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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, April 19, 2008

Warrior football players put through paces by NFL scouts

Photo gallery: UH pro day

By Stephen Tsai
HawaiiWarriorBeat.com Editor

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

From left, Michael Washington, Adam Leonard and Keala Watson relax after taking the Wonderlic test as part of UH's junior pro day. "There's a lot of talent here," said Dave Petett, a Pittsburgh Steelers scout.

JOAQUIN SIOPACK | The Honolulu Advertiser

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In the scouting equivalent of the PSAT, 22 soon-to-be Hawai'i football seniors participated in a condensed Pro Day at the UH athletic complex.

Two scouts representing 26 NFL teams gave the players the Wonderlic — 12-minute, 50-question IQ test — and recorded their weights, heights, reaches and hand spans. Because the Warriors are in spring training, head coach Greg McMackin requested that 40-yard dashes and bench presses not be administered.

That was fine with the scouts, who have attended two practices and watched hours of UH videos.

"There's a lot of talent here," said Dave Petett, the Pittsburgh Steelers' West Coast scouting coordinator. "It's nice to see them in person."

Left guard Keith "Bear" AhSoon lived up to his nickname. His 11-inch hand span was the widest.

Cornerback Ryan Mouton unsuccessfully tried to poof up his hair to appear taller. But Ray Biggs, who represents National Scouting, pressed the carpenter's square — an L-shaped device — to Mouton's scalp. "Five-oh-nine-two," Biggs said, which translates to 5 feet 9 1/4. It shouldn't impact Mouton, who has a vertical jump of 39 inches.

For the Wonderlic, defensive end David Veikune said he did well except for the math questions. "I needed a calculator," he said.

Defensive tackle Keala Watson said the vocabulary questions were the trickiest. For example, he said: " 'Aloof' is to 'alleviate' as what is to what?"

But defensive end Francis Maka, who said he answered 35 of 37 questions correctly, showed he could excel in logic. The players were told they would be graded on the percentage of questions answered correctly. He drew laughs when he asked if he could answer only four.

"It makes sense if they're going based on percentage," Maka said. "If you answer one, and you get it right, you aced the Wonderlic."

The scouts emphasized that the session was a starting point. "Everything we did today doesn't matter if you can't perform on the field," Watson said. "They said they'll be coming back."

Visit Tsai's blog at http://warriorbeat.honadvblogs.com.

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.