Quote about Colt

Praising Colt, JJ said:
“I can’t imagine there is another quarterback in the U.S. better than Colt Brennan. Someone will have to convince me of that this year.” (AP)

Quotes from Dan Robinson

Praising UNC and how they kept their composure despite being blown out, Dan Robinson said:
“What a great opening week! I was really proud of Northern Colorado – I thought they handled the whole situation very well; you have to take your hat off to them. There were no personal fouls, no cheap shots, nothing – they went out and played the game, got it handed to them, but kept their composure.” (Warriors’ Halka)

About playing a I-AA team, Robinson said:
“There are things you can’t control, and like June says, the schedule is one of them. It doesn’t matter who you play, every team has some good athletes, and you better be ready to play some ball. Just because you’re playing a I-AA school doesn’t mean you can take the day off – just ask Michigan. The Wolverines came out flat-footed, and if any of you saw the highlights, it looked like a lot of Appalachian State’s biggest plays were slants. I saw defensive backs sitting back on their heels and not playing with any passion.

Not Hawaii. Hawaii played with passion. June had them ready to play on offense; Greg McMackin had them ready to play on defense. Defensively, we had people running all over the place, blowing guys up.” (WH)

About how UH did not take it easy in their preparation for UNC, Robinson said:
“Prior to the Northern Colorado game, my wife and I were in Hawaii and had the chance to watch a few practices. UH prepared for Northern Colorado like they were playing Ohio State. There wasn’t any goofing around. There were no dropped balls in practice. They were taking care of business.” (WH)

Praising UH’s receivers, Robinson said:
“My wife’s first comment was that no one is dropping any balls. So my hat off to the UH receivers for impressing my wife. Hawaii practices are NFL-style, that’s for sure, and that’s something June has emphasized since he got here. I believe that you can’t find a better receiving corps in the country than Hawaii’s, and I might even be talking about the Warriors’ second string. Our second-string wide receivers are better than most team’s first string.” (WH)

Praising their OL and their D, Robinson said:
“During the game, there were several things that really stood out. The first one was that nobody came near Colt Brennan. The offensive line was awesome, and there wasn’t a better quarterback last week in the nation than Colt. But what stood out to me the most was the defense under Greg McMackin. They played clean, solid football – and that’s Greg McMackin football. Everybody talked about Colt, and yes, he was fantastic, but I think what’s going to make a huge difference over the season is the defense.

I’m going to predict right now that the defense is going to do great things.” (WH)

Quotes about UH’s special teams

About how they go all out on special teams, especially the guys who only get to play on special teams, Guyton Galdeira said:
“On special teams, some guys only get on the field maybe five or six plays a game, so it’s 110 percent every single time. Coach (Dennis) McKnight talks about being junkyard dogs and just the willingness to play the play longer than your opponent.” (HSB)

About getting TDs on both a punt return and a kickoff return vs. UNC, McKnight said:
“It’s hard to sometimes get one or two in a year, and to get two in your first game is a tribute to how hard they worked in camp. The guys believe and know how much emphasis Coach (June) Jones places on special teams. It’s more than a third of the game, it’s so vital. It changes momentum, it gives enthusiasm, it gets your crowd into it, it shuts the other crowd up.” (HSB)

About his punt return for a TD, the first time he touched the ball this season, Mike Washington said:
“As soon as I caught the ball I saw like five guys, so I just had to make one miss. That’s the punt returner’s job, you have to make the first guy miss, then you have to do your thing. So I just shook the other three or four.” (HSB)

About how it has been frustrating being behind Bess and RGM for most of his career but his punt TD provided a release, Washington said:
“It adds to the fire. So when I get my opportunities I’m definitely going to capitalize on it.” (HSB)

HSB Note: “Lane also recorded the first score of his UH career, though his path wasn’t quite as circuitous. The sophomore blazed straight down the right side without being touched thanks to blocks by Galdeira, Timo Paepule, Rustin Saole and Micah Lau, among others. McKnight pointed out that Galdeira actually threw two blocks to help spring Lane.”

