Here we go …
By Dave Reardon
Welcome to the Star-Bulletin’s new blog dedicated to University of Hawaii sports. I am Dave Reardon, the SB’s Warriors beat writer since 2001 and your host here for things UH football related. For the most part we’ll stick with that for now, although our plans include Cindy Luis (volleyball), Jason Kaneshiro (basketball) and Kalani Simpson (columnist) talking story with you too.
I’ve covered pretty much everything at one time or another locally in nearly 30 years of sportswriting in Hawaii (and a few other things during a couple of years in Chicago and Florida). Those who know me are aware I like to discuss other things, too, such as where to find the best bowl of pho in town, or when it makes fiscal sense to chase a gut-shot straight.
But for now, we’ll stick to the hottest sports topic in Hawaii: UH football.
Friday’s first day of fall camp was exciting for us, as sports editor Paul Arnett called a blitz the likes of which Jerry Glanville would be proud: Five SB writers were on the scene at Manoa, and we hope you enjoyed the coverage — as well as a very cool photo by Craig Kojima of June Jones monitoring a bunch of Warriors as they ran their 220s.
The 2007 UH football season has the potential to be a great ride for everyone involved, and, as usual, the Star-Bulletin will cover the Warriors every step of the way — only now with the addition of a dedicated interactive Web presence.
We’ll do some live blogging from practice beginning Monday. We want your questions, opinions and insight. I’ll throw out some topics now and then, and we’ll keep you up-to-date with breaking news on a more timely basis than we can do in our print editions.
This post is already too long, so I’ll leave you for now with this:
Blogging is kind of like the run-and-shoot; it’s wide open, and you read and react.
We’re looking forward to hearing from you, and assuming my battery doesn’t die, I’ll post from practice Monday around 5 p.m. Hawaii Time.
Dave
August 5th, 2007 at 2:21 am
1st
August 5th, 2007 at 4:00 am
Congrats on your new blog site Dave. Welcome to the world of hidden names, controversy and fun.
Lets get this party started. UH Warriors!
August 5th, 2007 at 5:14 am
Right on Dave. Looking forward to reading about the Warriors!
August 5th, 2007 at 7:08 am
Congratulations Dave, I think we in the Warrior nation have been waiting a long time for you to have your own blog. You can never have enough information about the Warriors and UH sports in general. Anyway, my first question is, what is your assesment about Leon Wright Jackson? I know its pretty early, but did he seem to be ready to jump right into fall camp with the others? Mahalo
August 5th, 2007 at 7:29 am
Congratulatons on the new blog Dave. I look forward to being a regular reader.
August 5th, 2007 at 8:10 am
Dear Dave,
Congratulations! You are a fine sports reporter and will be a major asset for our beloved Warriors. I am sure that the entire community welcomes your new venture. All the best. KL
August 5th, 2007 at 9:18 am
Best wishes Dave and crew! Hope to find this blog the source of information and opinion.
August 5th, 2007 at 9:53 am
Congrats Dave. JJ has said that the concern on defense was his secondary. Could you give us an update as to how things are shaping up?
August 5th, 2007 at 10:24 am
Thanks for the well wishes folks. JGM goes down in history as customer No. 1.
Usually technical glitches cause delays; this time it’s the opposite, and my opening message got posted a day early … no problem with that, I guess.
Regarding Leon Wright-Jackson: All eyes were on LWJ and Kealoha Pilares yesterday (although 6-4 receiver Joe Avery did attract some glances too).
Yesterday both backs looked very good (granted, running against air). After seeing him in person, it appears Wright-Jackson has that quality of burst that most great ball carriers possess. Great acceleration.
He also seems to be a very gracious person.
We will learn at least something Sept. 1 of his instincts and toughness — two other key ingredients of a great running back.
By the way, underrated David Farmer is in great shape and will battle for some playing time.
August 5th, 2007 at 10:58 am
Congratulations Dave. Having another blog focusing on UH football will be great. Looking forward to your insights and tidbits. See you at practice soon.
August 5th, 2007 at 10:58 am
RedZone,
I feel Gerard Lewis and especially Myron Newberry are quite underrated at the corners. Their only flaw is height, and unfortunately, that makes them vulnerable to big plays against tall receivers. But they make lots of good and great plays that don’t get on TV for every one time they get burned.
With that being said, UH is continually looking to upgrade the corners — great ones like Abe Elimimian are rare.
JC transfer Calvin Roberts is reportedly the real deal, we’ll find out next week when he arrives. Don’t count out Keenan Jones either; it appears his troubles may be behind him.
One safety spot is locked up with a bigger, stronger Jake Patek. Desmond Thomas is No. 1 on the other side, but the competition will be fierce. … More about the secondary from practice tomorrow.
