Brooks: Cabral, CU 'Islanders' Await Visit By Hawai`i

BOULDER - Here's Brian Cabral's dilemma: Does he break out the traditional lava-lava wrap for Saturday's Hawai'i game or keep it tucked in the drawer (hanging in the closet?) for what might be a more meaningful day in Colorado football?

"I get to pull that out one (home) game a year, so I've got to debate which game I'm going to pull it out for," Cabral told me the other day.

When I asked what answer his heart might give him, he smiled broadly and replied, "I'll have to wait and see."

I've got a hunch about the message he will receive from within, but then again my brain, such as it is, might not in synch with Cabral's heart.

You probably already know that Cabral is an islander, a deeply rooted one, and a former Buffaloes player. Aside from faith and family, those two elements probably occupy larger compartments in his life than any others.

He's remained on CU's football staff through four head coaches and owns a well-earned place among the college game's top linebacker coaches. He provides the care and maintenance for CU's island recruiting pipeline and annually runs a couple of summer camps in paradise - the 10-year-old Just Win Camp on Maui and the 2-year-old All-Poly Camp on Oahu - because "it's an opportunity to give back to those kids on the islands, to give them something I never had, to teach them like I teach my guys and give them something that unless they come to the mainland they won't get.

"That's the highlight of my summer - working those camps and giving them something that's pretty common here in the mainland. That means a lot to me to work with those kids and do what I can for them."

The vibe should be coming through fairly strong that this faraway part of the world is very special to Cabral, who grew up in Kailua, Oahu. That sentiment, the fact that CU and Hawaii haven't played in his or his players' lifetime (the only previous meeting was in 1924), plus a couple of other factors we'll get to later, scratches Hawai'i's visit to Boulder from your list of run-of-the-mill September Saturdays.

UH, Cabral said, is "the home-state team that every island guy has grown up with. Chances are most of our guys (from the islands) have played against most of them. Just knowing you're going against somebody from your home state creates a little excitement, a little buzz. I wouldn't be surprised if they're related to some of those guys and I'm sure they have friends (among the Warriors).

"More importantly, the state of Hawai'i knows where the state university is playing this week, so in the back of your mind you want to make a big impression on the state in how you play and the outcome of this game. And I would say that's true for myself as well; I feel all those things."

The Buffs roster features five players with an island heritage - starting linebackers B.J. Beatty (Kahuku High School) and Mike Sipili (Damien Memorial), reserve linebacker Liloa Nobriga (born in Honolulu), and offensive linemen Sione Tau (Damien Memorial) and Kaiwi Crabb (Punahou). Cabral is close to each.

Beatty and Sipili, both seniors, have friends and former high school teammates playing for UH. Half a dozen or more of Beatty's acquaintances - all on defense - are on the Warriors roster, while a couple of Sipili's pals (center Bronson Tiwanak, receiver Kealoha Pilares) play offense, offering him the opportunity to trade hellos and whatever else on the field.

Neither Beatty nor Sipili was inclined to stay at home for their educations and football careers. Briefly, though, Beatty considered UH, "Then something was just in me where I wanted to get out and consider what else was out there in the world," he said. "I had never really left much in 18 years of living there - probably twice, three times the whole time. I'd go island to island, but not to the states that much."

As for Sipili, "I didn't like UH at all growing up," he said. "I wanted to move away from the island. It was good to get away."

Their assessment of players from their homeland meshes with what Cabral has seen over the years. "They're very physical people by nature, and football fits very well with that culture," Cabral said. "The people in the islands love football, from Pop Warner through high school and college.

"Football is big there. They're aggressive, they're tough, they're physical . . . and that's what you expect when you recruit a guy from the islands. Rarely do you have speed, but there is some. Typically, you're going to get physically tough and mentally tough players."

The Warriors (1-1) demonstrated both qualities in last weekend's 31-28 win at Army. They jumped ahead 21-0, eventually were caught and passed (28-21), rallied to tie (28-28), then won by driving in the final minutes for a 31-yard field goal kicked with seven seconds left. Expecting a rollover in Boulder would be a bad mistake.

Bryant Moniz will be the fastest quarterback Beatty, Sipili & Co. have faced this season. He also averages 36 attempts, 21 completions, 306 air yards and two touchdown passes a game in the Warriors' frenetic run-and-shoot offense.

What about Moniz's offense impresses Beatty?

"Their entire offense, the explosion plays they can create, the speed of their receivers, a quarterback who can move around," he said. "(Moniz) gets the ball to his guys in the open field and they can run around . . . they're probably as fast (as California) running the offense they run."

Cal was too fast, too athletic - too much of everything, as it turned out - for CU in last weekend's 52-7 blowout. That beating diverted the Buffs for a crash landing after their opening win (24-3) against Colorado State. If the 45-point loss cost CU any confidence, Beatty said he and his fellow seniors didn't believe any special measures such as a players' only meeting were needed to restore their spirits.

"That wasn't necessary," he said. "This team is mature enough to understand that sometimes you're going to get kicked down but it's how you answer. I think this team is ready to show that we can come back, that we're not a team like in the past when once things start going downhill they keep on going. I think we're ready to turn that around this week.

"I think a lot of guys redialed, kind of had to recommit almost and look themselves in the mirror and ask what do I have to do to help the team? A lot of guys this week have brought a lot more than they had before."

If what Beatty contends about maturity, recommitment and resolve is true, the Cal debacle can be put away as a single loss. But its magnitude and ramifications underscore the urgency for a bounce-back Saturday.

That's the team objective, Cabral said: "You've got to be able to put (the Cal loss) behind and move forward with a win. This is a big game for us as a team to win . . . we're hungry for a win."

Individually, for Beatty, Sipili and the other islanders, "For all of us who have the connection back home, it's a game against friends - friendly competition almost," Beatty noted. "We kinda get bragging rights for the rest of our lives after this, whether or not I can talk trash or all of them can gang up on me. It's not for a year, it's for a lifetime."

All of the above - CU's first game against UH in his lifetime, his long history with the islands, his current camp and recruiting contacts, his and his players' admitted urgency for a win - will affect Cabral's choice of game-day wardrobes.

CU-issued sideline attire or lava-lava?

I could be wrong, but if he's listening to his heart I think his choice is made.

Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU