Spring review
Spring training has ended. Here’s what we’ve learned:
> The O did grow: For the first 14 practices, it appeared the quarterback often was on the move — rollouts, bootlegs, play-action, and so forth. That was emphasized with Ikaika Woolsey’s 60-yard scoring run in yesterday’s scrimmage. It came on a read-option, which has been in the playbook for two years but it appears to be more suitable for this personnel. With the formation spread and the threat of Joey Iosefa drawing defenders, the read-option is now a viable option.
> QB options: The plan all along was to hold off on naming a No. 1 quarterback until August, after Beau Reilly becomes eligible and, perhaps, an FBS quarterback transfers to UH. But there were two surprises this month: 1) Taylor Graham, who was recovering from offseason shoulder surgery, was able to practice, at least on a limited-contact basis; and 2) Jeremy Higgins had a heck of a spring. Woolsey had the presence of a No. 1 quarterback, but Higgins kept making plays. Higgins’ 6-of-6, 2-TD performance during Thursday’s 11-on-11 session ensures there’s depth at the position.
> Q is the answer: Quinton “Q” Pedroza, who transferred from Utah last year, emerged as the Warriors’ best receiver this spring. The thing is, he plays inside receiver, a position occupied by the team’s MVP, Scott Harding. The Warriors could rotate them, play them in tandem in a four-receiver formation, or move Pedroza to wideout. It’s a nice dilemma for the coaching staff.
> 3-4 combination: The Warriors were in nickel coverages a majority of the time in 2013, making it an easier transition — up front, at least — to switch to a 3-4 base this spring. Jeremy Castro, Jerrol Garcia-Williams and Tevita Lataimua played well in the scrimmage. Luke Shawley has provided a strong pass rush the past two weeks.
> Turning the corner: The Warriors entered the spring admittedly thin at corner. Then Anthony Pierce missed some practices because of a bruised kidney, and Dee Maggitt suffered a hamstring injury this past week. But in the scrimmage, Maggitt and Ne’Quan Phillips had breakout games. “I can count on those two,” Clune said. “They’re leaders. They take care of business.” Six defensive backs join the Warriors this summer.
> Surprising star: There are 86 players on the spring roster. It would take, maybe, 80 guesses to correctly predict Gaetano DeMattei as the scrimmage’s defensive MVP. But DeMattei, who joined the team following a walk-on tryout in February, had a scrimmage-high six tackles, broke up a pass and was nuisance to every receiver he covered. “He earned everybody’s respect,” Clune said of 5-8, 175-pound DeMattei. “I think everyone on this team will get fired up when they talk about Gaetano.”
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Wideout Don’yeh Patterson, who signed in February and joins in July, attended the Spring Fling:
* * * * *
Appearing at the alumni game:
Michael Carter
Samson Satele, Nate Ilaoa
UNO
TOO!
GOOD MORNING HAWAII!
Thanks for the review Stephen!
Morning to all! Glad to hear that some of the new players are emerging as contributors.
Hey al,
Word is is that Wittek is heading to Texas! Looks like lunch will surely have double the flavor!
Aloha kakahiaka.
Sounded like a pretty good scrimmage. Hope they continue their energy until they meet again.
Imua Rainbow Warriors!!!
So what, is Samson done in the NFL? Heard he got released from the Colts and haven’t heard anything about him signing a FA deal anywhere. Scoops?
Guud Morning Tsaikos…bootiful day.
The fling leads one to have great optimism for the up coming season. Loved the energy on the field of both the alumni and current Warriors.
What a sight to see… da big kahuna and st standing side by side.
ST…you need to project when on the mike. Many missed your great color commentary during the scrimmage….like when you do The Lion Sleeps Tonight..oops..
Great job though.
I can’t imagine Beau Reilly having an immediate impact on the QB competition simply because of his time away from the game. I would be really shocked if he did. Pleasantly shocked, though.
I repeat…Nate can still move and got the moves too.
It ain’t over ’til it’s over.
Nate Ilaoa had some very impressive moves.
He should have had an NFL career.
I thought it was funny that a certain administrator kept trying to photo bomb our post-scrimmage interviews.
Hope Taylor can get healthy. He might have tweaked his shoulder yesterday.
Yup was watching Gaetano in warm ups and he looked quick. Then in the game he probably made the coaches take notice…. was wonder who the heck he was…another Torres like db?…hope so…
Yep, Graham was wearing a red jersey, so he was supposed to be off limits. But he was hit twice.
Not cool.
If yesterday didn’t make you hungry for the season to start. You need to go to your dr. and get checked out….you not healthy…lol
He was really disappointed…me thinks. He oozes potential and it’s frustrating to see him so banged up.
Heal up Taylor…
What?!?! Graham got re-injured while supposedly on restricted contact? That guy has no luck. Maybe he should go get blessed before he returns for the fall.
Turnovers a concern. Definitely.
And depth. BIG concern. I know it was only spring. But to have so many depth issues because guys are either injured or moving positions is not a good thing. People say “well, spring training is the time to do all that stuff.” I understand that. But it would be so much better if you could use the spring as the time to refine and prep skills instead of learn new positions.
It also seems like Saint Juste might be the second most injury prone Warrior on the team behind Puu-Robinson. Every time I read something about the RB, it includes “nursing an injury.” Especially in his hamstrings. Not ideal for one of your RBs to constantly have hamstring issues. Maybe he needs to do some yoga or something to increase flexibility????
Kev-1 have u ever played football? Because if u did, u would know that spring is for finding out we’re players go especially if your implying a new defense! And as for injures that is just part of football, sometimes your lucky and don’t get hurt and sometimes your unlucky and get hurt all of the time, that’s just part of football, but you would know all of this IF U PLAYED FOOTBALL!
ST: Is John Ursua joining the warriors this season?
Hamstring problems are usually a product of poor conditioning & lack of stretching…Yoga would help, but me thinks Saint Juste needs to spend more time with Beemer.
Graham is also injury prone going back to his high school days.
Plenty of Kool-Aid going around here. No shortage for sure. LOL!
Papakolei-n . . . Read my entire post before you start ranting at me. BTW . . . I am not only talking about defensive position movements. Teams with greater depth don’t need to make such moves. Relax.
Wasn’t able to attend game but must say I am pretty worried when our so called #1 QB only completed 58% of his passes and pick 6 included. The rushing TD is nice but if opposing teams constantly bring pressure forcing Woolsey to make quick decisions, that could be trouble…. Fresno St. game still sticks in my head as perfect example of making bad reads under pressure. And it seems like Maggitt did the same thing.
Papakolei-n . . . If you really think that I don’t understand that injuries are part of the game, you’re delirious. Whether or not I played football or not, is irrelevant (I’ll let you keep guessing as to whether or not I have ever carried a football and hit a homerun with it and slid into home plate for a touchdown).
I am simply making observations about the unfortunate circumstances that some of the guys have come across. It sucks for TG that he re-injured his shoulder because he shouldn’t have been getting hit anyway. Is that his fault? Of course not. Unlucky? Yes. Now a recurring hamstring injury is something that you can address as an athlete. Oh wait, maybe I don’t know that since I have never played football. Or have I?
Someone on here is always saying….QB’s have to be better then 50% completion….higgins was at
50% but woosley was not….who threw the interception….ne one know ??
Had hamstring problems, doc said here are some ibroprophin, put some ice packs on the sore are; see me in a week. The buggah worked.
are=area
Woolsey reminds me of another Jeremiah Masoli. Masoli’s passing accuracy was below average (55% passer).
me bad…stand corrected on woosley passing %….but not understand how he had only
45 yds rushing…n had a 60 yd rushing TD ?…according to the stats from UHAD site….
Iosefa did not suit up….no stats on his carries ?
I thought they stunk. I see nothing that makes me want to spend money on UH football.
33. If Hawaii had an offense that allowed Woolsey to rush for 600+ yards and our RBs to have over 1200 yards, then I wouldn’t be as worried.
tom mui:
you’ve got mail!
I think Graham got hurt when he turned the wrong way to hand off to the running back who ran into him.
