Cal Lee’s back, working tirelessly and loving it

Cal Lee was, in his own words, a bit tired by Friday night. When afternoon practice finished around 6 p.m., the iconic football coach had been on the field nine hours.

His brother, offensive coordinator Ron Lee, had done the same. The tanline on his face, with his sunglasses removed, told the story. He was on campus by 7 a.m. to study film of the Saint Louis-Kapolei scrimmage, which was played on Wednesday.

Exhausted? Maybe. But they both love it. Winning right away would be nice, but the Lees are steadfast about developing character, and that starts with discipline on and off the field.

"Everything they do, it makes sense. The players buy into it. They’re learning. For some of them, it’s going to help them to the next level. They’re learning things they’ll be learning at college," Cal Lee said.

Cal Lee hasn’t lost a bit of his passion for teaching defensive football. Since guiding Saint Louis to 14 Prep Bowl championships and one state crown (1999), Hawaii’s iconic head coach has been part of UH’s glory years and even the arena football Hawaiian Islanders. Now he and brother Ron are back with the Crusaders.

"It feels good to be back," said Cal Lee, whose penchant for defensive excellence has never ceased.

For now, Saint Louis isn’t deep on that side of the ball and probably won’t be until the new crop of players and transfers are eligible for ILH varsity play next year. (Freshman are not permitted to play varsity football in the ILH.)

That puts the onus on the offense, which is just fine by quarterback Ryder Kuhns and wide receiver Drew Kobayashi. They’re full of smiles this preseason with Ron Lee’s wide-open four-wide attack in full gear.

"We’re coming out flinging. What quarterback wouldn’t be happy? Handing the ball off? What quarterback, and receivers, they’d rather block and stick their nose in someone’s forearm? No way. They want to catch the ball and go," Ron Lee said.

There’s much to learn; while at Kalani, at UH and at Saint Louis in their first run-through, Lee taught his receivers to make reads at the line of scrimmage.

"There’s no question, it’s still fundamentals," Cal Lee said. "The things that they know, you’ve got a guy that’s really talented, you can always beat a guy who’s not fast or tall. But when you have good people covering, then you have to do things (fundamentally)."

That’s why the Lees and the staff have high expectations, even as the learning curve seems steep.

The challenge is being met by the current Crusaders pass catchers and Kuhns, a strong-armed senior who is actually getting quite a challenge from upstart underclassmen at the position. For now, and the probable future, Kuhns is locked in at the position. Saint Louis has a history of relying on seniors. Even Marcus Mariota didn’t start until his last year.

The way Kuhns has thrown the ball in the first week of preseason, there’s little doubt. His first toss in Thursday’s scrimmage against Kapolei went for a long touchdown to Kobayashi. Kuhns was at it again two days later, spraying the ball from one sideline to the other, hitting receivers with finesse over the middle and with authority on the deep ball.

"They’ve been working hard, working their tails off," Ron Lee said. "But they’re very inexperienced. A lot of the guys didn’t play much (last year), but they’re learning to play fast. We want to score points. Our mentality is to light it up. I don’t know if we can do it, but that’s our mentality."

If fans liked what the Lee-era Crusaders did out of the shotgun, and what the June Jones-era Rainbow Warriors did in virtually the same offense, they’ll like the 2014 version from the team in navy blue and red. Kuhns has been thoroughly prepared.

"He’s smart enough. What he has is the touch. Sometimes he takes a little bit off, really has a nice touch," Cal Lee said.

There’s Kobayashi and slotback Allen Cui, and a bunch of relatively green receivers. Cal Lee has seen a lot of potential in receivers Cash Searle and Rico Sallas. Up front, there’s All-State left tackle Fred Ulu-Perry, a recent commit to UCLA, and a fairly seasoned offensive line.

"Fred, C.J. (Leoleo) at center, (Larry) Goeas. The O-line did really good (against Kapolei)," the head coach said.

"Fred just wants to annihilate everybody. That’s just Fred. We have to settle him down," Ron Lee said. "He wants to pin everybody. We want all our guys to be like Fred."

Ulu-Perry, who participated in the prestigious Nike Opening along with Farrington defensive tackle Breiden Fehoko, noted the subtle difference in blocking with the return of the Lees.