University of Hawai'i football player Ryan Grice-Mullins is not conventional.

He does not believe everything he reads, starting with his birth certificate.

Under surname, it reads: "Grice-Mullen." He said his surname is really "Grice-Mullins," as it was originally on his social security card, and he prefers the correct usage. He was known as "Grice-Mullen" during his first two years at UH.

Grice-Mullins, who is conquering his life-long battle against stuttering, has decided to major in communications. He is averaging a B-minus, and is on track to graduate by December 2008.

Most surprising, Grice-Mullins, the Warriors' "other" freshman starting slotback last season, finished with a team-high 1,228 receiving yards — 104 more than Freshman All-American Davone Bess' total.

"He really came into his own in the second half of (last) season," said Ron Lee, who coaches the UH receivers.

In the final seven games, Grice-Mullins averaged 7.8 catches, 114.8 receiving yards and 1.29 touchdown catches. In the last two games, he amassed 21 catches for 306 yards.

"I guess you could say I started to catch on," he said, smiling.

Grice-Mullins said he has fully recovered from a badly pulled right hamstring that forced him to miss the final two weeks of spring practice.

Grice-Mullins took a break from his studies and workouts to explain his name change, health, the importance of Mainland-styled rice and what it means to be featured in a video game.

On his surname:

"I'm trying to get the last part of my name changed to 'i-n-s.' That's the correct spelling. It should be Grice-Mullins. Somehow they messed up on my birth certificate. They spelled it with an 'e-n' on my birth certificate. On my social security, it's 'i-n-s,' which is the correct way. I was known as 'Grice-Mullins' most of my life. When I applied for a driver's license, they wouldn't give me one because they said my name didn't match. That's when I had to pick. I chose to change my social security to 'e-n' because that only took, like, 20 minutes. It would have taken six months to a year to change my birth certificate. I was a teenager. I needed my license. The only reason I let them spell it 'e-n' over here was because it was less complicated. I was supposed to go back home (to Rialto, Calif.) to get it changed, but I never made it back home. People back home still call me Grice-Mullins. I'm so used to people putting the 's' at the end. I want to go by that."

On conquering his stuttering:

"I had it ever since I was little. Sometimes it got to a point where it was bad. If I got excited about something, it would get really bad. As I got older, it's better. Every once in a while, it comes back a little bit. I never let it be a problem. I never worried about it. I never worried about being afraid to talk. I overcame it that way. I think maybe I was thinking faster than I was talking. But now it's no problem."

On his stepfather, Alvin Pinkney:

"He's not my biological dad. I'm good with my biological father. I'm cool with him. He stays in California, as well. My biological dad's last name is Mullins. My dad's last name is Pinkney. He's been my dad since I was 1. He's my Pops. He might not be my biological dad, but he definitely is my dad. He's a good guy. He's probably one of the funniest dudes I know. I know a lot of people say that about their parents, but my dad is a man of heart. He's one of the coolest dudes to be around. If we had five guys, and they wanted to pick a place to hang out, they'd all pick my house because they know they'll always get laughs from my dad.

"I want to honor him. I want to have his name. That would be a big thing for him and for me and my family. I think it would be good. I haven't figured out how I'm going to do it. I want to try to put 'Pinkney' in my name somewhere, you know, like, 'Grice-Mullins-Pinkney.' I know it's going to be a long name. I'm still thinking about it."

On his mother:

"I'm really close with my mom. Growing up I've been called it all — mama's boy, all that. But it's OK. It doesn't bother me. There's nothing bad about having love for your mom. That's your loved one. Me and my mom are really close. We hang out a lot back home. I'm an only child. I'm her only baby. Back home, we'll go to the mall, or go to the movies, or go out to eat. I have no problems doing that. I'm not afraid to be seen with my mom, even though I'm 19. It doesn't bother me at all."

On his struggling high school football teams:

"My freshman year I didn't even play. I pulled a muscle on my hip. I missed that whole season. My sophomore year I played a little bit. I didn't play varsity the first four games because (the head coach) didn't see me play. He made me prove myself on JV before he moved me up. I ended up with 12 touchdowns in four games. He moved me up. I was a running back. I've been a running back and corner my whole life.

"My junior year, we were supposed to have a good team. We had a lot of coaching problems. We had a lot of players not getting along with coaches, and coaches who didn't get along with the players. It was just a mess. We had about 12 seniors just quit the team. I'd say about eight were starters. It was just a bad situation. We went 1-9 that year. We won the second game of the season. I'm thinking, 'This is not working.' To tell you the truth, I was so close to transferring. I was like, 'Man, I've got to transfer.' I knew if I wanted to get recruited, this would hurt me. Not a lot of schools want to recruit from a team that's 1-9. But I couldn't transfer because the state of California put in a rule that if you transfer, you have to sit out a year. I couldn't afford to sit out my senior year. I had to stay there and hope it would be better the next year. But it wasn't. My senior year, we went 0-10. It wasn't fun at all. It hurt. We had a couple of games that were close. But our team was so young. Everybody wasn't together. It didn't work. I don't think guys had the hearts to play that year. It came to a point, about the third game of the season, when my mom and dad sat me down and said: 'You've got to play for yourself.' You hate to hear that. I've been a team player my whole life. I went out there and no matter what the score was, I ran hard every single down. I still tried to make plays. I never settled. As the losses kept growing, I can't lie, but it was hard. I saw guys from other teams getting scholarship offers. It all goes back to the saying, 'Everything happens for a reason. Blessings are in disguise.' I truly believed in that."