About how their coaches talk with them about blocking more than one guy on returns, Galdeira said:
“(The coaches) always talk about going to the next level. If you block your guy and you know he’s secure, go to the next level and block somebody else. Don’t be just satisfied with just blocking your one guy and say ‘I did my job.’ Do extra. When I see Mike and when I see Malcolm go by it’s just a good feeling just to know that everybody did their job. Even though he’s running it back and making the touchdown you know everybody’s successful.” (HSB)

About La Tech’s punter who is averaging about 50 yards per punt, which could give their returners room to operate, Washington said:
“I’m not saying I’m going to return one. I’m not saying I’m going to be back there. I’m saying if I get the opportunity and I see that happen, something special is going to happen.” (HSB)

Quotes About UH’s travel

About how their travel puts them at a disadvantage, Colt said:
“We’re very isolated out here and I don’t think people tend to appreciate that and don’t realize how much we overcome. When people come and play us, they gain time. No one ever talks about this and says it straight: When we go and play teams, we lose time.” (SI)

SI Note: “The Warriors (1-0) are going to surprising lengths to adapt to the five-hour time difference and to recover from the long travel. For example, the team will stay on Hawaii time for the first couple days. That means practicing in the evening, eating dinner at 10 p.m. and holding team meetings at midnight.”

About how they want to win on the road, Bess said:
“Hawaii has had a history of losing on the road and we want to break that.” (SI)

About how traveling East is “way worse” than when people travel to them, JJ said:
“They should try it. We sleep on the plane all night and try to get ready to play a football game. It’s (traveling west) not even the same ballpark going east.” (SI)

SI Note: “Jones, a former NFL player and coach, said the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco 49ers experienced the same road woes when they traveled east to play Atlanta when they were all in the NFC West.”

“The Warriors boarded two buses Wednesday afternoon for the 3,901-mile, 7 1/2-hour chartered flight to Houston. They were scheduled to arrive at their hotel Thursday at 8:15 a.m. CDT, or 3:15 a.m. Hawaii time. They’ll practice in Houston twice before flying to Monroe, La., on Friday night to board a bus for a short ride to Ruston.

After Saturday night’s game against the Bulldogs, the team will return to Houston where it will stay several days in preparation for UNLV in front of dozens of NFL scouts. The team will fly to Las Vegas on Sept. 14 to play UNLV the following day. The Warriors will leave Las Vegas early Sept. 16 for their six-hour flight home.”

About how the weather is unpredictable when they go on the road, Colt said:
“You never can predict the elements. Every time we travel is different. We don’t know what our obstacles will be, but we know we have to overcome them.” (SI)

SI Note: “Brennan said it’s much easier for teams to play in Hawaii because all the players just have to stay up late to adjust to the time change, while the Warriors are forced to sleep and wake up earlier than normal.”

About how it is hard for a Hawaii-based team to have to wake up and play early in the morning their time, Colt said:
“It’s a lot harder to get up early at 3 in the morning and go play a football game at 7 in the morning. So people tend not to respect us, and that’s why we’re always an underdog.” (SI)

About how they have to contend with everything from jet lag to weather to the food and the fans, Michael Lafaele said:
“We’re not used to all of that. Especially the young guys.” (SI)

SI Note: “Bess said he remembers a couple times when receivers coach Ron Lee complained about being homesick, “and we had just gotten off the plane.” Jones said he’s scheduled nonstop study sessions and team meetings, so there will be little time for distractions. He also said the long-trip will be a good time to bond as a team.”

About how playing for UH is worth the long road trips, Colt said:
“You know what man? We live in paradise and that’s the price we pay to live here.” (SI)

Quotes about the La Tech game

About playing back-to-back road games vs. La Tech and UNLV, JJ said:
“It kind of gives you an opportunity to come together as a group, which really does matter late in the year. Just gotta stay focused and make sure everybody understands why we’re going up there: We’re going to play a football game.” (HSB)

“I think it’s a great opportunity for us. There will be a bunch of things we’ll have to go through during the year. Knowing everybody better works in our favor.” (HA)

HA Note: “An academic counselor will accompany the team, setting up study sessions each day.”

About how it is more difficult to conduct practices on the road, JJ said:
“We won’t have our scout players.” (HA)

“Because you don’t have the two scout teams on the road, you may only have an hour of practice because you have to break up the teams. It’s more like a pro practice. It’s a little bit hard. But you get a better look because the starters are running the scout team. (Starting slotbacks) Davone (Bess) and Ryan (Grice-Mullins) will be running the routes instead of scout receivers. The defense will get better looks.” (HA)

Note: Only 64 of the 115 players on the roster made the trip.

