Spring Practice this Monday morning

[greentea]

Watching the defense tear up the offense 11 on 11 was a sight to behold. Somehow all the QBs did well under pressure. Graves surprised the heck out of me, he has a dart throwing ball that hit receivers at the right place.

Our receivers did awesome Salas, Bright, not too many balls dropped, as some balls were dropped because it was well defended. There's a spirit of excitement for all players to strive to do their best.

Punting team, made boomers punts out of the end zones that landed past the 50 yard line.

Refocusing back on the QB situation, I think by the time USC comes to town, our QBs will know exactly what need to be done to inflict major damage to SC's defense.

Our defense as a whole have this suffocating effect on anyone who has an active ball in their hands. QB, receivers, ball carriers, whoever.

Oh our running backs have speed to hit corners and tear up the side line quick fast and hurry. That kid from Samoa, I forgot his name, twice I seen the QB handed him the ball up the middle for 15, 20 yard gains, just out right blasting defenders who got in his way.

What I saw this morning compared to fall camp last year, this spring camp seemed like the second week of fall camp in terms of physicality prowness, knowledge of the offense by the QBs, the O line blocking like there were no tomorrow, because of the intensity of the defensive front. YOU GUYS HAVE TO MAKE IT OUT TO THE PRACTICES. THAT WAY YOU WILL SEE FIRST HAND THE QUALITY OF UH FOOTBALL WE HAVE. MAKE THAT EFFORT ( for those who live on Oahu that is).

[J-Rod]

Thanks for making the effort greentea!

The hype on Graves builds....

[Kahaluu Imua Warriors]

When is next practice. Wed? At what time? 7AM? I'm off this week.

[ulua]

Watching the defense tear up the offense 11 on 11 was a sight to behold. Somehow all the QBs did well under pressure. Graves surprised the heck out of me, he has a dart throwing ball that hit receivers at the right place.

Our receivers did awesome Salas, Bright, not too many balls dropped, as some balls were dropped because it was well defended. There's a spirit of excitement for all players to strive to do their best.

Punting team, made boomers punts out of the end zones that landed past the 50 yard line.

Refocusing back on the QB situation, I think by the time USC comes to town, our QBs will know exactly what need to be done to inflict major damage to SC's defense.

Our defense as a whole have this suffocating effect on anyone who has an active ball in their hands. QB, receivers, ball carriers, whoever.

Oh our running backs have speed to hit corners and tear up the side line quick fast and hurry. That kid from Samoa, I forgot his name, twice I seen the QB handed him the ball up the middle for 15, 20 yard gains, just out right blasting defenders who got in his way.

What I saw this morning compared to fall camp last year, this spring camp seemed like the second week of fall camp in terms of physicality prowness, knowledge of the offense by the QBs, the O line blocking like there were no tomorrow, because of the intensity of the defensive front. YOU GUYS HAVE TO MAKE IT OUT TO THE PRACTICES. THAT WAY YOU WILL SEE FIRST HAND THE QUALITY OF UH FOOTBALL WE HAVE. MAKE THAT EFFORT ( for those who live on Oahu that is).

Would that be Iosefa??

[tom-WarriorNation]

Great report Greentea; keep it up for us information starved fans since we live off the islands. Can you mention more names that has been standing out on defense and offense?

[Grinch]

For those watching spring ball - do GRAVES and NIELSON have quick releases when passing? I know Moniz, Austin and Raush get the ball out pretty quick. Alexander had more of a wind up.

I know it's not the only thing, but others that come to mind at UH - TC and Colt.

[Duster]

From comments made by Stephen Tsai, Dave Reardon, Bobby Curran, multiple posters, practices seem to be very organized and efficient, with the players getting the maximum out of the practices. Mack's vision of establishing a solid foundation for the program is happening, with a real depth chart. From the recruiting, to the off-season program, to the academics, to changes in coaching, and now the practices. Maybe it's not fast enough for some, but there is a sense of building going on for me. And more recruits who sign and get in seem to stay, and we get to hear about them develop. For example, it's exciting to hear about Graves, Shutter and Nielsen, who really want to be Warriors and are willing to pay their dues. It's not like when JJ had Graunke, Humphries and Satcher at QB with only Graunke sticking around.

[Waryor]

From comments made by Stephen Tsai, Dave Reardon, Bobby Curran, multiple posters, practices seem to be very organized and efficient, with the players getting the maximum out of the practices. Mack's vision of establishing a solid foundation for the program is happening, with a real depth chart. From the recruiting, to the off-season program, to the academics, to changes in coaching, and now the practices. Maybe it's not fast enough for some, but there is a sense of building going on for me. And more recruits who sign and get in seem to stay, and we get to hear about them develop. For example, it's exciting to hear about Graves, Shutter and Nielsen, who really want to be Warriors and are willing to pay their dues. It's not like when JJ had Graunke, Humphries and Satcher at QB with only Graunke sticking around.

this is a true statement.

here's some stats for mack first 2 recruiting classes:

2008: 22 recruits made it to fall camp. of those, 5 were jc players that played two years and have graduated. only one player from the 22 transferred out (daniel lofton). 16 recruits remain, several are starters or on the two deep such as bryant, falemalu, huen, correa and hanohano.

