Ikaika Alama-Francis, who attended yesterday's practice, said he never imagined he would one day become a highly regarded NFL prospect.
Almost everyone who watched his first football practice three years ago would agree. He was too thin, too inexperienced, too polite. Now he might be drafted as a defensive end, outside linebacker, tight end or, even, an offensive tackle.
Alama-Francis' growth as a player can be attributed to hours spent in the weight room, video sessions and on the practice field.
The thing is, his story isn't that unique. To a lesser degree, we've seen that with Johnny Matt Bender in volleyball, Jake Sottos in basketball and Micah Lau in football.
Stick around long enough, work very hard, and a player is going to get better.
I think we're going to see the same thing this coming football season with slotback Michael Washington, offensive tackle Keith Ah Soon, cornerback Ryan Keomaka, defensive end Karl Noa and safety Desmond Thomas.
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Alama-Francis has a blog.
It can be accessed at:
http://www.yardbarker.com/users/Ikaika
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Last November, the Wall Street Journal published an article about the Trinity High School football team, which performs the haka before every game.The article noted that "an estimated 4,000 people of Tongan descent live in Trinity's hometown of Euless, a city of 53,9000 whose boundaries include about 2,800 acres of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport."
The article noted many were drawn to the area because of the availabiity of jobs in airport service.
A UH fan known in chat rooms as BowStock forwarded the information to the UH coaches, and now it appears the Warriors will look into recruiting in Euless.
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Today we welcome back Gigi-Hawai‘i.
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Today's shout-out is to cousin Lance Kubo and his beautiful bride, Candise Draper. They were married on Sunday.
Hawai'i's Newspaper Online 
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
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