Fact: Puu Robnson is always hurt. What’s the deal? Can’t help the team when you are on the sideline all the time.
Did Kennedy play? How’s he looking?
well # 39….the fact is…he is there for the team…hurt or otherwise…n i can only presume
practices every day…n does what is asked of him when healthy…seems like ur encouraging his coaches n ‘teammates’ to throw him under the bus….hurt or healthy….cuz of his frequent injuries…? ?
I guess LAST CALL is not a true UH fan.
everyone is happy that the defense did so well; well the other side of the coin is the offensive line – looks like they are still having problems and this is bad for whoever is the QB. a bad offensive line can make any defense look good too; so any optimism about how great the defense has been in spring practice, how good it is won’t be answered until they play their first real game.
We can’t give-up hope!! IMUA WARRIORS!
Planning to attend a UH Road Game this year? …even tentatively.
Please post here what game(s) you hope to attend or email me.
The 2014 Tsai-ko Road Game and get-together planner is posted at:
http://home.roadrunner.com/~smurashi/tsai-kos/away14.html
This page let’s you know who else is going, who’s sitting where, what lodging location and time window for Cattle Calls. Also known pre and post tailgates.
If you are traveling by organized tour, such as Panda, be sure to include that for the list. (we once had two Tsai-kos who posted often but never met on the same tour and didn’t discover it until the flight home) 🙄
Only blog names are posted but I will send out a group email about a week before the actual game so you may optionally establish contact with each other. errrr…if I have your email addy. 🙂
Hawaii has the lamest fans. They cry and worry about the simplest things. The season hasn’t started yet and already they’ve given up on their team and expect to lose. They don’t even show up to actually watch the team practice and yet, they still make dumbest negative assumptions as if they were there.
Why do they believe their lame opinion will somehow light a fire under the program and motivate everyone to do better. Usually, fans are like this because they were raised by stupid lazy parents.
If you can’t stomach being a football fan, stay home and grumble about your owns kids being born with soft skulls that are weak and useless like yourselves.
47 biggest loser here seems to be u..
Last spring Taylor Graham was the #1 and due to a slow start and injury, Hawaii luckily had a ultra-experinced 3rd string back up QB named Sean Schroeder to lead and move the offense. This season could Woolsey lead the Hawaii offense? Perhaps? But there are 2 other QB’s (Graham & Higgins) that have some live game reps as well and maybe one of them can be a comeback QB like Sean Schroeder? Who knows? But last spring if you asked any of us that Sean Schroeder will be the starter over Woolsey or Graham and you would be laughed off the blog. You just never know?
Which 1-11 FBS team is receiving singing praise from their fans? This year Norm Chow is going have earn respect and support from the fans. His winning personality ain’t gonna cutting it this time around.
49. Options aren’t great. Hope the coaches can decide on a solid mid year transfer who can play right away. I’d be happy with a Stephen Rivers to bring some competition…. At least he faced LSUs defense every day in practice and speed of the game won’t be too fast.
50. Agree… I see capable players on defense of making plays… Offense is a huge mystery yet again…. And the concerning part about that is we hired a offensive minded head coach. And we still have QB question marks..
51
I just don’t see Wittek coming to Hawaii and didn’t Rivers commit somewhere else already? We could hope that Beau Reily or Eric Prater could pick up the offense and get back into Football QB speed after a few out of Football but thats unlikely and will need a redshirt year to get back into the swing of being a Football QB. Unless you have the inside scoop on some QB transfers?
Wittek already is at a great school, so it’s not going to be about amenities. It will be about the opportunity to start. Will that happen at Texas? Maybe, maybe not. Once he knows, everyone will know.
53. Wittek was honestly awful versus Hawaii with Marqise Lee and Nelson Agholar to throw to. He just doesn’t get me excited regardless. There are other options and I think they could all help and create competition at the very least. Reilly might be a diamond in the rough. But more times than not, I don’t expect much out of a 1st year FR. Especially if he hasn’t has much football activities the past 2 years.
I’m not too concerned over depth at this time… Most teams will have “depth issues” in certain areas during the spring since 20-25% of the roster hasn’t arrived yet (incoming recruiting class).
