strongside linebacker spot are Moe and Kapanui. Lutu-Carroll and Manutai are candidates at the weakside linebacker spot. Paepule, Saole, Ho'ohuli are capable backups. "For the linebackers, we have a great bunch of guys coming back," linebackers coach Cal Lee said. "The only person I know for sure (as a starter) would be Curnan. It's going to be kind of a wait-and-see approach with the other guys."
Player to watch: Curnan led the team with 121 tackles and tallied 12 tackles-for-loss, including four sacks last season. "If you watch films from last year, he was all over the place," Lee said. "He's got the explosiveness that you look for. He's got big play capabilities. He's the one we've seen make plays all last season. We expect that from him."
• • •
SPECIAL TEAMS
Punter
The skinny: Milne averaged 39.7 yards on 63 punts last season. He pinned 19 punts inside the 20-yard line and had seven punts longer than 50 yards.
Place-kicker
The skinny: Ayat is the second all-time leading scorer in UH history, trailing leader Jason Elam by 111 points. Last season, Ayat connected on 14 of 22 field-goal attempts and 30 of 38 point-after attempts. Miranda played in four games and started the last three, making 3 of 5 field-goal attempts and 21 of 22 point-after attempts.
Long snapper
The skinny: Runge is UH's first recruited long-snapper. The Fullerton (Calif.) College product has been called "the best snapper in junior college right now," according to Hawai'i coach June Jones.
Punt return
The skinny: Owens has averaged 9.9 yards on punt returns in his career, while Bass has averaged 8.9 per return.
Kickoff return
The skinny: Owens (29.8 yard career average) has three career returns for touchdowns, two coming during Hawai'i's 72-45 defeat of BYU in 2001 when Owens scored on a 74-yard punt return and a 100-yard kickoff return. He broke the NCAA single-game record for most yards on kick returns with 342. Brewster (22.2 yard career average) and Pearman (4.3 seconds over 40 yards) might also see action.
Advertiser Staff Writer
