Chow turns Warriors’ defense loose at practice

Music blares from the speaker during every Hawaii football practice.

On Wednesday, "pop" music was the soundtrack.

The fifth practice of training camp was the first in which the Warriors were in full pads. That meant every snap was followed by crackles and pops.

"We were all excited for this day," middle linebacker T.J. Taimatuia said. "For a whole summer, we’ve been touching up. Now we got to make physical contact. Now we don’t have to say (a hit) was an accident. We can say it was on purpose."

Defensive coordinator Thom Kaumeyer tried to temper the tempo.

"On the first day (of full pads), you want to try to limit things," Kaumeyer said. "Guys are so excited, you don’t want them to lose their minds and go physical without doing all of the fundamentals. We got caught a couple of times when guys were doing their own individual battles and not doing their responsibilities. But for the first day, I though it was pretty good. We kept everybody up. There were no injuries. I thought it was successful."

Nose tackle Siasau Matagiese drew oohs when he knocked down running back Joey Iosefa during scrimmage-like drills. Several plays later, cornerback Tony Grimes delivered the loudest thud with a hit on fullback Jared Leaf.

Grimes was shaken on the play; his emotions were stirred.

"There’s no better feeling than to get out here and hit," Grimes said.

Grimes, who played at Mississippi as a freshman in 2010, joined the Warriors last month. He has emerged as a No. 1 corner opposite Mike Edwards.

Edwards, Grimes, Ne’Quan Phillips, Dee Maggitt and Mike Martin have rotated at the two corner positions. John Hardy-Tuliau, who was a No. 1 corner in spring training, is now at safety.

Kaumeyer said Hardy-Tuliau’s coverage skills enable him to defend an offense’s third receiver without forcing the Warriors to switch out of their base defense.

"He really gives us some flexibility," Kaumeyer said. "We really like our group (of defensive backs)."

Kaumeyer said the secondary will rotate frequently through Saturday’s practice. The Warriors will move training camp to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on Sunday.

"When we’re at Pearl, that’s when the competition happens," Kaumeyer said.