August 5th, 2007 at 11:58 am
As a frequent guest on the Bob & Jai Show, can you grace us again with your presence on Tuesday to share with our listeners your perspective of this extension of your valued sports coverage? Bob & I have a feeling you do not intend to re-invent the wheel here, so clue our listeners in on the exciting new direction you intend to be taking us. Mahalo
August 5th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
Barak 181,
The personal opinion issue is a tricky one for beat writers who blog. There’s a line between analysis and opinion that can get fuzzy. Also, since these are college athletes, it’s unlikely you’ll read me writing something like “So-and-so sucks,” even if i really think that. (And with this team being as good as it was last year, poor performers are hard to find, anyway).
Every now and then I write an opinion column in the SB. The rule is the subject can’t be on my beat. Around the WAC sometimes gets pretty close to opinion, but it’s always backed up with facts and figures.
As for here, just because we’re on the Internet, our journalistic standard doesn’t change; we can, however, write in a breezier, less formal tone.
So what I’m saying is there will be more analysis from me here, but no shoot-from-the hip opinion … but feel free to fire away yourselves, within the limits of good taste. That is very much encouraged.
August 5th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
Barry,
Thank you for stopping by. And also for the invitation to be on the Bob and Jai Show on Tuesday. I don’t know how much I can divulge about our plans for this blog, since nothing’s set in stone yet. But we have developed some general philosophy about what we hope it becomes and how it can serve our readers and I’m happy to share those thoughts (as well as some on the first few days of fall camp).
August 5th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
Dave-
Thanks for starting this up. This is going to be one exciting season! My biggest concern, however, is out revamped O-line. Looking forward to your training camp reports on our Warriors. Already have this blog bookmarked.
August 5th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
congrats on the blog Dave! looking forward to everything you’ll have on here!
August 5th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
Aloha John,
You are right to be concerned about the O-line. Although UH has a lot of guys who look like they’re ready to play, even Dennis McKnight admits you don’t just replace Sam Satele, Dane Uperesa and Tala Esera without some probable drop-off.
But as Billy Hull’s piece on the O-line on Saturday indicated, these fellas are bonding well, like UH O-lines in the past by hanging out a lot in the offseason (activity of choice for this group, spear fishing). That kind of thing– combined of course with hard work on technique, weights, conditioning and knowing the blocking schemes by heart — is very important. Camaraderie is huge for O-linemen. They have to have each other’s backs .. as well as Colt’s.
August 5th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
Congratulations Dave! Best of luck. I plan to start a flame war with you whether you like it or not. Just kidding. Thanks and hope you have fun blogging.
August 5th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Howzit Dave,
Mahalos for starting this blog….it seems like the starbulletin has been having around 3 or 4 articles everyday about UH football; very exciting! Can’t wait to read your updates and reports! BTW, Erik Robinson is 19 right? If so, what # is Lemarcus Gibson and how are they both doing?
August 5th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
Tombo Ahi is the Man!!! (or should I say the Fish Man??)
His site is one of my first stops every day, because he finds everything UH football related on the net and has it in one place … and makes some funny comments, too.
His site was first to report locally UH being ranked No. 24 in the preseason, because he found it in an east coast paper that jumped the gun on the USA Today poll.
That was cool.
Check him out at uhfootballblogspot.com
August 5th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Howzit F.O.,
One of the problems with training camp is that rosters are often outdated as soon as you get ‘em … such as mine is right now. We’ll update the numbers tomorrow.
“E-Rob” is the guy they’re hoping can start at safety next to Patek. He’s got all the right measurables, and a lot of heart. He just needs to learn the system. Gibson is also a natural talent, but he probably needs more time since he’s right out of high school whereas E-Rob has been through the JC wars. Erik worked his butt off this summer, and Rich Miano says Gibson is doing fine so far.
The SB just promoted part-timers Brian McInnis and Billy Hull to full-time. They, along with Jason Kaneshiro and our multiple-award winning columnist Kalani Simpson, will be joining me at practice early and often. Among other things, that gives us some time to give you live reports from practice.
Our bosses realize the biggest show in town is the biggest it’s ever been this year, and the Star-Bulletin is devoting plenty of resources to expanding coverage.
August 5th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
Dave,
I’m glad to hear that the Star-Bulletin has 5 reporters now covering the Warriors! The more coverage the better, for all of Warrior fans. I read everything I can find on the Warriors and will visit this blog many times per day to read the posts and comments.
Best of luck on your blog.
August 5th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
Congrats on the new blog! Can’t wait to see the direction this is going. Keep giving us the 411 on our favorite team! Aloha!
