Archive 2011-2012

December 3rd, 2012
The 2012 season wrapped up for the Warriors 
with a comfortable but unspectacular win over South Alabama 23-7. The
win was a nice send off for the Seniors on the program and rounded out
2012 with a 3-9 record.

Blake played one of his best games
of the years, dominant particularly in the run game where the Warriors
ran behind him for much of the night for a season high  249 yards.

A recap can be found here.

Finals
week will run through the second week of December and then Blake will
be back home for the holidays for 3 weeks. The shoulder that has been
bothering him for most of the season will get attention in the off
season, he will decide if its worth having surgery to correct it.
 

November 30th, 2012
The Star-Advertiser had this article on Blake in yesterday’s edition.
Blake
sat out Tuesday practice with some mild nausea but practiced yesterday.
He will make his 12th consecutive start on Saturday. The team has been
largely focusing on Senior Night, the last game for 13 Warriors who are
graduating and finishing their eligibility.
Final exams will take place in the 2 weeks following this last game.

November 28th, 2012

Below are the highlights of the last game vs UNLV. Blake graded out as the highest OL again in this game.
The
Warriors are preparing for their final game vs South Alabama, this will
correspond with Senior Night and will be followed by a football program
luau on the Sunday night.

November 26th, 2012
The Warriors pulled a role reversal on the UNLV Rebels, winning 48-10.

A recap can be found here.

The
Warriors wore their one off ‘Wounded Warrior’ uniforms for the game and
dominated the game, UNLV looked to be the team without direction or
play making ability. Blake made his 11th straight start and played the
entire game, grading out as the top OL for the 4th time.

The team must prepare now for their final game for the season when they host South Alabama, a new FBS football program.

November 19th, 2012
Air
Force were too strong to finish the game, winning 21-7 over Hawaii. The
Warriors scored first and had their first lead over an FBS team all
season, new starting Qb Jeremy Higgins leading the offense on an opening
possession TD pass.
A game summary can be found here. 
Blake
started his 10th straight game and played till the final whistle. The
Warriors had a lot of trouble running the ball and ultimately switched
back to original starter Sean Schroeder in the 2nd half.
The Warriors will play UNLV at home next week.

November 15th, 2012
The
Hawaii v Air Force game will be live on ESPN in Australia at 1.30pm on
saturday. This is the third game that Hawaii will appear in this year.
The BYU game was shown earlier this season.

November 13th, 2012
Boise
State were victorious 49-14 over the Warriors on Saturday; the Warriors
are still winless in the MWC and 1-8 for the season.
The offense
again struggled, Blake was not happy with his performance and the OL,
TE’s and RB’s  were unable to protect starter Sen Schroeder or back up
Jeremy Higgins very well giving up 5 sacks. Higgins however did come in
and add some spark driving the ball for a TD in the fourth quarter.
It will be a short week for the Warriors, they will travel to Colorado to play Air Force on Friday night.
A recap of the game can be found here.

November 9th, 2012
The
Warriors will play their first home game for a month when they take on
Boise State. The Broncos are coming off a rare loss, to MWC opponents
San Diego State.
The Warriors are pretty banged up on the injury
front and on the win/loss record. Blake will be one of only 5 Warriors
who will have started every game so far this year.
A full pregame report can be found here.

November 6th, 2012
It
was not a good day out for the Warriors at Fresno State. The Warriors
main rival of the last 12 years  defeated the Warriors 45-10. A full recap can be found here.
There
wasn’t much to be excited about for the Warriors as they were
outclassed all over the field. Jeremy Higgins came on at Qb late in the
game and scored the only TD for the game for the Warriors.
The OL
had 2 more injuries to starters but Blake played the whole game again in
his 8th straight start and graded out once again as the best OL despite
having one false start and giving up a sack because of cadence
problems.
Next week the Warriors are at home to the always very good Boise State Broncos.

October 30th, 2012
The
Warriors were defeated on the road at Colorado State 27-42. The teams
traded turnovers, the Rams did a better job of scoring off turnovers.
The loss leaves the Warriors at the bottom of the Mountain West
Conference.
They must regroup and head off again on Thursday to play at Fresno State, an old rival from the WAC.
Blake played another solid game in his 7th consecutive start.
The Norm Chow Inside Access show can be seen here.

October 21s, 2012
With
the week off the Warriors have been resting up. Blake has a visit from
family this week. The team is preparing for Colorado State on the road,
they will leave on Thursday.
Blake had a season high 91.8 rating from the New Mexico game.

October 15th, 2012
The
Warriors let a terrible start to the game, 21-0 down in the first half,
put their homecoming game out of reach despite a rally in the second
half.
Game report can be found here.
Blake
played another solid, mistake-free game. The team enters a bye week at
1-5, very disappointing.  After the bye, the Warriors will travel to
play Colorado State. The week off will certainly the team in terms of
health and although Blake is doing okay, general soreness and a niggling
shoulder injury will appreciate the rest.

October 8th, 2012
The
Warriors were defeated 52-14 at Qualcom stadium in San Diego in front
of 50,000 Aztec fans, there second straight MWC defeat.
A recap can be found here.
The
offense showed flashes of improvement but still has a long way to go.
Blake played reasonably well and was able to get through the game with
his shoulder injury and still be effective despite the discomfort.
The
Warriors have their Homecoming game next week against New Mexico,
another MWC opponent. The week after will be a much needed bye week.

