April 15th practice

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NelsonO
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April 15th practice

Post by NelsonO »

Some observations after Wednesday’s practice at the grass field. Some of the players now have been designated to the scout teams. I don’t want to minimize the importance of the scout team, but if a player has been relegated to the scout team, it is not a good sign for his playing time in the near future.

Going into spring practice, I thought there would be more competition for the #1 QB spot. But actually the real battle is for the back-up QB spot. Shane Austin has closed the gap between himself and Brent Rausch. I’m really surprised at the progress Austin has made.

At running back, all the top candidates are seniors; Leon Wright-Jackson, Inoke Funaki, and Jayson Rego. If granted an additional year of eligibility Daniel Libre, another senior, should be in the conversation. Like Shane Austin, Funaki is really coming on.

No changes to the first team offensive line since the beginning of spring practice. Today, the second unit consisted of (from left to right) Clayton Laurel, Austin Hansen, Sila Lefiti, Brysen Ginlack, and Adrian Thomas.

Looks like they have narrowed the field at slotback. The players getting most of the reps now are Jon Medeiros, Kealoha Pilares, Greg Salas, Dustin Blount, and Ryan Henry.

At wide-out, they are still rotating seven or eight players during the team period.

Defensive end Antwan Mahaley saw an increase in this workload during the team period.

Paipai Falemalu is back to practice, but because of his missed time he is currently down in the depth chart. Outside linebacker Josh Rice got a lot of reps during the team period.

When the team went to the okie package, Richard Torres was the #1 nickleback.

In a radio interview earlier in the week, Coach McMackin said he believes this year’s secondary will be better than last year’s secondary. We lost nine defensive backs from last year to graduation; seven of which were contributors. This is lofty praise from Coach McMackin, because I believe not one of our defensive backs this year has started a game at the division 1 level yet.

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Grinch
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Re: April 15th practice

Post by Grinch »

Nelson O: Thanks for the report. Wondering - who are some of the JC transfers that could start or see signif playing time this year? Brett Leonard - any chance he'll be in the mix? thanx
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Re: April 15th practice

Post by uhwarrior23 »

Thanks for the report! :D

NelsonO
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Re: April 15th practice

Post by NelsonO »

Grinch wrote:Nelson O: Thanks for the report. Wondering - who are some of the JC transfers that could start or see signif playing time this year? Brett Leonard - any chance he'll be in the mix? thanx
Grinch, good question.

I’ll take it that you mean the mid-year JC transfers.

Safety Lametrius Davis has been running second team behind Spencer Smith. The coaches really like Davis and Davis has shown a lot of progress during the spring. Davis has closed the gap on Spencer Smith and I would not be surprised to see Davis overtake Smith.

If Greg Salas stays at slotback, JC transfer Rodney Bradley is a prime contender for the wide-out spot opposite Malcom Lane. Bradley is faster than Salas.

With Chris Black out injured, cornerback Melvin Hopkins has been lining up with the first team. Hopkins is a little too slight for my liking, but we have had a few good, small cornerbacks at the University of Hawaii.

The good news is that neither offensive lineman Brett Leonard nor defensive tackle David Hafoka are on the scout team. The bad news is that neither Leonard nor Hafoka are on the two-deeps; at least not yet.

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Re: April 15th practice

Post by 2ScoopRice »

Thanks Nelson, I can't wait for Saturday's practice I hope to see some of you there. \:D/
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Re: April 15th practice

Post by guaransballbearins »

Thanks for the report Nelson! Any word on how Billy Ray is looking?

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Re: April 15th practice

Post by seasider »

Mahalo Nui Loa for the in depth reporting!

Good news on Leonard and Hafoka, both have 3 to play 2.

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Re: April 15th practice

Post by senorhayabusa »

thanks Nelson

any word about the fight that Mr. Tsai hinted at?

Of course fighting isn't good, but its just apart of football.

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Re: April 15th practice

Post by kalilix7 »

Mahalo NelsonO

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Re: April 15th practice

Post by Grinch »

THANKS Nelson O.
Keep up the great job . . . providing us Warrior fans with updates!!!
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NelsonO
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Re: April 15th practice

Post by NelsonO »

guaransballbearins wrote:Thanks for the report Nelson! Any word on how Billy Ray is looking?
Stutzmann has been working out primarily on the left side. I would say right now Billy Ray is behind Rodney Bradley, Joe Avery, and Mike Tinoco.

Considering that Stutzmann is a true freshman, I think Stutzmann has given a good accounting of himself. One of the things I like about Stutzmann is that he has good speed, perhaps not Jovonte Taylor speed, but Billy Ray can move.

NelsonO
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Re: April 15th practice

Post by NelsonO »

senorhayabusa wrote:thanks Nelson

any word about the fight that Mr. Tsai hinted at?

Of course fighting isn't good, but its just apart of football.
I didn’t want to be the first one to mention the “fight” because it wasn’t much of a fight. And I’m not going to mention names.

The “disagreement” happened during the 9 on 7 drill; that is, nine defensive players against seven offensive players. This is a running play drill. Everybody and his auntie knows that the QB is going to hand-off the ball to the running back. And the running play is designed to go between the tackles.

If you take away the QB and RB, it’s basically five offensive linemen trying to block nine defensive players. In effect, it’s “kill the running back” day.

One of the running backs took exception to the defense giving him a little extra. By the time the other players jumped into the fray to separate the primary offenders, a major scrum (like in rugby) occurred.

I would say there were about twenty players in the scrum, but nobody got hurt. Just a lot of pushing and shoving and bravado. You know, just your normal football stuff.

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Re: April 15th practice

Post by letsgobows »

NelsonO, did u attend today's practice? thanks.
college football=drama for men.
GO WARRIORS!

senorhayabusa
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Re: April 15th practice

Post by senorhayabusa »

Thanks Nelson

yeh its not a big deal because football is a contact sport so tempers will flare

but just like a car wreck, can't help but watch lol

I gotta admit I am getting stoked about Rodney Bradley, he seems like the first speed burner on the outside we have had since Ashley Lelie.

I got a good feeling that the deep ball is finally back in Hawaii's Offense.

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Re: April 15th practice

Post by HK »

Thanks for the write up. Since I can't get there I'm always happy when I can read these reports.

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