Give us this day our Daily-Lyles

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARADVERTISER.COM

George Daily-Lyles will be making the defensive calls against Fresno State.

George Daily-Lyles is the No. 1 middle linebacker in a defensive scheme the Hawaii football team does not always play.

"I've been getting my share of bench reps," Daily-Lyles said. "I have to work hard, be prepared, and when my number is called, go out there and do business."

For tomorrow's road game against Fresno State, the Warriors are paging No. 55.

The Bulldogs rely on a run-oriented offense that believes in the ground-pound-astound philosophy. For the Warriors, that means recalling the 4-3 scheme that was supposed to be their base defense, and summoning Daily-Lyles, who was supposed to be their middle manager.

Struggling in the opener against Southern California, Daily-Lyles, a second-year freshman, was lifted after three defensive series. He rebounded the following week against Army's triple-option offense, amassing 12 tackles in a complete-game performance.

But facing passing teams the next three games, Daily-Lyles played in four of the Warriors' 40 defensive series, including one drive each against Charleston Southern and Louisiana Tech. He managed four tackles in those three games.

"We've been playing a lot of 45," Daily-Lyles said, referring to a scheme in which he is replaced by nickel back John Hardy-Tuliau in the lineup, with Corey Paredes moving to middle linebacker. "Sitting behind Corey, I'm learning a lot."

Now the student is the lecturer. As the middle linebacker, Daily-Lyles makes most of the defensive calls.

Daily-Lyles was a well-regarded recruit out of Long Beach Poly last year. The knock against him is he appears to be too nice.

"People tell me that," Daily-Lyles said. "I don't see the need to punch a guy in the head. All you have to do is make plays. It's a business. You handle your business, you get paid, and we get paid in wins. This is football. I've been doing this for a long time. There's no reason to stress myself out yelling and screaming. I need to yell and scream out the calls, and make plays."