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Show 6 SPORTS Thursday, August 25, 2011 www.dailyutahchronicle.cor ► UPCOMING SPORTS EVENTS FRIDAY: Volleyball Utah vs. Northwestern vs. Cal State Northridge 5 p.m. Crimson Court Volleyball Utah vs. Weber State 7 p.m. Crimson Court UTES IN BRIEF SWIMMING & DIVING Leaders launch teams into first week of practice McKenzie Dean STAFF WRITER AV- •X-1..: toil" _ j NATHAN SWEET/The Daily Utah Chronicle Family man behind the helmet MAIN MOTIVATORS Devotion, responsibility main factors behind Tauni Vakapuna leaving Dixie State to join the Ute football family. D Jory Carroll STAFF WRITER Family. That's the main reason senior tailback Tauni Vakapuna is a Ute. Vakapuna was attending Dixie State College in St. George when he decided to transfer to the U in 2010. The decision wasn't made based entirely on football, as one might think. Instead, Tauni—pro- nounced "Downy"—realized his parents needed some help back home in north Salt Lake City. "I transferred here because of my parents," Vakapuna said. "My sister got a job in Colorado and she was the one taking care of my parents most of the time." Leaving Dixie State wasn't an easy decision for him—he played two seasons for the Red Storm in 2008 and 2009 and was select- Raiders pick is overrated JAKE BULLINGER 1 Nor Asst. Sports Editor 1 Davis, what are you doing? You've taken a once-respectable franchise and turned it into the absolute pit of the NFL. How did this happen? You have taken every possible measure to doom your team in the 21st century. Since Jon Gruden left, your Raiders have gone through a whopping six coaches in just 10 years. You drafted JaMarcus Russell in 2007 with the No. 1 overall pick to be your franchise quarterback. And now, you've used up a third-round pick to take Terrelle Pryor, the vastly overrated, discipline-lacking quarterback from Ohio State. One would think you'd learned your lesson from the Russell pick, but just as drug addiction can ruin a family, your addiction to overrated quarterbacks will kill your organization. I'm sorry, but it's obvious that you took Pryor much too early. You've got a quarterback in Jason Campbell, who is nothing fabulous, but who can also be a solid starter in this league. Trent Edwards and Kyle Boller are decent backups, and both have NFL starting experience. But you weren't content with that scenario, just like you weren't content with your past five coaches. So, to fix a position filled with mediocre players, you went out and drafted a terrible player who probably won't finish his career at the position. Did you watch Terrelle Pryor in college? It's obvious you hired horrible A See DAVIS Page 9 ed to the second-team all-Great Northwest Atlantic Conference in 2009, ending the year with 512 rushing yards and six touchdowns. However, after the 2009 season and with his sister moving out of state for a job, Vakapuna knew where his priorities should lie. "That was my main reason for coming," he said. "If it wasn't for that, I'd still be at Dixie." Tauni is one of eight children in his family, with three brothers and four sisters. His older brother, Fui, played college football at BYU and is currently a member of the Cincinnati Bengals. Just as quickly as his duty to his family brought him to the U, it took him away from the team. With his mother needing a kidney transplant, he left the team this past spring to devote his time to taking care of her. One of his sisters stepped up to be the donor for the surgery. Vakapuna said both his mother and sister made a full recovery and have returned to their jobs. Family is just one of the many important things that plays a role See VAKAPUNA Page 9 Like Utah's other Olympic sports, the swimming and diving team will be competing in arguably the top conference in its sports. With a difficult conference schedule, the Utes will rely on senior leadership more than ever. On the men's side of the pool, Greg Winslow calls team captain Major Robinson "the heart of the team." Robinson is a top-ranked swimmer whom Winslow can count on to both lead other swimmers and produce in the water. Karson Applin also plays a key role in leading the Utes and is expected to compete well. Olympic qualifiers Hannah Caron and Traycie Swartz will lead the women throughout the course of this season. Through the first week of practice, the Utes feel they will enter the Pac-I2 as a competitive team and are ready for this great opportunity to compete. "These kids grew up dreaming to be part of this conference," Winslow said. m.dean@ chronicle.utah.edu VOLLEYBALL Attitude crucial for Pac-12 play Parker Lee STAFF WRITER The Utah volleyball team understood how difficult its transition to the Pac-12 would be, and the players have trained accordingly this summer. "We worked extremely hard in preseason," senior Danielle Killpack said. "So now we're ready to just get out there." The increased work ethic is encouraging for head coach Beth Launiere. She is especially happy with the offseason efforts of the team's returners. "Their mentality is that they are going to be ready," Launiere said. "They were in the gym in the summer more than any players that I've ever coached. In fact, way more. They came in saying 'we're ready, so younger players, come along." Of the 16 players on the team, io are underclassmen, so the team knew the younger players would have to play well for the team to succeed. "Our young players have really jumped in and embraced what we are trying to do," Launiere said. "They have made a lot of changes and their learning curve has been very high, which has allowed us to get to a lot more things before our first match than we have in the past few years." And it isn't just the coaches who are seeing the progress. The returning players also recognize the growth and effort. "We are trying to help them learn the system, and they are doing well," Killpack said. "Not only are they working hard, but they are pushing the returners. And as a whole, that is helping us build a stronger team." Launiere also stressed the importance of newcomers battling returners for starting spots. She said that kind of in-team competition has been lacking in the past. Overall, the Utes are enjoying quite the preseason trifecta—returners working harder than ever, newcomers buying into the system and both groups competing for positions. But how will that preseason preparation translate into wins and losses? The answer might not come until the Pac12 schedule is in full swing. The conference has five teams ranked in the top II of the preseason AVCA poll. With a schedule that daunting, there is no such thing as too much work. The Utes feel their attitude could end up being the difference. Killpack said the players realize they are not the only ones putting in extra time—they understand that their opponents are engaged in preseason activities as well. "We know they are working hard, just as hard as we are getting ready," Killpack said. The coaching staff believes the hard work they've seen is crucial. They also feel confident that the players have the other attributes necessary to get the job done at a high level. Launiere said the hard work, talent and youth could have the makings of a solid run, both this season and in the future. "We're athletic, we're big, we're physical and we're young, and so all we can do is build," Launiere said. "It's going to be a good few years." p.lee@ chronicle.utah.edu NATHAN SWEET/The Daily Utah Chronicle Freshman outside hitter Chelsey Schofield is one of the many Utah underclassmen who put in extra practice hours during the offseason. |