David Veikune talked about moving from DE to LB

CR = Canton Repository

CR Note: “It’s asking a lot for Veikune to soar as a rookie in that he is converting from 4-3 college end to 3-4 pro linebacker. He is being tried inside and outside.”

About his pass coverage experience at UH and how he played LB in high school, Veikune said:
“At Hawaii we dropped a lot in zone coverages, and I played a little bit of linebacker in high school, but it’s a new position for me.” (CR)

Veikune said that he would “work extra hard” to:
“get natural.” (CR)

CR Note: “As a head coach, Mangini’s 2007 Jets put rookie second-round linebacker David Harris on a fast track, playing in a rotation early and starting the last nine games. He was in on a combined 41 tackles in his first two starts. It is hard to compare Harris and Veikune, though, since Harris was an inside linebacker in college.”

http://www.cantonrep.com/sports/browns/x112678766/The-geezer-gang-is-gone-for-the-Browns-linebackers

KHNL feature on Dylan Linkner

About playing video games to stay involved with football, Dylan Linkner (who just completed his eligibility with UH) said:
“Nowadays it’s pretty close to the video game and the real thing as far as the strategy wise, you know reading the defense and being a quarterback and making the right throws and touches.” (KHNL)

About how the NCAA Football game lets users adjust the stats for the players, Linkner said:
“You can go on and live this fantasy life through the video game or you can kind of make your stats realistic and see how good he might do against these guys in real life.” (KHNL)

About how the video game doesn’t come close to the feeling of actually playing the game, Linkner said:
“Nothing can beat the field, I mean the field is unbelievable, I mean, just being out there in front of all those people, it’s the live feedback, just being there and feeling the crowd, definitely the field is the winner.” (KHNL)

KHNL Note “But in our virtual game, the winner is BYU by a final score of 31-28. Dylan hauls in 8 catches for 106 yards and two touchdowns, while I finish 18 of 32, for 269 yards, two touchdowns and seven costly interceptions.”

About having his UH team lose to BYU, Linkner said:
“J Tang came out feeling confident, he had some good abilities in the game, it’s just the offensive coordinator, which unfortunately is me, made some bad calls and was a little impatient and threw one too many interceptions, 7 interceptions and two touchdowns, it’s not the greatest of stats.” (KHNL)

http://www.khnl.com/Global/story.asp?S=10385198

Quotes about the UH-Army series

HA Note: “The first game of the series is Sept. 11, 2010 in West Point. The Warriors will travel 4,954 miles, their longest journey for a road game in the program’s history, exceeding the 4,947-mile trip to play Rutgers in New Brunswick, N.J.”

About Army and their head coach Rich Ellerson, Mac said:
“I’ve got a lot of respect for the program. I’ve got a lot of respect for the coach. I’ve known him for a lot of years. He does a great job. He has an offense that’s really hard to defend.” (HA)

“I’ve known (Ellerson) for a long time and he’s an outstanding coach. They’re going to be a big challenge.” (HSB)

About playing their first game at West Point on 9/11, Mac said:
“It’s a historical time on Sept. 11. It’s a historical (opponent). At one time, they were the best team in the game, and we’ll face some of the most competitive players.” (HA)

Asked how difficult their opening stretch of games are in 2010 (USC, at Army, at Colorado), Mac said:
“We’ll find out, won’t we? In order to be recognized, you have to play the big people. SC is one of the marquee programs in the country. And any time you play a military academy, it’s a special event. The military teams will never let down. It’s exciting for us because of the military makeup of Hawai’i. It will be great for the fans of Hawai’i. It’s a natural fit. We have so many military people here defending us.” (HA)

About playing in Hawaii, Army AD Kevin Anderson said:
“We have a very strong following in the state of Hawaii and we look forward to giving our soldiers at Schofield Barracks an opportunity to see their football team in person.” (HSB)

About playing back-to-back road games in 2010 against Army and Colorado, staying on the mainland between games like in recent years, Mac said:
“We should have the routine down.” (HSB)

About playing UH, Rich Ellerson said:
“Obviously there is a tremendous military presence in the state of Hawaii and I have a connection with the University of Hawaii. We’ve talked about having a presence west of the Mississippi and Hawaii is about as far west of the Mississippi as you can go and still speak English.” (HSB)

http://sports.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090520/SPORTS0201/905200386/1312&template=UHSports

http://www.starbulletin.com/sports/sportsnews/20090520_Coaches_gung-ho_about_UH-Army_football_series.html