Quotes from UH Spring Practice Interview Videos

The day after I start this blog, there were no quotes (no articles!) in both Hawaii newspapers. Thankfully, the Honolulu Advertiser posted videos from interviews taken after Spring practice and I figure that it is fair game for me to use those videos for quotes. These quotes were taken from the videos on the Honolulu Advertiser website, and I would like to thank ST for letting his blog readers know about the videos and Princess Leila for posting the videos. I'm going to attribute everything to HA because this is from their website.

Any typos or missed words are my responsibility, but I tried to get things as close as possible...during the 15 minutes I alloted to this. Lots of pausing and backing up the videos!
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Bess and Grice-Mullin will work at wideout so that some of the younger players can get experience in the slot receiver spots.

Asked if he was looking to fill their starting OL spots during Spring Ball, JJ said:
"Yeah, and I think we will. I think we got guys on campus that are going to be the guys. We have some incoming Freshmen kids that I think will contribute once they get here and maybe not Redshirt, two of them. We are going into this believing that whoever this come out of this Spring are going to be the guys." (HA)

Note: I wonder who the 2 incoming freshmen OL prospects are, as I can think of at least 5 OL recruits that will join UH in the Fall.


Asked if he used Spring Ball to prepare for the first games of the season, JJ said:
"Last year we did, you know with Alabama we spent a lot of time with some of the specific things that they were doing. But this year we are not real sure even who the Sept. 1st one is. We are certainly looking in the office about some of the new coaches that are in the conference. The Louisiana Tech guy and what they did and what they did offensively kind of what they did in Tulane where the coordinator they hired was. So we are spending some time on that." (HA)

Note: I'm glad that JJ was diplomatic as possible here.


About the glut of running backs vying to replace Nate and Reagan this Spring, JJ said:
"Yeah we've got one back [in the offense] but we've got about 30 guys I think. Obviously somebody wants to replace Nate." (HA)


Asked how weird it was to not know who their first opponent was, JJ said:
"It doesn't really affect [us], I mean we're going to play whoever is there to play. You know, we are going to have the same attitude about that team as we did last year against Alabama. We are confident that things will get handled, and we are confident that we are going to be a good football team. You know, you've got to take it each day at a time and each game at a time. That will be our first game and we will be ready to play." (HA)

Note: Again, I'm glad that JJ was as diplomatic as possible. There really isn't anything else he could say, but the way he said it was very straightforward. He didn't say anything sarcastically or take a dig at the AD, which would have been very easy to do but not had any benefit for JJ or UH. Of course, JJ also said with a straight face that GM is just observing practice and that the DC position wasn't decided yet.


Asked about how they may have 7 or 8 players from last year's team playing in the NFL this season, and if that adds any pressure in replacing those guys, JJ said:
"It certainly brings a lot of attention to the program and brings in more players to the program. We have some really, really good kids that are wanting to come here because of that attention. I'm excited for those 7 or 8 guys. Kenny Patton had some really good numbers in his workout and he might get drafted or certainly get an opportunity to get to a camp. So, filling the holes, when you lose that type of offensive quality players you better have some guys that can fill in. We think we do. But until you get under the lights at 6:05 you never know." (HA)

Note: I was involved in a discussion several days ago on The Warrior Beat about how UH has an excellent track record of taking lower-rated recruits and developing them with excellent coaching and excellent training staff support to turn them into NFL-quality players. This is what I said:

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/draft/2007-big-board.htm

Among top 64 draft prospects:

UH: 2
BYU: 0
BSU: 0
Fresno: 1
Oklahoma: 2
Auburn: 2
Oregon St: 0
Oregon: 0
UCLA: 0
San Diego St: 0
Cal: 1
Stanford: 0
Central Michigan: 1
Arizona St: 1 (Patek shut him down in the Hawaii Bowl)

I'd argue that the big-name schools get much higher ranked draft classes, get the touted 4- and 5-star recruits, but UH does a better job of coaching and developing the players they have to prepare them for the next level. The NFL background of the coaches plays a part in this, as does strength guru Mel.

I'm sure that this is pointed out to recruits, and UH has a track record to point to. Next year Colt will be high on this list, and I'm hoping that others from UH get there also.
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About the focus for Spring Practice, Colt said:
"You know this year it is kind of different than the last couple years we have some positions already set. We have a lot of youngsters out there that we are trying to get experience and trying to get them in there and at the same time we have to fill some jobs. I think we've dedicated this Spring to get our offense together, fill the holes on the offensive line and at running back, and getting the receivers ready and getting experience for the young guys especially. So as far as a guy like me or Davonne, we are not looking to really be in the most amount of reps this Spring or get the most practice. [Spring] is more dedicated to the younger guys. We are out here obviously trying to get our work in and help those younger guys out." (HA)

Note: Colt is obviously very comfortable with interviews and gave quite a full answer to the question he was asked. The local media (and fans) will miss him after this season, especially since they will be in great demand by the media across the country by people on TV, radio, magazines, and newspapers who will be doing stories on Colt and will want the Hawaii perspective.


About his role this Spring, Bess said:
"I'm down with whatever, you know. I'm just out here to help the team. I'm just taking orders." (HA)

Note: Bess made a funny joke about wanting to play Center, but I'm out of time for this transcription so I'm not going to try to get it all down. It you want to hear it, go to www.honoluluadvertiser.com.