October  3rd, 2012
Blake
is doing extra rehab work on his shoulder to be ready for the crucial
San Diego State game on saturday. The team will leave the day before.
The OL is pretty beat up at the moment, nearly every starter, and some
back ups, have some sort of ailment. 3 have the same injury as Blake and
2 of those have elected to be operated on. Blake is practicing and
playing through the pain.
After San Diego State, the Warriors play New Mexico at home followed by a bye week.

October 1st, 2012
Hawaii were soundly outplayed by BYU in Provo, Utah in a rare Friday night game.

A full recap can be found here.

Several
UH players were assisted from the field during the game as the team
looked every bit like a team trying to break in new schemes and coaches.
Blake might need a few light days at practice to rest up a sore
shoulder before the team goes on the road versus San Diego State,
another MWC member.

The uncompetitive start to the season
has of course mobilized the fan base into trying to diagnose the
problem. Opinion varies on Qb choice, play calling, defensive scheme and
just about every other variable. With 8 games to go, the schedule will
get a little easier and that in itself might give the change on result
that is sorely needed to re-energize things.

September 24th, 2012
There wasn’t a lot to be happy about from the Warriors conference opener at home vs Nevada.,losing 69-24.
A recap can be found here.
It
was much more so a defensive lapse in play that led to such a big blow
out. Whilst the receivers dropped a few key passes the offense was
balanced and Blake played quite well. The 2012 Warriors offense does not
boast about being explosive against more even opponents so a high
scoring shoot out was never wanted; the defense really had no answers
for the Nevada offense’s pistol attack.

The Warriors have
to re-group for a Friday night game this week on the road at BYU. The
game will air live in Australia on ESPN next Saturday from 10am.

September 18th, 2012

September 17th, 2012
The Warriors opened the home schedule with a 54-2 victory over Lamar.
A full report can be found here.
The
Warriors dominated field position, Special teams were excellent,
producing 2 touchdowns. The offense was balanced and run the ball
particularly well. Blake and 1st team offensive line played through to
the beginning of the fourth quarter and were very solid throughout the
game.
The Warriors will now play their first conference game at home next week against Nevada.

September 12th, 2012
Sunday
3pm EST in Sydney the Warriors will play their home opener and second
game of the 2012 season against FCS team the Lamar Cardinals. Lamar
University is in Texas and it is the first meeting between the two
Universities.
A report can be found here on the UH Athletics site.

September 3rd, 2012
The
Warriors were defeated 49-10 in their opening game versus USC. The
first half was extremely  trying, USC jumping out to a quick 20-0 lead,
then looking comfortable through to half time.

 The
offense picked things up and had 2 scoring drives in the 3rd quarter,
Scott Harding having the only received TD of the game from Sean
Schroeder.
A full recap can be seen here.
Blake
looked to have a reasonably good game. He gave away one false start and
looked to give away a sack on a stunt that he and team mate Chauncy
Makainai did not handle properly. Blake’s pass protection particularly
to the outside was very good. The team has next week off before opening
at home to Lamar.
 

August 30th, 2012
Blake will be one of 12 players starting their first game of their career versus USC.
The
Warriors had a practice this morning very early and will depart for Los
Angeles at lunchtime. They wil have a walk through at an LA high school
tomorrow and then prepare for the game the next day. The forecast is
for a high of 28 degrees celsius for the game.

August 27th, 2012
The opening game on the road at the University of Southern California is officially a sell-out.
Kapua
Sai has won the starting Left Guard position and will play along side
Blake. Sean Schroeder, a transfer from Duke has won the starting QB job.
Scott Harding, the ex-AFL player from Brisbane has won the strong-side
WR starting job.
The Warriors will depart later this week for Los Angeles.

August 20th, 2012
The Warriors have concluded their fall camp and school starts tomorrow. They play the USC Trojans in 13 days. The Trojans were just named #1 in the Associated Press Preseason Poll.
In an excerpt from today’s Honolulu Advertiser detailing the starting teams for the Warriors exiting fall camp…

Offensive linemen

The next week will involve daily practices
mixed with the beginning of Fall semester classes. Next week the team
will probably depart for the mainland on thursday to prepare for the
opening game at the Coliseum.

August 14th, 2012
The
Warriors have started two-a-day practices at the Joint Naval/Air Force
base. The dormitories are slightly better than what they have on campus
which is nice and they are away from distractions.
The Warriors
are still shuffling through combinations on the OL which is detailed
here by OL coach Chris Wiesehan. Blake essentially just needs to stay
injury free to maintain his starting spot at Left Tackle.

August 8th, 2012
The
Warriors have practiced every day this week and have 3 weeks till their
game vs USC. Blake has practiced as the 1st Team Left Tackle. He took
one day off this week with a slight hip flexor strain and then practiced
as normal today.
Blake was elected to the team’s Leadership Council as a Freshman.

August 3rd, 2012
The Warriors have started Fall practice.
From Stephen Tsai’s blog ‘The
coaches insist the o-line is not set. But this has been a popular
lineup: LT Blake Muir, LG Kapua Sai, C Ben Clarke, RG David Lefotu, RT
Sean Shigematsu.‘ Kapua Sai is a transfer from Utah who is eligible
to play straight away due to graduating there, Coach Chow was the
offensive co-ordinator at Utah last year.
The Warriors are staying
in the dorm rooms this year as opposed to the dance studios in part
years. Its much better for the comfort of the players. After a week on
campus the team will move to the Pearl Harbor-Hickam Joint Naval base
for a week. The facilities there are closed to the public.

July 28th, 2012
Blake
has finished his training block and will return to UH on Tuesday. The
block has been very successful. Blake achieved every lifting goal with
the exception of the 400lb split jerk from the rack.

