Quotes from the Spring Practice Week 3 Day 3

About accepting a scholarship offer to UH, 6' 170 pound CB Deyon McElroy said:
"It's a good school and a good football program." (HA)

Note: McElroy and CB Kenny Graham will both join UH in January. He took recruiting trips to Syracuse and Wyoming.


About taking back his verbal commitment to Wyoming in January, McElroy said:
"I talked to my parents, and I felt (Wyoming) wasn't for me." (HA)


About how he called former high school teammate Ryan Grice-Mullins for advice when UH contacted him, McElroy said:
"He's one of my close friends. He said Hawai'i is a good place." (HA)


About McElroy, who was 1st team All-Foothill Conference last season, Chaffey heach coach Carl Beach said:

"He's one of our better football players. We play a lot of man (man-to-man coverage), and he does a nice job in man coverage. Everyone wants a corner who can be a cover guy. He's that corner." (HA)

Note: McElroy can run 40 yards in under 4.5 seconds and made 6 interceptions and broke up 20 passes in 10 games last season.


About how McElroy can bulk up with some time in the weight room, Beach said:

"He's not real thick right now. That's something they can work out." (HA)


About how JJ holds up a card before each defensive play, RM said:
"June wants the defense to read the card and execute the play. Ryan (Perry) made June's' All-Card team. June was very impressed by Ryan's ability to read a card and make the right play. If you can do that, June will be real high on you." (HA)


Praising Perry (who was Top Defensive Scout last season and is now 2nd team nickelback), JJ said:

"If everybody studied as much as Ryan Perry, we would not make any errors. He studies the game and knows what's going on." (HA)


About being born with Erb's Palsy, a nerve condition that doesn't allow him full use of his right arm, Perry said:
"I compensated and learned to deal with it." (HA)


About playing on the scout team during his redshirt season last season, Perry said:
"It helped me a lot. I had the chance to play against Colt (Brennan) and Davone (Bess) and (Jason) Rivers all day long. It was awesome to play against the best." (HA)


About increasing his weight to 180 pounds during his redshirt season, Perry said:
"I think the extra weight gave me the strength to push off better." (HA)

Note: Perry had the fastest pro-agility shuttle (3.99 seconds) during team testing. Perry's father Rod was an NFL CB.


Praising Perry, RM said:
"He's a student of the game like no one else on this team." (HA)


About his right foot injury, Brashton Satele (who hasn't been healthy for an extended time since joining in August 2005 said:

"It's just bad luck. That's OK. I'm going to fight through this and come back stronger. That's what I'm going to work on." (HA)


About how he always preferred WR over CB, CJ Hawthorne (who started 5 games at CB last season) said:

"I'd always hint to the (coaches). Say, 'coach I might like to go back to receiver.' " (HSB)

"I feel excited just to be back on offense. That's what I got recruited as, that's what I've been doing my whole life, that's the spot where I have confidence." (HSB)


About the difficulty in learning the run-and-shoot, CJ said:
"Sometimes it can be frustrating. This is by far the most complex offensive system I've ever been in. It takes a lot of thinking. ... (But) I'm definitely getting it down." (HSB)


About the difference between playing WR and CB, CJ said:
"On defense you have to learn to react instead of being the one who's dictating. On defense you have to have a lot more poise and be able to withstand a lot of little things. On offense you just have that confidence where you know what you're going to do and you know I'm dictating." (HSB)

Note: CJ also hopes to return kicks this season.


About how CJ wanted to play WR, WR coach Ron Lee said:
"He did want to play receiver but he knew we were looking for corners last year. Even now, if we needed him at corner he'd go back. But I think he's found a home." (HSB)


About CJ's development, Ron Lee said:
"Last time (Hawthorne) was with us (the receivers), he was only there one week and then he went to defense, but he was already progressing . By the time we get done with spring I think he's going to be one of the better ones we've ever had. So fast and quick and he's eager to learn. Malcolm has done a great job too. I feel really good about the outside. ... If they keep working hard, they have a chance to be as good." (HSB)


Praising CJ's work at WR this spring, JJ said:
"I think he's an upgrade for us. He's had a great spring and is starting to get a feel for it and he's going to make a lot of plays for us." (HSB)


About getting more reps yesterday because Colt was taking care of school work, Tyler Graunke said:
"I'm the next one in line so I got a little more action than I do usually. I have to be prepared to step up whenever I'm called. Everything's slowing down for me. A couple years ago the game was going too fast in making my reads, but it's all coming together." (HSB)


About how he and his RB coach Chris Snyder are watching UH practice this week and are taking notes and learning from the UH coaches, Liberty High School (Columbus, Ohio) head coach Steve Hale said:
"They've just got great guys, the players, the coaches. They've really worked with us to try to help us understand everything." (HSB)

Note: Hale and Snyder plan to install the run-and-shoot offense at their school this season. They have also watched practices at nearby Ohio State, but they wanted to come to UH after watching the UH offense on TV. It is always good to support these types of things because forming relationships leads to recruiting, publicity, etc. It is also good when high schools want to run the same system, as players can be evaluated better for your school and are trained in the offense (see CJ's comments above about having to adjust to the run-and-shoot).