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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, September 14, 2004

UH SPORTS
Wounded Warriors plan to play Saturday

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

Sore but willing, three key University of Hawai'i football players vow to be ready for Saturday's road game against Rice in Houston.

Ayat
UH coach June Jones is counting on Justin Ayat (groin injury), the only placekicker on the Warriors' 60-player travel roster; starting right slotback Se'e Poumele (stretched nerve in right hamstring), and reserve running back West Keli'ikipi (surgically repaired left knee).

"Injury-wise," Jones said, "we should be OK."

Ayat yesterday kicked field goals in practice for the first time since suffering the groin injury Aug. 16. In the Sept. 4 opener against Florida Atlantic, Ayat was not summoned for a field goal. Backup punter Tim Wright handled kickoffs. Jones said neither Wright nor backup kicker Nolan Miranda will travel to Houston.

"I tested my leg out on field goals, and I felt pretty good," said Ayat, a fifth-year senior. "I felt no pain."

He said he believes he can kick accurately from 50 yards, "maybe a little longer than that."

He said he will work on kickoffs today or tomorrow.

If Ayat can't kick off, Jones is prepared to go to Plan B (punter Kurt Milne) or Plan C (squib kicks). "There are different things we can do," Jones said.

Poumele yesterday competed in passing drills for the first time since suffering the hamstring injury in the second quarter of the FAU game. He said he sometimes experiences "sharp pain" in his right hamstring, and he ran at "70 percent" yesterday.

"There's a difference between being injured and being hurt," Poumele said. "I can play through this."

Jones said: "I'm sure it's going to bother him for another five or six days. Hopefully, he'll be all right by game day."

Keli'ikipi has not played since suffering a torn meniscus in his left knee against Nevada last November. He missed UH's final four games, and did not compete in spring practice or training camp.

Jones said Keli'ikipi's left knee "is close to being 100 percent" and the 262-pound senior running back "will get some snaps" against Rice.

Keli'ikipi said he is focusing on his blocking. During practices, his right wrist is heavily bandaged to cushion the impact when he punches — the blocking technique of thrusting his open hands onto a defender's jersey.

Fastest Warrior will likely redshirt

Jones said freshmen Andrew Pearman and Taylor Humphrey are likely to redshirt this season.

Pearman, who is the fastest Warrior (10.3 seconds over 100 meters), was slowed by a leg injury during training camp. He was competing at right wideout behind starter Britton Komine, Ross Dickerson and Rene Melson. In the practices leading to the FAU game, he was the No. 2 kick returner behind Chad Owens.

But with the logjam at right wideout and Dickerson's success as a kick returner (34.5 yards), Pearman faces limited playing time this season.

"We'll probably redshirt him," Jones said. "We'll see how it goes."

For now, Pearman is practicing at running back, the position he played at Providence High in Charlotte, N.C. As a senior, he rushed for 2,268 yards and scored 37 touchdowns.

"I told him I would have him play receiver through camp and then eventually get him to running back, so he could learn that, too," Jones said. "The more he knows, the more it will help him in the future. That's what I told him when he first came in, and I've stayed with it."

Humphrey was one of three quarterbacks to sign with UH in February. Tyler Graunke will redshirt this season and Brandon Satcher, the scout team quarterback, is expected to travel to Houston this week.

"I like all three of them," Jones said. "Taylor Humphrey is probably a little ahead of all of them right now. He's very diligent, very conscientious. He wants to know, 'How can I get better?' I think in time, if I were to give him a bunch of reps right now, he'd probably be able to play as a freshman. (But) I'm kind of looking at he's going to redshirt."

You do math: Algebra hurts recruiting

Jones said UH's stricter academic requirements cost the Warriors "three to four" recruits each year.

"No other school requires Algebra II" in high school as a prerequisite to playing as a freshman, Jones said. "If you're an NCAA qualifier and you don't have Algebra II, you can go to another school, but you can't come to UH."

Privacy laws prohibit UH from disclosing players who are academically ineligible. But first-year Warriors Chris Cole and George Perry had said they were not eligible last year because they did not earn enough credits in high school classes required by UH.

"Our college puts stiffer requirements on getting kids into school than the schools we compete with," Jones told the audience at yesterday's Honolulu Quarterback Club meeting. "At some point, you're going to have a point that breaks one way or the other. If you want to get to the next level, if you want to ... have a winning program year in and year out here, everybody has to be in it together and not against each other. That's basically what has to happen."

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