Quotes from the local papers

About the sprain in Pilares' right MCL, Pilares said that it has been:
"getting worse the past three weeks. It's really weak. It feels dead. ... It doesn't give back when I push down. Just lateral movement is sore. I can't really make cuts." (HA)

HA Note: "Since suffering the injury, Pilares practiced during two bye weeks and played in the Oct. 27 game against New Mexico State."

About how his injury got worse because he didn't take some time off for it to heal, Pilares said:
"I didn't give it time to rest, I guess. I kind of rushed into it. It got worse and worse." (HA)

HA Note: "Pilares attended yesterday's two-hour practice wearing a long brace on his right leg."


About how he doesn't expect to be able to play vs. Fresno State, Pilares said:
"They want me to take care of it for the last three games, (at Nevada and at home against Boise State and Washington). Rest it up." (HSB)


About how he expects Pilares to be back on the field soon, LWJ said:
"I expect him back real soon. Just because he has that brace on doesn't mean anything. He wants to be on the field. I expect him back." (HA)


About how he's recovered from his bruised right knee, LWJ said:
"It was nothing big. Just a little owwie." (HA)

HA Note: "Wright-Jackson attended a community college in Washington last year, and the coaches projected he would need several games this season to adjust to the Warriors' four-wide offense. But he said he was not locked into any timetable."


Not worried about when he's going to be fully adjusted to the offense, LWJ said:
"I'm just trying to take it a game at a time. I'm not worried about what mark where I need to be at my best. I feel I'm at my best right now. I'm going to go out there and give 110 percent and try to better myself every day." (HA)


LWJ did not practice last week so there were times in yesterday's practice when his legs:
"felt like Jell-O." (HA)


About being able to block Adam Leonard's blitz during team drills, LWJ said:
"He's a great linebacker. I had to try and take him as best as I could. He put all of his weight into me. It was a hard block." (HA)


Known as their best blocking RB, Farmer said about his 5 carries (all draw plays):
"Maybe (Jones) had a dream or vision and he decided to give me the ball once." (HA)


Asked if he prefers running or blocking, Farmer said:
"I like winning. If we're winning, I don't care what happens. When I first came here, all I wanted was to get on the field one time, on the kickoff coverage or anything. I accomplished that the very first year." (HA)


About how he has lost about 10 pounds each year and now weights 225, 4th-year junior Farmer said:
"I would love to be 250 and run the same way I do now, but that's not the law of physics." (HA)


About lifting weights before their 2-hour morning practices, Farmer said:
"I'm already here in the morning. I might as well get up a half-hour earlier." (HA)


About how Colt is still a Heisman candidate, JJ told the Honolulu QB Club audience:
"We're in a position where we have four games left. Team goals and team success (have) to be a requisite to any kind of personal success. I think everybody understands that on our team, in particular Colt. If we win the last four (nationally televised) games, that means he played pretty well. If he does pretty well on national TV, he'll win the Heisman Trophy." (HA)


About how New England is now running UH's offense, JJ said:
"So, I find it interesting now when I turn on the game, (New England) is running our offense. (Patriots coach Bill Belichick) kind of learned what it takes to move the football." (HSB)


Asked about Belicheck, JJ said:
"He's kind of a cerebral guy, who watches and studies. When I got my head job at Atlanta (1994-96), he was the head coach at Cleveland. We would go to Cleveland and spend two weeks there and practice against him. The reason he wanted to practice against us was because he couldn't stop us, and he kind of always wanted to know and watch how we did things." (HSB)

HSB Note: "Jones will take his same run-and-shoot offense against Pat Hill's Fresno State Bulldogs this Saturday at Aloha Stadium. Hill, coincidentally, was a Browns assistant under Belichick in the mid-90s."


About how their final four regular season games seems like an NFL playoff drive, JJ said:
"This is kind of a playoff run, when I was in the NFL, at this point usually in early December or late November, you had to win four in a row to stay alive. That's kind of what it feels like right now. We've got four big games, and three at home (Fresno State, Boise State and Washington). The kids are pretty focused and have been able to put everything in perspective from week to week." (HSB)


About dropping 2 spots in the BCS during their bye week, Jason Rivers said:
"We think (the drop) is kind of unfair sometimes, but honestly none of us really cares. What we can control is on a weekly basis as far as how we play and perform. The focus for us is to win every weekend, and as long as we do that on our part then you can't really say much on what other people see how our schedule is (easy) and all that." (HSB)


About how their critics motivate them, Hawthorne said:
"We all love watching ESPN. I always see it as we're the underdogs anyways. Nobody believes in us but us. We know that's going to be the rap no matter what. Almost in a sense they're waiting for us to lose. We just have to realize we're gonna have that opposition." (HSB)