August 5th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
Hi Dave,
It’s great to see you up and running here. I met you in Atlanta at the GA tech practice field last year before the Bama game.
August 5th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Hey Buger,
I remember meeting you and having some time to talk story. Are you still in the ATL? Quite a facility at Georgia Tech, right in the middle of the city. I also remember Chan Gailey telling me he wouldn’t mind playing Hawaii, but that might have just been talk.
August 5th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
http://recruiting.scout.com/2/664854.html
My Scout.com vid of several UH prospects in “one on ones” at the Hawaii Speed & Quickness Football Camp at UH. It was a great learning experience for linemen on both sides of the ball. Reinebold is clearly into it. Check out Solomon’s awesome clubbing move…Cheers, Barry
August 5th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
Hey Dave,
I just found out a pretty good friend of mine from high school, Waikaloa Noa, is on the football team. I think he is a senior DB… was on the scout team last year after transferring from JC. Have you noticed him any in practice? If you have, do you think he has a shot at seeing some time?
August 5th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
Last year I saw this rangy, athletic kid makng all kinds of plays on the scout defense one day. I think he picked Colt. I was like, “Who IS that guy?” It was Waikaloa Noa. He was a scout-team monster.
There’s tons of competition back there, but I’m sure Miano and McMackin will give him a fair shot. And Noa seems like a great candidate for kickoff or punt coverage.
August 5th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
by the way Bud, thanks for joining us. I enjoy your healthy perspective on WSN (although I have to admit I don’t really dig cats).
August 5th, 2007 at 4:37 pm
In the spirit of two-a-days, we’re starting another thread (wow, a day before we were actually supposed to launch).
Feel free to respond to either.
August 5th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
Thanks Dave, I hope things work out for Waikaloa. He was always the “BMOC” when we were in high school, but was also a very cool, likeable guy.
I’ve been reading you every afternoon for a long time, man. You have a nice, crisp writing style (I think your better than Tsai) that I tried to imitate when I was first learning to write news-style.
August 5th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
And yeah, the kitty is starting to get me too. Been meaning to change it for a while, but I’m too lazy.
August 5th, 2007 at 9:08 pm
auryte Dave-good job.
August 5th, 2007 at 9:51 pm
Thanks Bud, Zolte, and everyone else who stopped by today. You all made the first day a great one.
I’ve got to work on some stuff for our season preview magazine now, so I’ll check back in in the a.m. with some info on a former Warrior venturing into a new arena.
August 5th, 2007 at 10:29 pm
Congrats on your Blog! I did post earlier in the day, but it was only a “test” and I found out that yes, you do have the power to delete posts. Hopefully, this gesture of goodwill gets posted:
Good luck with this endeavor and it’s great to have another source of Warrior Football info.
August 5th, 2007 at 10:42 pm
Thanks IsleStyle,
Glad you stopped in, and we look forward to your insights.
August 5th, 2007 at 11:37 pm
Dave: Congrats.
Let’s hope our posters will keep this blog
UH SPORTS oriented, unlike the other one.
Mahalo.
August 5th, 2007 at 11:44 pm
Suggestion: All you readers (lurkers), at the end of the day, drop Dave a line to say thank you.
This way, we all can guess about how many of us are out here. (Dave and his staff know.)
August 6th, 2007 at 5:01 am
Dave,
Best wishes on the new blog site. Always admired your class, professionalism and graciousness.
See you on the practice field and road games.
August 6th, 2007 at 5:05 am
Dave
You forgot to mention the competion’s Bruce Spinks. Couch and Spinks were both up and coming young reporters.
August 6th, 2007 at 6:57 am
A pleasure to click on your blog, Dave. . . hmmmmmmm. . . .no gigi yet. . .
August 6th, 2007 at 7:55 am
It was a really funny sight at UH practice Saturday morning…Bungahead went to off to go coach the QB’s (lol), leaving Jr. Bungahead with my little guy to analyze the UH O-line and formulate a plan for world peace and the economic revitalization of Suriname. Can you imagine leaving two little Punahou kids on the UH Football field alone? That’s dangerous. That is why they had to wait for Dane Uperesa to graduate before they got another one (Drew).
August 6th, 2007 at 8:20 am
Congratulations, Dave. I know you have a lot of connections/information about UH recruiting. Questions. What happened to Tu Tui who was recruted by UH in the 2003 season. I see Viliami Nauahi (his teammate) is finally back. I hope he’s a big hitter. What’s to status about prospects
QB Tyler Wilson and OL/DL Max Tuioti-Marinor. Seems like their off the rainbowsportsnetwork radar screen. Heard anything about Chase Nakamura from Baldwin?
