Warriors stop practice to sing alongside marching band

The Hawaii football team aced a pop quiz that was an oral exam.

Near the end of Wednesday’s practice, the UH Marching Band paraded onto a neighboring field. Head coach Norm Chow then stopped practice, and set loose his players to sing along to the band’s rendition of "Co-Ed," the Warriors’ fight song.

"The players did a great job," said Gwen Nakamura, the band’s assistant director.

Three weeks ago, Nakamura distributed song sheets to the players. Chow made them sing until they got the lyrics correct.

The Warriors spent last week at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. After one of the practices, Chow told each player to write the fight song’s lyrics.

"Any misspelled word, any mispunctuation, they lost points," Chow said. "Even the ‘Gooooooo Warriors’ had seven O’s. If you had five, that was a mistake."

Chow said those who did well received cookies and ice cream.

Chow wanted to show the Warriors’ progress to the band.

The 230-member band, in turn, wanted to show its development. Last week’s band camp served as a training camp.

"It’s really cool in what coach Chow is trying to do to get the students involved," said Mark Arakaki, who is a student band leader.

Chow said: "It’s nice to see the support that we have. We enjoy working with them."

Cornerbacks are 1-2 punch

Now that Tony Grimes has emerged as a No. 1 cornerback, he will wear jersey No. 2.

Mike Edwards, the other starting cornerback, wears No. 1.

"I wanted that 1-2 punch thing," said Grimes, who requested a change from No. 38. Receiver Allen Sampson, who also wears No. 2, will miss the season because of an ACL injury.

Grimes was a first-unit cornerback until suffering from headaches following a tackle in the first week of training camp. That enabled freshman Ne’Quon Phillips to ascend the depth chart.

Grimes was told he did not have a concussion. "They were being very cautious about it," Grimes said of being held out of practices for a week. "I sat out until I had no more symptoms."

Chow said Phillips will be used as the third cornerback, especially in situations requiring a speedy fifth defensive back. Chow said the starting nod will go to Grimes because of his experience — he played at Mississippi as a freshman in 2010 — and aggressiveness.

"He’s a confident player," Chow said.

Grimes said he has worked on jamming receivers.

"If (a receiver) can barely get off the line, he can barely get into his routes," Grimes said. "I try to focus on winning at the line of scrimmage."

Malepeai plays inside

This is a transition year for sophomore Marcus Malepeai, who is rotating between defensive end and defensive tackle.

Malepeai has always played end or outside linebacker. Because of a shortage of defensive tackles, he has been asked to align inside, too. He has been told he will be a tackle next year.

Malepeai, who is 250 pounds, has relied on his quickness to avoid the colony of blockers. He said he plans to gain 30 pounds before next season.