2 UH commits fail to make grade
Two top recruits — linebackers Zachary Quines of Mililani High and Tu’ulauena Lolohea of Kapolei High — will not play for the University of Hawaii this season.
Both signed NCAA letters of intent with the Warriors in February.
Quines, who is 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds, said he will attend Arizona Western, a junior college in Yuma, Ariz. Lolohea will attend UH-West Oahu for a year with the intent of transferring to UH-Manoa next June.
Quines said he did not meet the academic requirements to play for the Warriors this season.
He said he decided to enroll at Arizona Western, where he will receive a football scholarship.
Because he is a non-qualifier, Quines needs to earn an associate’s degree to transfer to an NCAA Bowl Championship Subdivision school.
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Quines said it is his wish to play for the Warriors in 2012.
"I want to take care of business and come back home," Quines said. "I want to play for Hawaii."
One scouting service rated Quines as the state’s fifth-best recruit. The UH athletics website said Quines was ranked as the nation’s No. 17 inside linebacker.
He was recruited by Oregon, Oregon State and Washington before signing with the Warriors.
Lolohea, according to UH, was ranked as the state’s 12th-best recruit and the nation’s 35th-best inside linebacker.
As a Kapolei senior, Lolohea amassed 11 sacks and forced four fumbles. He was recruited by Arkansas, Arizona and Colorado before signing with the Warriors.
Lolohea needs to earn 24 transferable credits to be eligible to transfer to UH-Manoa.
If he qualifies, he will lose a year on his five-year eligibility clock, and will have four years to play four seasons.
Also, Tim Brown, a linebacker from Waianae who was on the Warriors’ spring roster, has decided to transfer to a junior college.