What about 2009 prospect Manti Teo from Punahou? I heard he’s big time. Good to see UH is offering early commitments like a lot of those big time schools. We haven’t done this in the past. Is it because UH is more front and center and more attractive to prospects because of their recent success?
I’m stoked about the season. BCS baby.
P.S. 100+ in the first game against N. Colorado. Brennan will play only the first half, pass for 6 to 7 TDs. N. Colorado is bad, bad, terrible. 1-10 as a Divsion II. Now they’re Division I-AA. Give me a break.
If the UH defense is good this year, which I think it will, then UH will run roughshodover over everybody. With an excellent defense, plus the efficiency of Colt Brennan and the offense, I mean, are you kidding? Hey, Tyler Graunke ain’t bad too. He’s the man next year again Florida and Oregon State. Keep up the good work, Dave. I enjoy your articles.
August 6th, 2007 at 8:40 am
Manti Teo is a name I keep hearing again and again … June Jones is re-evaluating his experiment of tossing out early offers like Halloween candy, but I’m pretty sure Teo will be in that upper tier of blue chips that he will offer early regardless.
The last I heard about Max was that he got hurt and some of the bigger schools might be backing off. There are varying reports on his interest in joining his brother in Hawaii.
I’ll check on Tu Tui and Tyler Wilson and get back to you. If anyone else has good, current info on these guys please feel free to chime in.
Could you imagine Tyler Graunke running some option with Laumoli at FB and Action at HB?
August 6th, 2007 at 8:44 am
Barry,
If it was a real slow day and I couldn’t think of what to write, I would just put the tape recorder in front of Dane and say, “What do you think Dane?” I miss him already and wish him the best.
August 6th, 2007 at 9:31 am
I’ve heard good things about Chase Nakamura … heard he was great at the Maui camp.
I’m high on Billy Ray Stutzmann. Height, hands and speed. And not too many high school juniors can say they spent the summer catching passes from a Heisman short-lister.
August 6th, 2007 at 12:53 pm
Congrats Dave on your new blog section. Always good to have more than one blog to look for sports info.
August 6th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
On Stutzman: I assume he’s Craig’s brother!
Is Attrail Snipes a soft verbal or firm verbal commitment? Is Attrail related to Wesley? I heard somewhere that we were!!!! Just checking. Maybe Wesley can talk to the team about his “Blade”s. That’s what the Warriors will be doing to our opponents, cutting them up to pieces. Phil Steele said UH will average 60 points. I think that is a very, very good possibility.
Thanks for all the info.
P.S. I’d like to see Viliami play safety and also on special teams. He might be somebody like Semeri Uluface on kickoffs and bust the wedge. That’s what gets the crowd all jacked-up….a big hit.
August 6th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
1st question Dave…Why is Mr. Frazier still the AD?
I bet even “I” could have gotten somebody like the Clemson Tigers, NC State or Penn State out to play our Warrior team. Why do they always have to ask the same old pesky USC Toe-Jams?
Mahalo,
Kekoa
August 6th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
Howzit Kekoa,
Clearly Herman Frazier’s popularity took a big hit with the scheduling problem and that in turn made him a lightning rod for criticism on other topics such as facilities and budget and accessibility.
But the Board of Regents and mucky-mucks on upper campus who are his bosses are on the record as being satisfied with his job performance.
Scheduling is harder than it looks, but it’s a lot easier when you strike your deals several years ahead of time. And you can’t always wait for perfection, sometimes you just gotta make the deal.
August 6th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
Wayne,
I haven’t had a chance to talk to Snipes myself yet. In my experience, I’ve found that if you follow recruiting and you have to ask if a commit is firm or soft, it’s best to consider it soft and not get your hopes up too high.
Snipes isn’t a very common name, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they are related.
Yes, Billy Ray is Craig’s brother.
Viliami looks like outside linebacker material now. But if he’s still as fast as he was in high school, he’d probably be pretty good at either safety spot.
August 6th, 2007 at 11:29 pm
Based on Attrail Snipes remarkable journey as chronicled by the following article, I don’t think he is related to Wesley Snipes.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/preps/240747_beach15.html
August 7th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
Thanks for clearing up the scheduling hassle Dave, my offer to bring Oklahoma or Nebraska still stands.
What are your thoughts on a new stadium being built near the Kunia exit?? We do need to replace the rust bucket before it collapses like the 35W bridge!!
August 7th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
Especially if it’s bring, as in bring them here, UH would be all ears. Or should be …
The longer they wait to build a new stadium, the more it will cost. The trouble is getting the majority of taxpayers who don’t care about football to agree to pay for it.
September 20th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
if anyone is wondering where Tu Tui is? He is attending a J.C. in Utah. Snow College in Ephraim, UT. He plays outside linebacker(strong side).