When head coach June Jones wanted to rebuild the University of Hawai'i's defensive secondary, he followed his football compass and looked to the Lone Star State.

"Even when I was in the NFL, we tried to get a lot of players from Texas, especially the corners and defensive backs," Jones said. "Players from Texas are a lot like the players who play in Hawai'i. Football is what they do. In Texas, football is a passion, and it's a way of life. Watch 'Friday Night Lights,' and you find out what's different about it. We went down there specifically for that reason."

Saturday's game against Idaho will be the second in a row in which three Texans — cornerbacks Gerard Lewis and Myron Newberry and strong safety Jake Patek — will start in the UH secondary. All three are first-year Warriors who transferred from junior colleges. Free safety Leonard Peters, who was born in American Samoa and raised on the North Shore, is the other starter.

"Gerard and Myron and Jacob exemplify that passion for the sport," Jones said. "They love the game, and they play every play like it's their last."

Most important, said assistant coach Jeff Reinebold, who recruited all three, they "never grumbled when they weren't playing, and they never stopped working hard when they got their chance."

That's probably because of their difficult journey.

Lewis, who was raised in Houston, never started a high school football game. To make the Tyler Junior College team, he competed in the developmental program, which really was an audition for 140 prospects.

"He went to Tyler as basically a walk-on, an undersized (5 feet 9), unrecruited player," Reinebold said. "They couldn't run him off. And it was the same here. Until he unstraps his chin strap for the last time, he's going to have to battle people saying he's too small. If a guy's been through that, obviously the game has to mean an awful lot to him."

Lewis initially signed with Eastern New Mexico State. But he successfully voided that commitment, then contacted UH.

"I told him I couldn't help him, that he would have to do all of the work, and he did," Reinebold said. "The reason he's here is because he made it happen."

When Reinebold received orders to recruit Texas cornerbacks, he met with several contacts, and came up with a list of 15 prospects.

"As I talked to each guy, I started cutting the list," Reinebold said. "Some weren't good students, some had character issues."

Reinebold was impressed with Newberry, also 5 feet 9, who needed to attend classes through the second summer session to be eligible to play for UH this year.

"I brought the tapes to June," Reinebold said. "He has an eye for guys who fly in the air and aren't afraid to make plays. June said, 'Go get him.' "

Reinebold said UH was not seeking another safety when it learned Patek was available. Texas A&M had reneged on a scholarship offer. Reinebold reviewed Patek's initial tape, giving it a thumb's down.

"I told him to go back through all of his tapes and pick out the plays I knew Jerry (Glanville, UH's defensive coordinator) would like," Reinebold recalled. "I gave the new tape to Jerry, and Jerry was like, 'Wow, there's our kind of guy.' "

The three have bonded — with one another and their teammates. Newberry, the only child of a single mom, said: "All of these guys are my brothers."

Patek said it's difficult to live far away. Last week, his parents traveled by plane for the Warriors' road game against New Mexico State. He said his aunt, uncle and a high school friend made the 13-hour drive from Victoria, Texas, to Las Cruces, N.M.

"They really showed how much they love me," he said. "They could have been doing better things back home, working, making money, whatever. But they sacrificed their time to come out and watch me play."

Jones said the Texas players "are very respectful. They're really, really good kids. There's a lot of similarities between the aloha spirit and Southern hospitality."

Lewis said: "That's the way we were raised. It's 'yes, sir," or 'no, sir.' We're taught to mind our manners. On the field, we play with a lot of heart. There are a lot of guys who are taller, but they don't have the same sized heart."

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