July 9th, 2012
This
training block has been extremely successful. Blake is now @ 297lb and
is accumulating PR’s throughout his training. He is on track to achieve
his goals of 145kg Snatch and 170kg C&J. His training from last week
can be seen here.
 

June 15th, 2012
Blake
is nearing the end of his 4th week of his off season training block.
His body weight is up to 291lb again and he tested his vertical leap on
Monday and recorded 32″.
By week 6 he will be in position to start
breaking some of his PR’s on his lifts and week 7 and 8 should see some
excellent long term goals being achieved.

May 30th, 2012
Blake
visited former UH Defensive Lineman and 3rd Round NFL draft pick Colin
Scotts yesterday. They had not previously met. Colin has a beautiful
place on Sydney Harbour that he has owned for 11 years , but after
selling his bar a few years ago, now he runs a company that fits out
private hospitals with electronic media equipment and applications.
Pretty smart idea, most hospitals are still in the dark ages of just a
television for patients whilst they recuperate.
Colin had some
great advice for Blake. He talked about how he was playing a great
position and that he wished he could have had at shot at OL as opposed
the more brutal DL position. He said to Blake that he must be already
working well to get the starting job already and carry a 3.89gpa, so his
best advice was to keep doing what he’s doing and he’ll get what he’s
always gotten.
Blake is training 5 days a week, with 2 sessions a day on Wednesday and Saturday.

May 22nd, 2012
Blake
has started his off season training, getting his first sessions in last
week and this week being his first full slate of 5 lifting and 2
running workouts.
Some nice words in this preseason preview of the 2012 Warriors campaign about Blake.
Blake was rated the 10th most talented player on the team, even though he redshirted last year.
‘6-5, 290-pound redshirt freshman Blake Muir,
like WR Scott Harding, is an Australian native. He played club football
for the Sutherland Seahawks and graduated from high school in 2008. Now
he’s ready to go after learning on the fly last season in a redshirt
season and should be fine at left tackle.’
and
‘Watch Out For … all
the redshirt freshmen. They’re coming in various shapes and sizes, but
Muir, Dew and Clarke are all ready to build the foundation for the line
for the next few years making the biggest advantage.’

May 9th, 2012.
Here
is a film about the 2012 Warriors team and what they have done so far
with the new coaching staff. Blake will be home to celebrate his
birthday on the weekend and will start training for the Fall camp.

May 3rd, 2012
The Warriors Football staff yesterday released the team depth chart for the conclusion of Spring Practice.
Offense
Left tackle — 1. Blake Muir. 2. Frank Loyd
Left guard — 1. Ben Dew. 2. Hunter Hallowed
Center — 1. Ben Clarke. 2. Kody Afusia.
Right guard — 1. David Lefotu. 2. Chauncy Winchester-Makainai.
Right tackle — 1. Jordan Loeffler. 2. Sean Shigematsu.
Tight end — 1. Craig Cofer. 2. Darius Bright.
X — 1. Billy Ray Stutzmann. 2. Trevor Davis. 3. Allen Sampson.
Z — 1. Scott Harding. 2. Chris Gant. 3. Justin Clapp.
F — 1. Justin Vele/Miah Ostrowski/Clark Evans.
QB — 1. David Graves/Jeremy Higgins. 3. Ikaika Woolsey
RB — 1. Joey Iosefa/Will Gregory. 3. John Lister. 4. Sterling Jackson.
Defense
DE — 1. Paipai Falemalu. 2. Marcus Malepeai.
DT — 1. Geordon Hanohano. 2. Haku Correa.
NT — 1. Moses Samia. 2. Siasau Matagiese.
DE — 1. Beau Yap. 2. Tavita Woodard.
WLB — 1. George Daily-Lyles. 2. Kamalani Alo.
MLB — 1. T.J. Taimatuia. 2. Brenden Daley.
SLB — 1. Art Laurel. 2. Darryl McBride.
CB — 1. John Hardy-Tuliau. 2. Kawika Ornellas.
SS — 1. Bubba Poueu-Luna. 2. Charles Clay.
FS — 1. Mike Sellers. 2. Leroy Lutu.
CB — 1. Mike Edwards. 2. Dee Maggitt.
Specialists
PK — Tyler Hadden.
P — Alex Dunnachie.
LS — Luke Ingram.
PR — 1. Scott Harding. 2. Samson Anguay.
KR — 1. Mike Edwards. 2. Chris Gant.

April 29th, 2012
The Warriors wrapped up their Spring practice with the Warrior Bowl on campus last night. Below is a clip of the evening.
 

Another clip can be found here.

Blake
has been the #1 Left Tackle since the beginning of Spring practice and
he will enter Fall camp in that spot. Blake will be back home in 2 weeks
once the semester finishes.

 With Sehawks Colts team QB Daniel Besz during the recent school holidays.

 
 

April 21st, 2012
The
Warriors practiced today on Maui. There is 3 practices to go for the
Spring which will finish with a scrimmage next Friday on campus from
7pm. Blake continues to be the #1 Left Tackle. Footage from practice is found here.

April 10th, 2012
Courtesy of David at Sportshawaii.com some pics of Blake at practice.

April 2nd, 2012.
Blake has flown back to UH and the next on field practice on the Spring will be on Tuesday.
Below are some pics of Blake training this past week with his brother Sean.

 
 
March 29th, 2012
In
the first semester, since leaving home the first week of January, Blake
has lost 16lb of body weight. That is in 12 weeks. The training volume
has been significant and although Blake has just lost weight, other
players have been broken down badly.
Blake is the #1 Team Left Tackle.
The
new schemes for the offense require a significant change in technique.
All OL positions now come out of a 3 point stance, as opposed to the
2-point stances for the offensive tackles in previous seasons. Run
blocking has become a major focus of the offense and there promises to
be a heavier run selection in this scheme for 2012.
Blake will be in town till Sunday.