Sounds like UH has improved the depth at where they need it the most… QB and OL. The caveat being that a #1 QB emerge. It’s good to know that UH appears to have multiple options at QB, but only one plays. The QBs situation looks to be even better in the coming years as Reilly, Woosley, and hopefully Zwahlen develop. If Woosley or Reilly take the reigns as starter and succeeds, it wouldn’t surprise me if Zwahlen opts out for better opportunity.
Pretty excited to see the development of the WRs. Pedroza sounds like a good one… Harding is pretty dependable… Kemp, Haynes, and Kirkwood can stretch the field vertically. Maybe the new recruits can make a play here and there.
If Woosley takes the starting job, and with a WR corps that can stretch the field, there’s going to be a ton of space for the read option to work with the battering ram (Iosefa) and a shifty QB (Woosley and Reilly if he’s ready).
I guess the best news is UH avoided season ending injuries to the DLine. The DLine should enter fall camp with a clean slate of health, which is always the best case scenario.
Right now the LBs are the best unit. And that’s with Fonua out and Gener at 80 percent.
Just adding to previous post… UH needs a #1 QB to step up regardless of who it is. Doesn’t do much good if they have a bunch of #2s (pretty much like the last two seasons).
I just don’t think TG can stay healthy long enough to really flourish. He has the physical tools, but his body just hasn’t allowed it to happen.
57. Is Jerrol playing inside or outside? Should also get a boost when Simon Poti gets here… I was complaining all last season as to why Lataimua wasn’t playing more… good to see he’s being used correctly now.
57… That’s good to hear. If Samia can plug up the middle and occupy 2 blockers consistently, the ILBs will be making a ton of plays.
JGW was playing inside. Castro, Taimatuia and Shawley were on the perimeter.
It’s early yet. We saw how the offense eventually got to be 19th in passing last year. If the “D” delivers on the promise they have already shown, we can look for a better season ahead.
Wait til you see Iosefa and some of the other backs working together, especially Penitito. IP = THUNDER and LIGHTNING X 2! And the passing got better as the game went on.
I have to agree with Tsai, the hits on Graham were not needed, especially the one on the sideline where the defender drilled him. The idea for him this spring was to get reps and build chemistry with receivers, not to see if his shoulder surgery is ready for a beating. Otherwise, I must say I loved the intensity and spirit of the “D”. They are going to surprise some people this season, barring injury.
GO WARRIORS!!!
#60 FUHA – Calen Friel looked good at the nose too. We have some nice depth at D-Line.
#47 that lined up at fullback and running back will be a solid blocker and runner in short yardage situations. It took more than one person to bring him down each time he carried the ball
#44 good one.
yeah # 62 …..’barring injuries’ will be the key words in august…
damn, last time i saw michael carter, he was twice the size. what a transformation.
jumping causes pulled hamstrings…running is a series of jumps. no one can say for certain what conditions will lead to a pulled hammy. some guys get em, most don’t.
Kev-1 read #56 FUHA, that is what someone who knows what he is talking about sounds like! Well said FUHA, I could not have said it better my self.
ST and #14, NSF: yes, even in the short video of the scrimmage, DeMattei stood out. I saw him take down Faalologo twice on solo tackles. He is going to be fun to watch this year. I look forward to his instinctive, hard-nosed play rubbing off on the rest of the defense!
The comments are mostly positive and many seem optimistic for the coming season.
Anyone know anything about the opposition?
What do Fresno and Nevada look like?
August 30 and Washington is a long way off…
Four months is too long.
Go Bows!!
SteveM
I will be in San Diego for the SDSU/UH game. I am fortunate to have some contacts there who own restaurants.
Let me know if I can help set up a Tsaiko gathering in Little Italy for everyone
63…I disagree mark my words at some point this season our defense will suffer especially in the run game because we lose a couple players on the DLine to injury. We are very thin with quality talent on the DLine and I am disappointed we didn’t address that in recruiting. I do like our Depth at LB. Also hope we do bring in a D1 transfer at QB, we need a more seasoned QB to provide depth I case Woolsey faulters.