Looking forward to serving as scout QB, Colt said:
“That’s always fun. The road trips always are a good time.” (HA)

About how he expects between 40 and 50 “NFL people” to attend their practices in Houston, most focusing on Colt, JJ said that should not distract the team:
“That’s the reason my practices are open, [crowds] are the norm around here. We’ve had HBO, ESPN, everybody at our practice. Marvin Hagler, Rudy, they’ve been at practice. If you had closed practices all of the time and then (the scouts) attended on the road, it could be a distraction. It won’t be a distraction to this team. They deal with it everyday.” (HA)

About how he encourages his players to speak to reporters, JJ said:
“I want them to be accountable. I believe that helps a person.” (HA)

About how JJ told him to speak candidly when asked about his past problems with UH that led to his scholarship being taken away, Keenan Jones said:
“It makes you a lot more responsible. He’s helping you express yourself verbally.” (HA)

About how JJ’s policy of having them talk to the media makes them grow up and prepares them for the NFL, Colt said:
“Coach Jones treats us like we’re adults, like we’re an NFL team, in a sense. That’s where he came from. That’s what he’s used to. That’s how he treats us. There are pros and cons from every way. From this standpoint, (Jones’ policy) makes us grow up and understand the business side of football. He’s helping to prepare us for the next level.” (HA)

About how their long road trip will be fun…if they win both games, Colt said:
“I think it has the possibility of being fun. You never can predict the elements, when there’s going to be a bus delay, a flight delay. That stuff’s tough, and if that stuff does happen we gotta be able to overcome it. But we gotta spend that many days on the road with each other, at hotels and hanging out. I would assume it would definitely help team chemistry. I think it’ll be a fun trip, but we really need to make sure we win the games so that it is a fun trip.” (HSB)

About how this long road trip will help team bond, Colt said:
“We’re going to bond even more than in training camp because we’re traveling, and we’re all one unit when we travel. Instead of the team being 100-plus guys (as it was in training camp), it’s only 60-something guys. You have to assume there will be a lot of bonding and chemistry built on this trip.” (HA)

About their 11-day road trip, Hercules Satele said:
“It’s like part two of training camp. For two weeks, it’s going to be nobody but us. It’s going to make us come together.” (HA)

About playing in Ruston, JJ said:
“It’s (usually) humid and hot. The crowd gets into it if you give ‘em a reason to. So hopefully we’ll play well right out of the box and neutralize that part of it. But they got a lot of good athletes and they’ll make plays and it’s gonna be a battle.” (HSB)

Note: The weather report calls for mostly cloudy skies with a 40% chance of showers and thunderstorms and a high in the upper 80s.

About how he had to sit out of practice yesterday due to an infection for an ingrown hair in a cut on his right leg, John Estes said:
“I didn’t take care of it the way I should’ve. I drained it after the game and cleaned it out and I’m taking antibiotics.” (HSB)

“I didn’t take care of it like I should have. It got infected, and then (Tuesday) they cut it open and drained it. It kind of spread. It’s sore and tight.” (HA)

About his pulled left hamstring that will force him to miss the entire road trip, Blaze said:
“It’s hard that I’m not going to be playing, sickening, to be honest. I really want to play. But I can’t. I don’t know what to do with myself.” (HA)

Praising the work that Larry Sauafea did in taking the first-team reps yesterday, Dennis McKnight said:
“Larry, for his first start, did a solid job inside, no missed assignments. He had a couple of blocks that weren’t the best in the world, but he didn’t dwell on it, came back on the next play and did good.” (HSB)

About how Cameron Allen-Jones worked at right guard yesterday (as the backup RG behind Lafu with Sauafea at center yesterday), after practicing at both TE and T before, McKnight said:
“We know he can play tackle and now we’ll give him some work at guard. He’s athletic, he’s really quick, a good trapper, so we’ll give him some work in there.” (HSB)

About the importance of turnovers, Louisiana Tech coach Derek Dooley said:
“If you win the turnover margin you can overcome a lot of mistakes.” (AP)

Note: La Tech forced 6 turnovers in their first game, including 3 INTs from WAC defensive player of the week Tony Moss.

About how winning their opener was good for their confidence, CB Tony Moss said:
“We gained some confidence last weekend, winning our home opener. It was good for the fans and definitely for the team.” (HSB)