March 21st, 2012
Spring
practice starts today and will run for 3 straight days with afternoon
practices before a week’s break. Pictures and reports will follow in a
few days.

March 15th, 2012
Testing week continues.
Blake broke his unit record from last year for the agility shuttle when
he had 4.37; his new record is 4.22, what would have been best at the
recent NFL combine by 3 tenths.
His broad jump of 9 feet would have been good for the 3rd best at the combine.
Blake had 21 reps on the bench. Last year he had 18, still down from his PR of 23 reps.
Some
of the team records are represented on the wall with a photograph,
Blake now has two of them, the Clean and the Agility Shuttle.

March 12th, 2012
Testing
has started for the Warriors. Blake had the best clean for the
Offensive line unit, 156kg which is also a unit record for the Warriors.
Disappointingly, its less than his PR set the week before he left for
the Spring semester in January and only 6kg more than this time last
year.
The nature of the training is such for Blake that he has
lost over 10lb of body weight, this has made progress in getting
stronger very difficult whilst there. In the 2011 Summer break where he
was home for 10 weeks leading into the Fall Camp, he gained the weight
he lost in the previous Spring and got much stronger and faster. Sadly,
he is unable to make any general capacity progress whilst actually over
there.

March 3rd, 2012
The 2012 schedule has been released.
Sept. 1 — At USC
Sept. 8 — Bye
Sept. 15 — Lamar
Sept. 22 — Nevada
Sept. 29 — At BYU
Oct. 6 — At San Diego State
Oct. 13 — New Mexico
Oct. 20 — Bye
Oct. 27 — At Colorado State
Nov. 3 — At Fresno State
Nov. 10 — Boise State
Nov. 17 — At Air Force
Nov. 24 — UNLV
Dec. 1 — South Alabama

February 24th, 2012
Spring practice for the Warriors will run as follows……
Tuesday March 20th, Wed 21st, Thurs 22nd all 4pm.
Then Spring Break.
Re-start Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays starting April 4th through to April 28th. April 21st will be in Maui.

February 8th, 2012
The Warriors are into Winter training.
The new Offensive Line coach has been announced as Chris Wiesehan, his coaching resume can be found here.
Coach
Wiesehan has coached at Syracuse and most recently in the CFL. He has
also been an offensive assistant at Tampa Bay in the NFL. Coach Wiesehan
coached Tight Ends at Notre Dame and Purdue.
Spring practice will begin next month.

January 10th, 2012
Blake
returns to UH today. The team will get to meet the new coaching staff
this week, announcements will continue this week. Tony Tuioti, the
defensive line coach is confirmed as returning in 2012. Coach Tuioti has
been on recruiting trips to Australia in 2010 and 2011.
Below is a
compilation of some of the training that Blake was able to do with his
brother Sean over the last 3 weeks whilst at home. The time enabled him
to get back to where he was at the end of his between semester training
block at the beginning of August.
 

January 4th, 2011
The University of Hawaii has announced Norm Chow has
the new Head Coach for the Warriors football team. Coach Chow has a
tremendous resume which includes coaching Heisman Trophy winners Ty
Detmer, Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush as well as Phillip
Rivers.
It means that the coaching staff will have a significant
shake up and at this time it appears that Coach Shaw will not return as
the Warriors Offensive Line coach. No official announcement has been
made regarding a replacement.
Blake has been home for 2 weeks and
will head back to UH next week to start the Winter semester and meet the
new staff. Coach Chow runs a significantly different style of offense
to UH’s previous Run and Shoot.
Last semester, Blake was one of
only four football players who was invited to attend the ‘Straight A’s’
dinner for athletic department members who keep their grades up in that
range throughout the Fall semester. This will no doubt be impressive to
the new staff.
While in Australia, Blake has also been able to get
back into some serious lifting, not something that is as easy to get
done at UH as you would think.
 

December 17th, 2011
Some pics of Blake from UH’s last game for 2011 vs BYU

 
 

December 14th, 2011
This week is finals week at UH. Blake has his last exam on thursday and will return home on saturday for 3 weeks.
The
search for a new coach is continuing. UH’s coaching committee has
received 30 applications. A decision could be made between 1 and 3
weeks.

December 7th, 2011
Head Coach Greg McMackin
today announced his retirement from football effective immediately.
McMackin had one year remaining on his 5 year $5.5million contract, he
will accept $600,000 in the final year to step down, this saves the
Athletic Department $500,000.
The retirement of Coach McMackin
ends a tough year for the Warriors in which they went 6-7 and missed a
bowl game. During McMackin’s 4 year tenure they reached the Hawaii Bowl
twice, losing to Notre Dame in 2008 and Tulsa in 2010.
Assistant
Head Coach Rich Miano will step in as the interim Head Coach whilst
possible replacements are interviewed by a selection committee.
http://www.hawaiiathletics.com/news/2011/12/5/FB_1205110255.aspx

December 5th, 2011
The
2011 season has come to an end with e 41-20 loss to BYU at home. The
Warriors will finish the year 6-7 and not be bowl eligible. The third
quarter, which included 4 TD’s by BYU, allowed BYU to overcome a 13-10
Warrior lead.
A full recap can be found here.
It
means that Blake will be home earlier than expected. UH has final
semester exams through to next week and Blake will likely return that
weekend and be home for xmas and until the Spring semester starts the
second week of January.