I watched the game….Here are my thoughts…
QB is going to be bad this year again. I think Woosley may be serviceable, but nothing great. Higgins btw is terrible. Can’t throw more than 20 yards. Reily was there but honestly…if he was on the basketball team he would redshirt due to his weight …hes like 76 lbs…
Pedroza is the real deal…not super fast but a talent with swagger..St Juste also looks huge…I think hes gonna break out this year…
Oline looked bad…defense looked bad…the best player looked smaller than a freshman in High School…hes like 5-8…all over the field but still …if that the best we go we have issues…we will not cover against Washington
Mahalo Don!
I am unlikely for San Diego, but the usual Tsai-ko suspects attending all have your contact info and would contact you directly. Any activity you and the Alumni set up will also be posted on my page.
Is Gaetano Demattei from De La Salle? There’s a guy from there whose a running back on you tube who’s unreal.
okay, i beg to differ.
our depth problems are at qb and oline.
looking at the roster, we can’t name a starter. we have a once highly touted prospect who couldn’t find the firld at osu. he starts three games going in to last season and an owee takes him out. however, his performance was very suspect. rusty and more than anything struggled with the reading of the defenses thrown in his face. nice kid, i apologize. just being brutally honest.
i knew all along that ss would heel up and be the guy.
woolsey is the best we have. if we don’t pick up a transfer, everything rests on his shoulders. can he come out of rough like moniz did? i hope so.
higgins. another really nice guy. busts his buns everyday. left nmsu cuz he fell off the charts. in two years has only had cameo roles.
then we have two walk-ons. a potential candidate who’s coming off a two year hiatus from the gridiron might one day be the guy.
the aforementioned does not translate in to depth. numbers yes.
perhaps chow put all his marbles in one bag (taylor graham) and failed to recruit to the position. thus the quandry.
should he have gone after some jc qb’s last year and this. transfers?
yea, i would have at least two guys with game and game experience.
oline has been much improved with naeole barking it out. but, depth?
two returning starters afusia and clarke switching positions…a work in progress in itself.
the competition is primarily amongst some redshirt freshman. potentially some great kids who physically aren’t there yet, but, will probably be thrown in to the ring of fire. hopefully one or two upperclassmen pull up their pants and surprise even themselves.
so the depth could be relegated to guys who didn’t cut it last year or some rs frosh.
so, as jeezy did say and i concur. why haven’t we recruited to address the qb and oline concerns…?
Come on BaseBows! Get ’em done!
I doubt “Jeff”‘was at the scrimmage. He just gathered bits and pieces. Higgins threw a 35-yard TD. Higgins might not have a strong arm but that wasn’t evident yesterday.
Come on BaseBows!
al:
reason is the HC is stubborn and puts all his “marbles” into the “IT” QB who has yet to appear
perhaps his “it” QB is still on the horizon, again putting self before team.
several weeks ago I did post my concern about how the current HC and staff recruited – they must know something we all don’t – it’s like the OL is filled with upper classmen and only starting as a “senior” – I do agree that it takes some players longer to “emerge”, but emerge and not playing well as a unit is suspicious at best.
I do hope the team does well in 2014!
#69 . . . Whatever man. I’m not sure why you chose me to focus on, but so be it. I stick by my opinion. You don’t like it, that’s fine. Not quite sure what makes you think that you have any inkling about what I do and don’t know. Now that you know that you disagree with everything I say, maybe you can just stop reading the posts that start with “kev-1.”
71… Fresno has huge holes to fill. Their offensive scheme will still put up numbers but after researching various Fresno fan blogs, they have a ton of question marks. Burrell appears to be the leader at QB after spring ball, but nobody is saying he’s a lock to be the starter come week 1. I think their opponents will challenge the Fresno WRs more, like how USC DBs dominated the WRs in the LV Bowl, at least until the QB proves he can throw a good deep ball.
Fresno’s defense was just as bad as UH’s last year and they have been playing musical chairs along the DLine in their 3-4 front. Sounds like they have some decent players skill wise but they are talking about moving guys around based on match ups. That tells me nobody is dominant. The Fresno DB group was a mess last year and I would assume they should improve, but will still be a weakness.
