Warrior Head Coach, Greg McMackin declared this year’s football recruiting class a success as the recruits who signed on the first letter of intent day “met our needs to complement our returning starters.

“We have 17 returning starters who are very young, so there are several who could start right away.” McMackin said this was the best recruiting class since he has been here. “Every player we recruited was recruited by BCS schools.”

Athletic Director Jim Donovan said McMackin impressed him with a grid showing each position by the players’ year in school. That grid immediately revealed the needs were going to be needed when.

McMakin had the coaches talk about recruiting and the recruits by position. Following are a few highlights.

Tony Tuioti, Recruiting Coordinator, lauded the work of the academic support staff who brought in faculty members to spend time with recruits and their parents. The support staff also reviews transcripts to help determine the appropriate recruit candidates.

With a host of quarterbacks on the team, the Warriors planned to bring in one quarterback. Although one candidate was offered two years ago, no response was forthcoming. So over time three candidates were identified and told the first to respond would get the scholarship. That response came from Kevin Spain of Phoenix, Arizona.

Quarterback Coach Nick Rolovich reported Spain is athletic, very accurate and throws very catchable passes. He was not in a throwing offense so there will be a big transition for a while.

Rolovich characterized the receiver corps as having lots of speed. The biggest recruit, Darius Bright is 6'5" 225 pounds from the College of San Francisco, where Rolovich coached previously. 5'8", 155 pound Allen Sampson of Tampa Florida who runs a sub 4.4 40 whose nickname is “Turbo” is an exciting receiver and kick returner. Rolovich called Sampson the player who had “the cleanest jersey we saw all year,” because no one could catch him. Samson Anguay of Campbell and Corey Lau of Kailua are local speedsters. Christian “Bubba” Poueu-Luna who played quarterback at Great Oaks, CA is an “athlete” who will be a receiver.

Offensive Line Coach Gordy Shaw said “we got to see the best linemen in the State from our camps and outreach programs to the neighbor islands” and we got the best. There are three O-linemen from Hawaii. David Lefotu of Pearl City was highly recruited but stayed with his early verbal commitment. Sean Shigematsu of Kapaa is an athletic big man who also plays volleyball and basketball. Frank Loyd of Moanalua is still growing. Kody Afusia from Ocean View, CA is “nasty”. London Sapolu is already on campus and will compete for the center spot.

Dave Aranda covered the defensive linemen. Six are coming in with a lot of pass rush speed. The intriguing candidates include Beau Yap of Kamehameha Schools who initially committed to Baylor before deciding on being a Warrior, 6'7", 215 pound Desmond Dean from Tyler, Texas and David Katina from Samoa. Aranda said they think Katina can be a John Fonoti type player. Calen Friel of Kailua and Moses Samia of St. Louis project as defensive tackles, while Ipulasi Eselu projects as a defensive end.

Aranda felt Dean’s recruitment limitation was being 215 pounds, but pointed out that Dean’s father is 6'6", 300 pounds, and grandfather played in the NFL at over 300 pounds. Gaining weight is not expected to be an obstacle.

Chris Tormey is very excited about the linebacker recruits. Zach Quines is a rangy linebacker from Mililani. Siaki Craven is an athletic big linebacker who was at Utah before transferring to a junior college. Kapolei linebackers Dustin Elisara and Tuu Lolohea are among the best from Hawaii. Dominick Sierra of La Habra, CA is fast. T.J. Taimatuia of Artesia, CA is big and tough.

Rich Miano spoke glowingly about the three defensive backs; John Hardy-Tuliau, Dee Maggitt and Marcus Umu. He pointed out that Hardy-Tuliau can make an immediate impact on special teams as a kick blocker. Hardy blocked 13 kicks last season, and had a record 26 blocks in three years.

List of the Warrior 2010 recruiting class
Short Bios of the Warrior 2010 recruiting class
Click here to download Coach McMackin's UH Warrior Football Review: Recruiting Class of 2010

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