November 28th, 2011
The Warriors are still alive after a victory over Tulane. Full story from the Hawaii Athletics site here.
The
team will play its last regular season game next week vs BYU, a huge
traditional rival. If the team wins, it will qualify for the Hawaii
Bowl.

November 25th, 2011
For Thanksgiving, Blake
gets to spend time with his family who have flown over to watch the last
two Warriors home games vs Tulane and BYU.

November 21st, 2011
The
Warriors went down at home 24-21 against WAC rival Fresno State
creating must-win situations in both the final two games against Tulane
and BYU in order to become bowl eligible.
The game was the last
ever WAC contest for the Warriors after 33 years. The program will move
to the Mountain West Conference (MWC) in 2012. A full recap of the game
can be found here.
For
Blake, with his redshirt status set in stone, things have become a
little less busy in terms of football. Nearly all of the meaningful reps
have obviously been devoted to the starters and direct back-ups; those
who may see the field, so practices, particularly later in the week,
have settled down. There are 3 more weeks of school, and his family is
heading over to watch the Tulane and BYU games. The only positive from
the poor finish to the season might be getting home a little earlier
than otherwise and spending Xmas at home, but its a hollow way to start a
career in the program with no bowl game.
There has been a lot of
pressure on the coaching staff and many fans and media pundits have
been calling Head Coach Greg McMackin’s status into question. The
program needs a lot of support from its fan base right now and a little
bit of luck would go a long way too.

November 8th, 2011
The
Utah State Aggies were able to muster a 21-point second half comeback
over the Hawaii Warriors; full recap from the Hawaii Athletics website can be found here.
The
Warriors continue to sustain injuries at the offensive line position
but both Coach MacMackin and Coach Shaw have been adamant that they will
not be taking any more players off red-shirting this late in the season
so that means they will play out the season with who they have.
This
also likely means that Blake will not travel on the last travel squad
of the season to Nevada this week in Reno. The Warriors need to win 2
more games out of the remaining 4 to be bowl eligible for the Hawaii
Bowl on Xmas Eve.

November 3rd, 2011
The Warriors
are now 5-3 after defeating Idaho at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow, Idaho on
the weekend. Next, the Utah State Aggies come to Aloha Stadium, the
Warriors need 2 more wins to become bowl eligible for this season and
will be favored going into this game, another WAC contest.
Blake
will not take the last away game to Nevada next week as he is now being
red-shirted under any circumstance now. With the quality of his grades
he doesn’t have to attend study hall which makes his time easier to
manage.
Blake’s family will be heading over to catch a game later this month.

October 24th, 2011
Homecoming Night for the Warriors as they defeated New Mexico State 45-34 at home.
Full game report from the official UH Athletics website can be found here.
Warriors travel to Idaho on Wednesday.

October 16th, 2011
San
Jose State was able to find the go ahead touchdown pass with under a
minute to play as the Warriors were defeated 28-27 at Spartan Stadium,
San Jose.
4 first half turnovers and 2 blocked kicks were the
difference as the Warriors dropped another road game, this time to a WAC
opponent.
Highlights of the game can be found here.

October 13th, 2011
The
Warriors fly out today for their Friday night game vs the San Jose
State Spartans. The game will be shown live here in Australia on ESPN HD
12pm noon on saturday.

October 8th, 2011
The
Warriors have the week off and prepare for a Friday night away game next
week against San Jose State. This week has been a resting one for
starters and the injured whilst backups have been worked vigorously. The
team will fly out on Wednesday for the ESPN covered game, what will be
the second WAC conference game in the Warriors championship defense.
Blake has had a chance to catch up on school work and get some lifting done.

October 3rd, 2011
A full report of the Warriors 44-26 road win over Louisiana Tech can be found here.
This
was a key opening victory to the WAC Championship. Ruston is a long way
from home for the Warriors and they now have a bye week before taking
on San Jose State in another away game.
This week will be god
week for players to get up to date with their classwork and get healthy,
although the team pulled through the game relatively injury free.
 

October 1st, 2011
Warriors
had a walk through this morning and now jumped on a short chartered
flight to Ruston for tomorrow’s game. Below are a few pics of Blake in
the pregame and on the sideline for the UC Davis game.
 

September 30th, 2011
This
week the Warriors have flown out to Houston to prepare for the
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs. The team will practice at the University of
Houston’s indoor practice facility. The team will then head to Ruston,
Louisiana for the game which will kickoff 6pm which is 10am Sydney time
Sunday morning.
The Bulldogs have a strong defensive line and have
beaten UH 2 of the last 3 times that the Warriors have visited Ruston.
This game represents the beginning of conference play for the Warriors
and defense of their WAC title.

September 26th, 2011
The
Warriors defeated the UC Davis Aggies 56-14. The Warriors were dominate
against the FCS level Aggies and plenty of back ups for the Warriors
got game time. The next game for the Warriors will be against the
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs in Ruston, Louisiana. This is always a difficult
road trip for the Warriors, they will leave on Wednesday evening for
the game and fly to Houston. This is will be first game of the year
against a fellow WAC opponent.

September 23rd, 2011
From Stephen Tsai’s blog today
‘ESPN
Australia was at practice shooting a segment on returner/slotback Scott
Harding and offensive lineman Blake Muir. Muir has received a lot of
reps, but UH won’t use him unless there’s an emergency. They don’t want
to waste what could be a redshirt year.’

