First-year Warriors go through orientation

The most important part of the freshman orientation was the first line of the form.

"I don’t go by ‘Promise’ anymore," slotback Chinedu Promise Amadi said. "I use my first name."

Amadi was among Hawaii’s first-year players who attended yesterday’s orientation meeting and had physical examinations — the first steps toward competing as Warriors this season.

Yesterday also was the first day of UH’s bridge session. The summer-school classes run up to the opening of the Warriors’ training camp next month. Because players are on full scholarship while enrolled in summer school, incoming freshman players prefer to take bridge-session classes.

"I got in last Thursday," running back Jared Leaf said. "It’s going good. I like it here."

Barring any medical problems, the newcomers will be cleared to participate in the offseason conditioning program, which is coordinated by Tommy Heffernan and Grant Steen. The players are free to participate in the unsupervised workouts run by teammates.

There are a few excused absences. Offensive lineman Blake Muir is training in his native Australia. Muir goes on scholarship next month. He paid for his tuition and living expenses during the spring semester. To pay back that loan, he is working for an airline this summer.

Slotback Scott Harding and linebacker Penitito Faalologo, a graduate of a high school in American Samoa, will report at the end of this month. Harding played six years of professional Australian Rules Football. Because Australian football is considered a different sport from American football, Harding’s amateur status is not impacted.

The Warriors’ most heralded recruit, cornerback Mike Edwards, said he will report "no later than July 17th."

Edwards played eight games for Tennessee in 2009 before being dismissed after being involved in a robbery in which a pellet gun was used. Edwards, who received probation, has been attending a junior college in Kansas. He is completing work necessary to transfer. He already has been accepted into UH.

"I’ve been training to get better," said Edwards, who also has studied videos of UH’s defensive schemes.

As for the expectations, he said: "I’d rather have it on the football field than the pressure of being on the streets not knowing what my next move is going to be. Football always came easy to me if I worked hard at it. I’m going to work hard."

In May, each of the newcomers received a manual from Heffernan with suggested daily workouts.

"It’s a great program," said defensive end Craig Cofer, who played at Grossmont College in San Diego in 2010. "It really helped me a lot."

Cofer is experienced in fresh starts.

"This is my third school," said Cofer, who attended Southern Oregon as a freshman in 2009.

Cofer said he packed light.

"Hawaii is a big difference from Oregon," he said. "I didn’t have to take any heavy coats. I took a lot of tank tops and shorts."

Amadi said the newcomers went to Waikiki for the Fourth of July.

"We saw the fireworks," he said. "It was a lot of fun. Now we’re getting ready for work."