The Animal is a football beast.

"Jake is a typical Lattimer from the movie, 'The Program,' " Hawai'i linebacker Blaze Soares said of Jake "Animal" Heun. "He's mental. He's always making noise. He brings a lot to our linebacker corps. He's Jake. That's all I can say."

"He's an aggressive guy, man," said graduate assistant Michael Smith, who also is an aggressive guy. "He's one of the guys you like to coach. He gives you 100 percent every play."

Heun, a linebacker, has an "animal" tattoo on the right side of his chest, a mohawk and a villain's sneer.

If Heun did not play football, quarterbacks coach Nick Rolovich said, "I'd stay away from him."

Rolovich had coached at City College of San Francisco, where Heun was a rush end on defense and powerback on offense. Soon after Rolovich was hired at UH, he recommended signing Heun.

In January 2008, Heun became the first member of UH head coach Greg McMackin's first Warrior recruiting class.

"He hasn't changed," Rolovich said. "He was that way in junior college. It wasn't an easy place socially. City College had some tough dudes. He came in, and he was one of the toughest. He's a good leader. He's intense and smart, and he has a passion for football at the highest level."

Heun, who was recruited as a power back, did not play last season after suffering a herniated disk. In the spring, he moved to defense. He now is a middle linebacker in the base 4-3 defense and "Joker" in the 3-3-5 alignment.

The "Joker", which is similar to the "elephant" in USC's 4-3 defense, sneaks to the line and aligns as a stand-up defensive end, usually on the weak side. Yesterday, the "Joker" was wild.

During a four-play sequence, Heun knocked back running back Inoke Funaki, made a sack, pancaked running back Chizzy Dimude, and raced across the field to chase down a ballcarrier near the sideline.

"It's good to get out there," Heun said. "The middle of the practice, it was a little shaky. I caught my second wind toward the end of practice."

Heun received tutoring from middle linebacker Brashton Satele, who will undergo season-ending surgery next week, and Soares.

"Linebackers take a lot of pride in what we do," Soares said. "If one linebacker messes up, we feel all of our linebackers messed up. We try to help each other out."

Heun has recovered fully from the back injury. He never lost his thriller instinct.

"I could never, ever work inside," Heun said. "I've always been outside. I loved being outside since I was little. I couldn't handle a desk job. I grew up in Alaska. I was always doing stuff."

He recalled his endless summers.

"I liked hiking around or shooting guns off until 4 in the morning," he said. "It's great in Alaska in the summer. You'll be out doing stuff, and you'll look at your watch all of a sudden it's 2 in the morning. Then in the winter, it's different. You go to school, it's dark. You come home, it's dark."

Heun spent most of the summer training in Hawai'i. In addition to following conditioning coach Mel deLaura's workout program, Heun trained with mixed martial arts instructor Chris "The Crippler" Leban.

Heun did not compete in any fights, but he sparred with Leban, Jason "Mayhem" Miller and Kendall Grove.

Heun, who is 250 pounds, has about a 65-pound weight advantage over Miller.

"He's a cool guy," Heun said. "I did pretty well. ... When I got him down on the ground, his jiu jitsu kicked in. I was like, 'What the hell is going on?' It was good, though."

Heun said he is considering pursuing an MMA career in the future.

"When I got home, I was talking to my old man about it," Heun said. "He's like, you don't know what you're talking about. I talked him into watching the UFC 100 with me. He actually took a liking to it. I think he's in favor of it right now."

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