September 20th, 2011
The
Warriors were disappointing in a resounding loss to UNLV. Despite being
17 point favourites the Rebels were dominant whilst the Warriors looked
flat going down 40-20.
The team has returned home and is
preparing for FCS opponent UC Davis at Aloha Stadium this saturday. The
Warriors will follow that with an away game @ Louisiana Tech and then a
bye week.
For Blake it seems that he will indeed redshirt. Whilst
there was no solid decision during Fall Camp of even now the decision to
omit him despite some of the injuries that the unit has taken will
likely mean that he will not see the field this year and instead break
up the recruiting classes a little by delaying his first game till 2012.

September 15th, 2011
The Warriors are practicing at Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas.
Blake
took several reps on the first team. The UH coaches are still deciding
what they are going to do in terms of activating Blake and not using
this year as a redshirt year. Blake is now the direct 2nd Team Left
Tackle.

September 12th, 2011
The Warriors went down to the Huskies 40-32 and are now 1-1 for 2011.
Washington
came out in the first quarter and blasted the Warriors defense with 21
early points. To the Warriors credit they hit back and if not for some
poor special teams play, 1 blocked field goal and a blocked PAT the game
would have been even closer. An attempted onside kick inside the last
minute rolled too short for a Warriors recovery and the Huskies kneed
out the game.
The team flew to Las Vegas after the game and are
staying just out of town in Summerlin. They play the University of Las
Vegas Nevada (UNLV) Rebels next saturday. Right Tackle Sean Shigematsu
went down in the 4th quarter with an injury that maybe serious enough to
miss several games, he will return to Honolulu for examination but it
means Blake as the 5th rotational tackle will either be the direct Left
Tackle back up with Jordan Loeffler being moved across to Right Tackle
or he will be the one to be moved across. Either way, the likelihood of
him being redshirted is growing less and less due to injuries. The
Warriors have already had Right Guard’s Chauncey Makanai and David
Lefotu miss practices ad game time due to knee injuries this year so
far.
ESPN recap here.
A picture of the UH OL who are on the travel squad. Here they are at the Husky Stadium walk through.

September 10th, 2011
The
Warriors have been staying at the Hyatt Regency and are ready for
today’s game vs the Washington Huskies in the first leg of a 2 game road
trip.

September 8th, 2011
The Warriors have left
today for Seattle. Blake has joined the team for the 5 hour direct
flight after a 2 hour practice this morning.
This link is to this week’s episode of the Coach Mack Show 

September 6th, 2011
The UH Warriors started their 2011 season with a 34-17 victory over the Colorado Buffalos at home.
QB
Bryant Moniz had 3 rushing touchdowns as the Warriors unveiled a
serious new run attack element to their offense whilst the defense had 7
second half sacks. Colorado with its new Head Coach was not able to
break its 17 game away loss stretch and despite its membership of the
PAC-12, and all the advantages that come with it, did not have the
talent to get on top of the Warriors.
The Warriors now leave for a
2 game road trip to Washington and UNLV. The 66man travel roster
departs on Wednesday and Blake will likely be on it as the 5th offensive
tackle. Asked how he felt about his first game albeit suited up and
watching from the sideline he said, “weird, after all the warm ups and
everything that went on in the pregame all I wanted to do was run out
there.”
 
 The
University of Washington represent the second straight PAC-12 opponent
on UH’s schedule. The game at Husky Stadium is 12.30pm Pacific Time
which is 5.30am EST in Australia so an early start for us who are
getting up to watch it.

September 2nd, 2011
The
Colorado v Hawaii game will be shown on ESPN in Australia 3pm on
Sunday. The footage will not be live but it is a rare opportunity to
watch the Warriors on tv in Australia. The team has a final practice
today then a walk through at the stadium tomorrow before the team stays
the night at a local hotel together.

August 23rd, 2011
The
Warriors have finished Fall Camp and school starts today. Blake has
moved into a new apartment which is bigger than the dorm rooms from
Spring semester.
The Warriors are 2 weeks away from game #1 vs Colorado at home and have been ranked #39 in the nation in the preseason USA Today poll.
No
word yet on whether Blake will be red-shirting this season. It seems
less and less likely due to the depth at the position for the 2011
season and Blake will be suiting up for the Colorado game and at this
stage going on the travel squad for away games, a tremendous and rare
situation for a True Freshman.

August 16th, 2011
Here
is some film to go with the pics of practice from the boys at
sportshawaii.com. You will see Blake in a few clips at the end of the
film in the team period.

August 14th, 2011
The
Warriors had their traditional ‘Pool Day’ yesterday, this is where the
football team takes over the UH pool complex and the rookies are
encouraged to jump from the 10m platform. Blake of course finds the
water a second home so he had no issues with it. Below are some pictures
of practice from Thursday, thanks to the boys at sportshawaii.com for
going to the trouble.
 

August 13th, 2011
Offensive Line coach Gordon Shaw gives Blake a nice shout out in this summary of the offensive line position for UH in 2011.

This link also takes you to the Hawaii Athletics website with accompanying article.

August 11th, 2011
A
short clip of yesterday’s practice. You will see Blake in a few shots.
Today is the first day of two-a-days for the Warriors. Today’s practices
are 8.30am to 10.40am then 3.30pm to 5.05pm.

