It appears Abraham Elimimian, the starting left cornerback, will open the season as the nickelback.

"He has all of the tools," Miano said.

When Elimimian moves to nickel — serving as an inside cornerback or outside linebacker — cornerback Turmarian Moreland replaces strong-side linebacker Chad Kapanui.

"Abe has established himself as the top nickel," Miano said. "He needs some work with assignments, but we know he can cover (receivers) and we know he can tackle. He's shown a knack for blitzing."

In Sunday's scrimmage, Elimimian sneaked through the middle of the offensive line to sack Tim Chang. Yesterday, blitzing from the outside, Elimimian knocked down Kainoa Akina's pass.

"Was that (Kim) Willoughby?" Chang yelled, a reference to the former All-America volleyball player.

"I love blitzing," said Elimimian, a fifth-year senior. "I've never had a sack. I want a sack this year."

Elimimian is the Warriors' best pass defender. He did not allow any receiver he was covering last year to catch a scoring pass.

"Abe is the product of hard work," Miano said. "He built himself into a guy who's really fast and really aggressive. He built himself into the football player he is."

Elimimian, who is 5 feet 10, dropped nine pounds during the summer and now weighs 182. The weight loss has not sapped his strength. He can bench press 225 pounds 14 times.

Safeties pin hopes on remaining practices

Safeties Lono Manners and Patrick Jenkins are making a strong push for starting jobs.

In the 14 days of the recently completed training camp, strong safety Leonard Peters and free safety Lamar Broadway practiced on the first team.

Yesterday, Manners, a strong safety from Wai'anae, and Jenkins, a free safety from Orlando, Fla., were on the first unit.

"It's still open," UH coach June Jones said of the competition. "Lono's had a really good camp. Right now he's playing as solid as I've ever seen him. Patrick has played very well."

Miano, who coaches the defensive secondary, said a decision might not be made until the middle of next week.

"We have a good situation," Miano said. "I'd rather have four guys who can play (safety) than two. We're going to play the best players. This isn't Pop Warner, where everybody has to play a certain amount of minutes. This is a big business. We want the best guys on the field. We're still evaluating the safety positions."

Manners, a fourth-year junior, and Jenkins, a senior, joined the Warriors as non-scholarship players in 2001. Manners was awarded a football scholarship last year.

"Hopefully, I can earn one this year," Jenkins said.

Jenkins said he did not receive any Division I-A offers as a Florida Christian Academy senior. "I kind of messed up my senior year in high school," he said. "I didn't play as hard as I could have played."

Jenkins said some family members living in Hawai'i told him to try out for the Warriors. "It's worked out for the best," he said.

It's all relative to slotback Ilaoa

Adam Iloilo, a 5-foot-11, 230-pound linebacker, is the cousin of UH slotback Nate Ilaoa. He was identified as Ilaoa's brother in yesterday's Advertiser.

Iloilo attended a junior college in 1999, spent two years on a church mission in Iowa, and attended Chaffey College last year. He has two years to play two seasons.

"I played in the middle, but I'll go anywhere to help the team," Iloilo said.

Ilaoa also is related to linebacker Lincoln Manutai, left guard Uriah Moenoa, defensive end Melila Purcell III and defensive tackle Larry Sauafea.

"I'm related to everyone," Ilaoa said.

Purcell, who has a sprained left foot, was on crutches yesterday. Jones said Purcell is on track to resume practicing next week.

Moenoa, who has recovered from a strained left leg, worked with the first team yesterday.

Middle linebacker Watson Ho'ohuli suffered a leg strain. The injury is not considered to be serious. Tanuvasa Moe, already filling in for injured weak-side linebacker Paul Lutu-Carroll, replaced Ho'ohuli as the second-string middle linebacker.

Celebrated in music by noted composer

Mike Post has composed six musical tracks to be used during UH football games. The tracks will be played during players' entrances, starting lineups and scoring celebrations.

Post has composed the theme music for "L.A. Law," "Hill Street Blues," "NYPD Blue," and "Magnum P.I."