Warrior Quotes from the Star-Advertiser 9/22/10

About how the altitude affects players and gives teams a home-field advantage, Ashley Lelie said:
"It takes a lot out of you. It definitely affects you. Teams would come in and they'd be dead tired. It was a great home-field advantage. When I came back from the offseason it would always take at least one week to get used to it. Until then I'd be getting headaches and bloody noses, waking up with blood all over the pillow." (HSA)


About being a visiting player in Denver when he played for Oakland, Lelie said:
"I felt it after that first adrenaline rush early in the game. It's not just in your head. If you have less oxygen and you're not used to it you can't perform as well." (HSA)


About how he was caught from behind at the 3 during their first drive in the Colorado game, Kealoha Pilares said:
"Yeah, I just died. I felt like how I felt in Vegas. I really don't know if it was the altitude or the travel." (HSA)

"If we're playing out here, I score. But it's said and done. We just have to be prepared for this Saturday." (HSA)


About how Matagisila Lefiti will play in the Charleston Southern game but Bronson Tiwanak will start, Gordy Shaw said:
"Sila looked good today. In Sila's mind, he's been football-ready for three weeks. To play football, he's not physically in shape to play a whole game yet. The plan will be to watch him this week in practice. If he's good to go, then Bronson will start and Sila will go in for a couple of series, and we'll rotate them through, and see how it goes." (HSA)


About how he is okay with not starting, Lefiti said:
"I'm fine with that. I have to stay confident and believe in myself." (HSA)


About Brett Leonard and he got the players left behind to work out while the team was on their 12-day road trip, Lefiti said:
"It was getting back and hitting each other. It was good. The younger guys got some work in, too." (HSA)


About how he was 300 pounds before his injury and is now at 290, Lefiti said:
"Hopefully, with all of the training-table food I've been missing for the past three weeks, it'll help pick up my weight in five days. That's how the Samoan blood is. Once you eat, you get big." (HSA)


About how he will receive medical clearance to practice next week, Leonard said:
"I'm doing some stuff to get the knee stronger and into playing shape." (HSA)


Leonard said that working out with the younger players last week:
"helped me get back into the rhythm. I'll be good to go next week." (HSA)


HSA Note: "Strong safety Spencer Smith, who suffered two fractures in his right forearm in Hawaii's win against Army, said he expects to return in five weeks."


About how he will enroll at UH in January, giving up hs BYU scholarship and walking on to UH, RB Malosi Te'o said:
"I'm very excited to be back home, where my wife and I originally intended to be. We just made the big move to come back home." (HSA)


About how his wife wanted him to move back to Hawaii, Te'o said:
"Happy wife, happy life." (HSA)


About how they only have 1 sack and 3 QB hurries total in their 3 games, with their blitzing not being effective, Dave Aranda said:
"We should be a very good blitzing team. Honestly, at one point, we were. Right now, we're not. We've got to get that fixed, and get that fixed in a hurry." (HSA)


About how Colorado only used a 3-step drop out of a shotgun formation, Cal Lee said:
"To Colorado's benefit, they didn't sit back there forever. They got (the pass) out pretty fast. Three steps from the (shot)gun you're not going to get many sacks." (HSA)


About how they will have their first team D play more against their first-team offense instead of the scout team, Aranda said:
"We've got to get more good versus good. There's something to be said about seeing the looks you're going to be seeing on Saturday (by practicing against the scouts). But then, what our blitzing situation brings us, there's something to be said about good versus good, and speed versus speed. That's something we've talked about." (HSA)


HSA Note: "The Warriors also are going with smaller rotations at defensive end and linebacker. The emergence of Po'okela Ahmad, a junior linebacker, has triggered a chain of events in which Paipai Falemalu has reclaimed the starting job -- for now -- at defensive right end."


About how he bulked up to 260 pounds early this summer when he was a starting DE, but then had to lose weight when he was told he would be used in the hybrid LB/end position, Paipai Falemalu said:
"Honestly, I can gain and lose weight as I choose. If I want to gain weight, I eat more than I usually do and work out more. To lose weight, I run more instead of lifting more." (HSA)


About how they could move Paipai back to DE with Aaron Brown back from injury and Ahmad taking Brown's duties in nickel packages, Aranda said:
"We felt (Falemalu) could be best served getting all of his reps in one spot. He doesn't have to learn two or three different positions. He can learn one position -- where he can play fast." (HSA)


About how Paipai plays hard, Cal Lee said:
"He's got a motor you don't find too often in players. It just keeps on running, and it doesn't stop until the whistle." (HSA)


About how Aaron Brown will start at left-side LB, backed up by Ahmad, Aranda said:
"We have a few guys who are playmakers. Aaron is one of those guys. When he's in the game, he makes plays. He is a very good blitzer. We have guys who are blitzers. We're going to get back to that." (HSA)


http://www.staradvertiser.com/columnists/furtherreview/20100922_Back_at_sea_level_Warriors_must_play_with_attitude.html

http://www.staradvertiser.com/sports/sportsnews/20100922_Lefiti_will_play_against_Charleston_Southern.html

http://www.staradvertiser.com/sports/sportsnews/20100922_Sacks_therapy.html