August 10th, 2011
Photos of today’s practice courtesy of Stephen Tsai’s blog

 

August 6th, 2011
Fall
practice has started for the Warriors with the first 3 practices
already being run and the players can now get into full equipment and
start contact from Monday. Blake reports that he is happy with his
performances in the first 3 practices and only some sore feet from a
very long practice on the harder hotter turf practice field has been any
annoyance.
An observation from one of the fans in attendance from today’s practice…..
‘*Tried
to check up on the freshmen and the Oline. Ben Dew and Blake Muir
looked to be future stars. Muir is big ,tall, long armed and no belly.
You can tell the dude is a worker with being 290-300lbs and have no pot
belly. Dew is solidly built and looked strong as an ox. What I found
amazing and troubling to some degree is the freshmen were in better
condition than some of the upper classmen. During running drills, Blake
and Ben were finishing consistently near the front during conditioning
drills while our starting tackle (Clayton Laurel) and one potential
starting tackel(Jordan Loeffel) dragging up the back of the pack.‘

July 26th, 2011
Blake will return to Hawaii on Sunday after a very successful off season training block.
As
can be seen in this training film, Blake was able to add 17lb of body
weight and gained all of the strength that he lost during the Spring
semester plus reach several of his training goals such as his first
300lb snatch. His time spent training with Adrian was an excellent
opportunity to take advantage of.

July 4th, 2011
Outdoor practice on saturday with Adrian.

Lifting today, should be several PB’s in lifting this week. Also weighed in last week heaviest ever, 133kg which is 292lb.

June 20th, 2011
Blocking practice with Adrian

May 27th, 2011
To round out just how successful Blake’s first semester was at UH his gpa for the semester was a perfect 4.0.
Here’s a pic of Blake and Adrian getting ready for a running/agility/skills session together.

May 24th, 2011
Blake
has begun his lifting at the gym and will also be doing a lot of
technical football skill work with Adrian Thomas whilst he is here in
town. Blake has some ambitious goals for the summer break. A 170kg
clean, a 250kg back squat and a 140kg snatch are all in his sights, some
solid numbers that would break a few records at UH.
Blake is
just taking one online class for the summer and plans to be able to
arrive back on campus around 290lb+ and ready to compete for game time
as a true freshman.

May 10th, 2011
Blake
will return to Sydney on Thursday. He’ll have a few days off and will
then begin his ‘Summer’ lifting and conditioning here in Sydney at Shire
Speed and Strength. It will be an 11 week training block, plenty of
time to set some new PB’s in speed and strength.

April 20th, 2011
Spring
practice has ended. The players will have individual meetings with
their positional coaches this week and walk on players will be told if
they will be invited back for Fall camp or not. More new recruits will
arrive in August for Fall camp and room has to be made.
Blake has 2 exams and one assignment due for finals week coming up in May and then will return home for the weekend of 15th May.
The photo below is of the practice at Hilo courtesy of Sportshawaii.com

April 17th, 2011
Highlights of the Warrior Bowl and a report can be found at http://hawaiiathletics.com/news/2011/4/16/FB_0416115115.aspx
Blake played 2nd team Left Tackle and also stepped in on the 4th team at Right Tackle. He is not on the field goal unit.

April 15th, 2011
Tomorrow
is the Warrior Bowl. A full game scenario practice session of offense
vs defense that will be held on campus at T.C. Ching Field 7pm Friday
night. Blake continued to share reps on the 2nd team. The way that the
Spring practices have been spread out allows for each practice to be
broken down on film at a unit meeting either that afternoon from a
morning practice or the next day on an evening practice.
There
will be one more practice after Friday, a practice on Monday that was
moved from a few weeks ago when the Tsunami warning canceled a practice.
Monday’s practice will focus on special teams. After that, the Spring
semester will continue through to the second week of May when Blake will
return home for the summer break.

April 12th, 2011
In
addition to yesterday’s footage here are links to Blake appearing in
reps, at the post scrimmage address by the Mayor of Hilo and at the
autograph signing.

 
 

April 11th, 2011
You can watch highlights of practice on this link http://hawaiiathletics.com/news/2011/4/9/FB_0409114142.aspx
You
can see Blake in the first 4 team reps at Left Tackle from 0:59 of the
clip and in the beginning of the clip wearing his #66 jersey.

April 8th, 2011
This
pic is from Monday’s practice. This is Blake with his room mate and
fellow true freshman offensive lineman Ben Dew. Blake traded 2nd team
reps yesterday with Jordan Loeffler who has been coping with a knee
injury.
Next practice for the Warriors is at Hilo on the Big
Island of Hawaii which is 350km away. The Warriors will fly there on
saturday morning and practice will be from 11am. This annual travel to
the other Hawaiian island by the Warriors team is seen as a big
community builder for the state and has included Kauai and Maui the last
two years.

April 1st, 2011
Blake can be seen wearing #66 jersey at the end of this clip.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vfZaIE9fY0&feature=player_embedded
As
the story states, practice will resume after the UH Pro Day today on
saturday. Blake will be practicing on the 2nd Team at Left Tackle for
the saturday practice due to an injury to the regular 2nd teamer.

March 25th, 2011
Blake
has been able to fly home for a week during Spring Break. He returns to
Hawaii on saturday March 26th and the next spring practice for Hawaii
is on Monday afternoon. He’ll be watching his brother Sean at tonight’s
game between the Seahawks and UTS Spartans.

March 14th, 2011
The
earthquake and resulting tsunami in Japan led to coastal warnings for
Hawaii which canceled practice scheduled for friday, however saturday’s
practice went ahead as planned.
Monday’s practice will be the
first in full pads and the missed practice has been tacked onto the end
of the Spring football period and will be Monday April 18th after the
Warrior Bowl on the big island.

March 10th, 2011
Spring
Practice started today. Blake was assigned jersey number #66, Adrian’s
old number. Not sure if it was deliberate or not but it is what it is.

