Feature story on Jon Medeiros

About his summer job as a maintenance worker at UH, Medeiros earned spending money by:
"cutting grass, sweeping up rubbish, painting." (HA)

Praising Medeiros, UH WR coach Craig Stutzmann said:
"The first thing that sticks out is that he gives 100 percent effort all the time. He sells out by diving for the ball, he works his butt off in blocking, he's always in meetings, he's always stopping by the office to watch film, and I think he epitomizes what a hard-working walk-on can do." (HA)

About how Medeiros is a "pretty solid No. 2" behind Mike Washington, Stutzmann said:
"For him to come along this far is a testament to how hard he's worked in the offseason. Playing the way he did against Florida, coming in and showing he can run the routes, catch the ball and not be fazed by the magnitude of the game, it really gives him an edge over some of the guys." (HA)

About how he watched the Florida game from his bed because pneumonia prevented him from traveling to the game, Stutzmann said:
"Watching on TV, it's very limited, but from what I saw, he worked back to the ball and he didn't quit on the plays. That's a big thing, especially with a guy like (quarterback) Inoke (Funaki) in the backfield at quarterback. He's going to create a lot of plays, and he'll scramble a lot, and as a receiver you kind of get frustrated when you run your route and the ball's not out. But it's a whole other thing. You have to come back to the ball. If you're a deep receiver, you have to come back to the ball. And if you're the short receiver, you have to burst up the sideline and really look for that scramble ability, and I think he did a great job. One ball, Inoke threw and it looked like it was going to be intercepted, and (Jon) caught the ball and turned it upfield." (HA)

HA Note: "Against Florida, Medeiros made two catches for 32 yards, including a long of 24 yards."

Medeiros said that facing Florida was a:
"big challenge because I haven't played in a game since high school. I got a little playing time last year, but it was rare. It was intense." (HA)

Medeiros went to Western Oregon after he graduated from Kapolei High School because his SAT scores were not high enough to get him into UH, but he said that teh $17,000 annual tuition was:
"tough, it was a struggle, so I decided to transfer back home. I came home and thought, why not take my shot at football? So far I feel like it's working out pretty well." (HA)

About working over the summer while also participating in their summer workouts, Medeiros said:
"It wasn't that bad, but we also had summer workouts, so it kind of took a toll on my body." (HA)

HA Note: "Every day Medeiros woke up at 4:30 a.m., caught a ride with teammate Po'okela Ahmad, and did team workouts at 6:30 a.m. After that it was straight to work until 3 p.m., when he again joined the team for 7-on-7 afternoon drills."

About how Bain, Pilares, and Linkner are his closest friends on the team (besides former high school teammates Ahmad and Toilolo), which helps him on and off the field, Medeiros said:
"It's comfortable for me, because (Bain) is my friend, we can talk about stuff off the field, too. Whatever he sees that I don't see, he tells me about." (HA)

About how he almost had to play QB in last year's Scout Bowl when the Green Team drafted both available QBs, Medeiros (a former QB) said he was happy when one of the QBs was traded:
"I was like, thanking God. "Ever since I was young I wanted to be a receiver, but for some reason, in Pop Warner they put me at quarterback and I was like 'Why?' and it just carried on from there." (HA)