Other concerns I saw from the Fresno bloggers was the lack of depth at OLine. They lost a couple good starters to graduation and appears those spots have been addressed for now, but the big issue is that they only had 9 scholarship OLinemen available this spring. They do have a bunch of guys coming in this recruiting class but most are freshmen and highly doubtful they will be ready to play (like most freshmen OL) unless forced into action via injuries. Sounds like Fresno will be very thin there.
One blog writer I saw wasn’t raving about a lot of things, just good work by individuals. To me, Reading between the lines, Fresno might be in for a tough year if the offense drops off a little (which seems very likely) and the defense doesn’t improve a lot.
Looking at their schedule, it’s much tougher than last year… At USC, at Utah, vs Nebraska, and vs So. Utah for the non-conference. There a good chance they are 1-3 entering MWC play. Fresno did catch a little break by drawing a pretty easy schedule vs the Mtn Division (at New Mexico, at Boise, vs Wyoming). New Mexico is still bad, Wyoming fell apart 2nd half of 2013 and Peterson is gone from Boise.
83. apparently u haven’t watched duke football… Connette is transferring to Fresno and will be the starting QB. Dual threat..
Bill Polian said today that in football it’s the eternal search for the Holy Grail, the quarterback that is the “Franchise.” The NFL draft, the college recruits. At UH we are still searching. There is nobody this year at UH, maybe. We still have to look at Beau Reilly to make an assessment, but he’s just a freshman so you can’t expect him to coming in and take the reins. That would be too much to ask. It would take a very special player indeed.
In the incoming draft, I would take Manziel as the first QB. I think he is special. The guy reminds me of Fran Tarkenton the way the runs around in the backfield and changes direction. Very similar to Archie Manning also. At the very least he’s exciting and he would put seats in the stadium. Accuracy, he’s terrific. If the Texans don’t take him at #1, then I think Jacksonville should take him at #3, if not Jacksonville, Cleveland at #4 should grab him. If he’s still available at #5 the Oakland Raiders can be the luckiest team on the face of the earth!!!!!
Jeezy#51
Not looking good for landing Stephen Rivers
http://boltbeat.com/2014/04/23/philip-rivers-wearing-vanderbilt-hat/
Interesting read about a former Kailua HS star now in Japan:
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2014/04/27/our-lives/hawaiian-xleague-player-alo-finds-much-thats-familiar-in-his-adopted-land/#.U137D1eea8t
Thanks FUHA, good analysis.
UH has a tough schedule, but it looks like we have a good shot at winning 3 or 4 home games and if we can win a few on the road the season will sure start looking better. Nothing would be finer than beating Fresno at Fresno in the last game of the season. Knock on wood.
Um..sorry Steven…I could tell you there was a hot dog stand that also sold chili…Was at the game…No need to come on and troll here…I can also tell you that Higgins looked bad before that…He is not a college quarterback.
There was tops 300 people there counting people in the parking structure. As I said. Our QB situation is bad…Woosley is the best we have and he wouldn’t start at probably any of the other MW teams.
And it was number 30 I think making the plays. And I think you are taller than him …
gaetano’s 2013 highlights @diablo valley cc
Jeff:
I think I’m taller than No. 30
wait a minute?
i thought that gaetano d. was 5’8″?
Hoping Gaetano becomes our Honey Badger!
Based on everything I have read or saw, the offense ran vanilla plays just to evaluate players. A number of guys have been held out to heal or avoid injury. On the other hand sounds like the defense was turned loose or at least ran what they will run, a pressure and blitzing front. Not surprised at all with the outcome. Still very optimistic for a good year which would be 6 to 7 w’s. Go Warriors…..
aloha and an early good morning to all tsaikos.
d1, ding, ding, time to wake up. enjoy your morning coffee, then get ready to hi ho hi ho.
cock a doodle doo, cock a doodle doo. ok counselor time for you to post your morning comments on the blog.
why up so early??? this what happens when go sleep before 7:30.
and wafan neva post anything this morning.