March 4th, 2011
Testing week continued.
Blake
is down to 123kg from 128kg. The meal allowances are not able to keep
up with the calorie needs and managing eating times, especially lunch,
around class time, study time and workout times is proving to be quite a
skill.
Blake had the highest conventional vertical leap at 35
inches of the linemen but his squat 1RM was way down on his PB only
210kg (PB is 235kg) and he only had 18 reps on the 225lb bench (PB is
23). All in all very good results but losing weight is a big part of the
reason for the loss of strength.
Tomorrow there is a player organized on field practice that prepares for next week’s official start to Spring Practice.

March 3rd, 2011
This week is testing week for the Warriors. Spring practice start next week.
Blake
has done very well in testing. Amongst the offensive linemen he had the
best 10yard and 20 yard time and also the best vertical leap 35″ which
was one of the best on the team let alone of all the offensive and
defensive linemen.
Unfortunately since arriving on campus with the
different style of workouts his strength has suffered. His bench was
13kg less than his previous 1 rep max and his clean was also 5kg below
his best which is a shame that in 9 weeks he has actually gotten weaker
and less powerful not stronger. The clean was still good enough for 2nd
best on the team; something that a freshman HAS NEVER DONE BEFORE!
Wednesday
is a rest day and Thursday they test 225lb bench for max reps and 1 rep
max back squat. We shall see how his numbers stack up there but they
also will likely be down. In better news he topped his class in his
anthropology exam.

February 21st, 2011
The Warriors
football team announced ex-Hawaii Head Coach Dick Tomey as the new
Special Teams Coordinator for the 2011 season. Coach Tomey was Head
Coach between 1977 to 1986 and compiled a 63-46-3 record. He is a Circle
of Honor inductee and also coached at the University of Arizona and the
San Francisco 49ers.
Coach Tomey was nice enough to come up to
Blake and introduce himself in the UH Weight Room last week. Coach Tomey
was the Head Coach who recruited the first Australian to play at UH,
Colin Scotts. He talked to Blake a little about it, an interesting piece
of history.

February 17th, 2011
Courtesy of Steven Tsai’s blog…….
Here’s the schedule (with practices at 7 a.m unless otherwise noted):
March
7  (Monday) — Team meeting.
9  (Wednesday) — Practice No. 1 (sweats).
11 (Friday) — Practice No. 2 (sweats).
12  (Saturday) — Practice No. 3 (pads), 4:30-6:30 p.m.; Coaches Clinic/Social, 6:30 p.m.
14 (Monday) — Practice No. 4 (pads).
16 (Wednesday) — Practice No. 5 (pads).
18 (Friday) — Practice No. 6 (pads).
21-25 — Spring break.
28 (Monday) — Practice No. 7 (pads).
30 (Wednesday) — Practice No. 8 (pads).
31 (Thursday) — Pro Day at Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.
April
2 (Saturday) — Practice No. 9 (pads), 1:30 p.m.; Junior Day.
4 (Monday) — Practice No. 10 (pads).
6 (Wednesday) — Practice No. 11 (sweats).
9 (Saturday) — Practice No. 12 (pads) in Hilo.
11 (Monday) — Practice No. 13 (pads).
13 (Wednesday) — Practice No. 14 (pads).
15 (Friday) — Warrior Bowl, 7 p.m. at Ching Athletic Complex.

February 9th, 2011
Spring
practice will begin for the Warriors on March 9th and their Spring game
will be held on the Big Island. Rotating the game around the islands is
becoming a tradition. The last two years the game has been at Kauai and
Maui. Here is a pic from Steven Tsai’s blog of the Star-Advertiser from
the UH linemen running hills this morning.

January 23rd, 2011
Blake’s family has returned to Australia and left Blake to continue with the Spring semester.

January 19th, 2011
Blake
has started team training sessions at UH’s weight room. They are
significantly different to what he is used to.  A lot more volume and
slower lifting.

January 14th, 2011
Team
meeting yesterday about workouts. They will begin as team organized
training blocks starting next week. Blake was able to lift at the gym
for the first time yesterday as well. UH’s gym has several assistants
and for this week until the team organized sessions begin there is some
autonomy for the players to do as they like, Monday that will change.

January 9th, 2011
The
running around continues. Lots of little jobs for Blake to do. His room
mate is going to be fellow Freshman OL Ben Dew who is from New Zealand
but actually lived in Florida and Hawaii. He is in the same situation as
Blake, not going on scholarship till June but getting in early for the
Spring semester. Classes start tomorrow, Blake has a fairly easy slate
for the first semester, a nice way to settle in.

January 8th, 2011
Blake
and his family has been going through the first few days of setting up
what will be a long stay at a new home. Registering for classes and
meeting the academic advisor. Seeing the medical staff for vaccination
checks (something all international students have to do). Picking up
Student ID, meal card, buying a computer, sorting out housing in the
dorm rooms, the first few days were always bound to be hectic and loaded
with bureaucracy.
Coach Shaw (offensive line coach) is on the
mainland recruiting at the moment but will be back soon. In the mean
time Blake will settle in and get ready for classes starting next week
and to start lifting in UH’s gym with S & C Coach Heffernan.

January 5th, 2011
Almost
5 years to the day that the first Sutherland Seahawk college player
departed for Hawaii, Adrian Thomas, the club’s second player to join the
University of Hawaii program, Blake Muir left yesterday.
Blake
too will play for the Warriors as an offensive linemen and projects as a
tackle in Hawaii’s Run and Shoot offense that was #2 in the nation last
year in total offense with Adrian Thomas at Right Guard.
In many
ways Adrian’s accomplishments have paved the way for Blake and with that
Blake has prepared to excel beyond Adrian’s trailblazing. This diary
will attempt to keep the curious up to date on how Blake settles in,
trains and copes with the college football experience.