2009: we had some academic casualties such as lopati and maafala and some uh admin screw ups such as jesse williams and destin stewart. but of all the recruits that made it to fall camp. 100% are still here for spring practice! once again, this class was heavy on the jc's. but several are starters. l davis, bradley, brown, green, leonard. and some very promising freshman in the 3 qbs and stutz.

of course, it's still early and some of these guys will disappear in the future, but compare this with jj's last 3 classes:

2005: a very good class, with lot's of star players like colt,bess and soares. but 9 players left the team before their senior year.

2006: small class to begin with. only 21 scholarship players. 7 left the team for whatever reasons.

2007: 23 scholarship players. also 7 left the team. a bunch of 'em left when jj left.

[greentea]

Yes, I think it was Isofea, I swear brah, aboslutely no one could flatten him, it would take the entire defense backfield . To your inquiry.

Compared to professional journalism, my comments are not worth to sell newspapers, but if you like eye witness accounts from a fan perspective thats what you going to get. Frankly, I think Graves is the gifted QB from all the rest. I seen this kid throw a laser like ball at one of the receivers just behind the linebackers as they (LBs) looked helplessly, then receiver trucked on for more YAC. When I saw that throw, I felt the same way how I felt about CB how he would give the same feeling of a great QB to Hawaii fans when he played. Graves is all business, and wants the starting job bad, that is what I witnessed. Graves has another gift, and that is running away from defenders when none of the receivers are open. One play he darted along the sidelined for 6 yards for positive gain. It not the run that was interesting, it was the way he did it. He's got the tools of a running back, how did I know that, I witnessed it (real fast, smart, juking and no puking). 20 years of watching UH football, year after year, you've got a sense of whose got a making of a great UH QB, well, Graves is standing in line with best QBs of UH past. Blowing smoke you might be thinking. Come to practice and watch for yourselves. I think Hawaii fans here and abroad got a team they can be looking forward to this coming season.

[dakineguy]

According to Tsai, Graves is number 2 in rotation with Austin taking the top spot and Rausch 3rd, Shutter 4th and Nielsen 5th. Though I guess this may change at any time.

[tangomike]

i think lofton was a walk on from the JJ era.

[panobu27]

Greentea I've been saying almost the same thing. This Graves kid has some mad skills at QB. His only knock as far as I can tell is that he is only 6' 1". What I am most impressed with is how sharp his footwork is. He has very good mechanics for a rs freshman. The great thing is that he de-committed Nevada to come to UH. Hawaii scored on this kid. From all accounts I heard this kid is also very likeable and a good student to boot. He could be the new face of UH football. Go Warriors

[allshownogo]

Listred #2 possibly cause soesn't have full grasp of the offense yet? just a thought Austin is going into his 4th year so he shpould be knowledgable, but hearing all the praise for graves I say put they best man in. I like Austin as a person but the balls he tries to squeese into tight coverage gimme the pucker factor sometimes. But he does throw a real niuce tight ball so i say let the best man win.

[dcwarrior]

Begs the question, why did it take until the third year to get to the point where a practice is organized?

From comments made by Stephen Tsai, Dave Reardon, Bobby Curran, multiple posters, practices seem to be very organized and efficient, with the players getting the maximum out of the practices. Mack's vision of establishing a solid foundation for the program is happening, with a real depth chart. From the recruiting, to the off-season program, to the academics, to changes in coaching, and now the practices. Maybe it's not fast enough for some, but there is a sense of building going on for me. And more recruits who sign and get in seem to stay, and we get to hear about them develop. For example, it's exciting to hear about Graves, Shutter and Nielsen, who really want to be Warriors and are willing to pay their dues. It's not like when JJ had Graunke, Humphries and Satcher at QB with only Graunke sticking around.

[Wild Warrior]

Begs the question, why did it take until the third year to get to the point where a practice is organized?

From comments made by Stephen Tsai, Dave Reardon, Bobby Curran, multiple posters, practices seem to be very organized and efficient, with the players getting the maximum out of the practices. Mack's vision of establishing a solid foundation for the program is happening, with a real depth chart. From the recruiting, to the off-season program, to the academics, to changes in coaching, and now the practices. Maybe it's not fast enough for some, but there is a sense of building going on for me. And more recruits who sign and get in seem to stay, and we get to hear about them develop. For example, it's exciting to hear about Graves, Shutter and Nielsen, who really want to be Warriors and are willing to pay their dues. It's not like when JJ had Graunke, Humphries and Satcher at QB with only Graunke sticking around.

Just wondering if the answer to your question is the change in coordinators has led to the more organized and efficient practices. I have heard that Aranda is the ultimate student of the game and he comes from a diverse backround that maybe he is incorporating into the defensive side of practice. Rolo played for JJ, but also coached at a few other programs that maybe he too picked up practice techniques that he is now implementing.

WW