The answer to Oprah's question — Where are all of the nice guys? — can be found in the University of Hawai'i weight room.

That's where offensive tackle Dane Uperesa should receive his mail.

Mel deLaura, who coordinates the summer conditioning program, said Uperesa's mixture of strength and quickness earned him the distinction as the UH football team's most athletic player.

"Overall, as far as size, and being able to run and lift, Dane is our best athlete," deLaura said. "It's amazing what he can do."

Uperesa, who is 6 feet 5 and 305 pounds (after yesterday's two-hour practice), can bench-press a maximum 470 pounds, as well as bench 225 pounds 33 times.

He can squat-lift 600 pounds.

He also can leg-press at least 780 pounds with each leg; he might be able to do more, but the 60-pound bar can't hold more than 16 45-pound plates.

Uperesa, who can dunk a basketball, has a 32-inch vertical jump.

Without a running start, he can touch 11 feet, a contact point that usually is reached by a volleyball outside hitter.

He can run 40 yards in 4.89 seconds.

"Dane is one of the most impressive athletes around," UH coach June Jones said. "Dane has a chance to make a statement this year, and hopefully he will."

The thing is, for all of his accomplishments as the front-side tackle, Uperesa has earned the label as a "nice guy."

As part of the duties of coaching the offensive linemen, Dennis McKnight, a dead ringer for Jesse "The Body" Ventura," is working to change Uperesa's image.

"Dennis said he's going to make him mean this year," deLaura said.

McKnight said: "The only thing I'm trying to tell Dane is, 'Let it go. Play free. Don't worry about making a mistake. Don't worry about 100-percent technique.' I'm not giving him any Earth-shattering news. Maybe it clicks on with a different messenger."

Uperesa, a senior from Punahou School, acknowledged the public's perception of his character, but insisted the image and the on-field player are not the same.

"Being a nice guy, supposedly that's the knock on me," Uperesa said. "I've had to work hard to develop an attitude on the field. It's not so much I'm a nice guy. I'm a laid-back guy who respects other people, and I expect other people to respect me.

"I like coach McKnight's stance: To be myself, and develop that aggressiveness in what I'm doing. That aggressiveness comes with confidence, getting in the weight room and knowing you can stick with the big boys."

McKnight said Uperesa has done a "good job transferring the things he does in the weight room to the field."

Still, McKnight said, "He's a great kid. I wish he didn't have a significant other. I'd like him to marry my daughter. He's the kind of guy I'd like to have as a son-in-law."

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS

Jones credited UH's weight-room staff and deLaura, his teammate at UH and Portland State, with dramatically improving the team's overall strength.

"I've had probably 10 NFL teams call me, wanting to know what we do in the offseason," Jones said. "Every time we go to the (pro) combines, our guys have done very well with the 10s (10-yard sprints), the benches, the verticals, everything."

Jones was hired as UH head coach in December 1998. In the summer of 1999, Jones recalled, "there was nobody staying here (to train). There was one person, (quarterback) Dan Robinson, playing catch with Dawn, our student manager. That was the only person the summer before our first season. Now we have close to 70 guys staying over here. That's the difference between winning and losing. If you want to win, that's what you have to do."

Jones convinced deLaura, who was working as a trainer in Oregon, to move back to Hawai'i after the 1999 season.

"Mel made a big difference," Jones said. "Mel was the best physical athlete I've ever played with or coached. He was one of a kind. He was 189 pounds, ran 4.4, bench-pressed 465. He was unbelievable. I knew he knew how to get people into shape."

So far in team testing that began last week, one player (Marques Kaonohi) has bench-pressed 225 pounds 42 times, 10 have benched that amount between 30 and 39 times, and 23 have had repetitions between 20 and 29.

What's more, 17 players have bench-pressed a maximum of at least 400 pounds, including four of five starting offensive linemen, and starting defensive linemen Melila Purcell III, Ikaika Alama-Francis and Michael Lafaele.

"I think this team is the strongest as far as the people who are playing," deLaura said. "In the past, there were a lot of guys who were really strong who didn't get on the field. This year, we have guys who are strong who are players."

Defensive coordinator Jerry Glanville said: "Our weight coach did a fantastic job in the offseason. In fact, tonight I might buy him two desserts."

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