On being recruited by Mike Cavanaugh, who was UH's offensive line coach at the time:

"Coach Cav was recruiting at another school. He was watching film of another guy. Coach (John) Tyree (of A.B. Miller High School) pointed me out to coach Cav. Coach Tyree was a really good guy. He knew my situation. He put in a word for me. Coach Cav looked at that tape of our game against A.B. Miller. I think I had two touchdowns and 200 yards rushing in that game. The next day, Coach Cav came down and started asking me for tapes. He offered me a visit. I came out with my mom and one of my older cousins. It was good. The day I came out — Jan. 30 — was her birthday. It was like a birthday gift to her. My mom liked it. She liked how the coaches treated the players. She liked the people. She likes it even more now."

On being asked to move to slotback:

"They originally recruited me as a cornerback. Coach (June) Jones saw my highlight tape, and changed his mind. When I was in his office (during the recruiting trip), before he offered me a scholarship, he asked me if I would be willing to switch to slot receiver. I told him, 'Whatever will get me on the field first.' Later, I was like, 'this could be interesting.' I played running back my whole life. It's a little different from receiver. Besides quarterback, receiver is one of the toughest positions to learn on the team, especially the slot. We've got more reads than the outside receivers."

On reporting to his first UH training camp in August 2004:

"When I got to training camp, it was a big difference. Everybody is big. You've got 300-pound guys. You've got big ol' linebackers. You've got C.O. (All-America slotback Chad Owens). He's already established. It's a rude awakening. Your first couple of days you're hesitant. You're a rookie. You don't want to mess up. The most intimidating guy was big Tony Akpan (a converted basketball player). I looked at him and I thought, 'Wow, this is college football.' Man, I was like, 'I hope this guy doesn't hit me. This guy's big.' Luckily I never got hit by Tony."

On adjusting to Hawai'i:

"It was a culture shock. The biggest thing is it's so much slower than California. Everything is seven speeds slower. People are so relaxed. I thought I was mellow, but everyone is so relaxed. And everyone is so open. The people are so nice. In California, if you bump into somebody, they'll get angry. Over here, if you're in an elevator, somebody will have a nice friendly conversation with you. You don't have to know the person. It doesn't matter what age you are. It's, 'Hi, how are you doing?'

"I adjusted to the food here. The biggest adjustment is the rice here. I'm always telling my local friends, 'Man, that's not real rice.' The rice here is sticky and thick. I didn't grow up on that. I grew up on the loose rice. That's one difference here. We always argue about which rice is better."

On taking Samoan language classes:

"I thought if I'm out here, why not learn a little? Our Samoan teachers are really good. It helps me bond with the rest of the team. Of course, we've got a lot of Samoans on the team. If I learn a new word in class, I'll say it around them. They'll laugh, because I'm probably not saying it right. It's good because there are a lot of guys (on the team) who can help me with my homework."

On playing last season despite a painful shoulder injury:

"I had an AC sprain and a separation. It was during camp. I went down catching the ball, diving for it. We weren't wearing shoulder pads that day. My shoulder went straight to the ground at full speed. It was sore. It bothered me throughout the year. Some games it hurt a lot, if I got hit wrong. Every day I wrapped it up. I taped it. If you go back to the films, you could see every game I had a bandage over my shoulder. I had to get it taped from the middle of my back all the way to my chest, so my shoulder would stay in. During warmups, you have to loosen it a little. You're sweating during warmups. It loosens up the tape a little. By the time the game starts, you can get (the arm) up a little bit, but I had trouble extending it all the way up."

On living alone:

"I moved into my apartment a month ago. It's the first time I've been on my own. I don't have any roommates. I'm about five minutes from the school. The rent is OK. I found a real good deal. It's a little tough during the summer. I don't have a job right now. There aren't too many people who want to hire football players because they'll know we can only work for a month. My parents help me a lot now. I love my apartment. Now I've got to cook for myself. I'm kind of like my own test dummy. And I have to wash dishes. I hate washing dishes. This is for the best. I'm more focused. A lot of stuff goes on in the dorms. Now that I'm getting older, it's nice to have my own privacy.

"Every month, my mom sends me cooked food. She stays up all night. She'll cook spaghetti, roast beef, smothered pork chops, chicken, two different kinds of rice — regular and dirty rice — greens, corned bread. She freezes it, then she puts it on ice and she'll send it by overnight deliver. By the time I get it, it's still frozen. It's good now because I have an apartment by myself, and I don't have to share her food with anyone. I'm stingy with that food. Every once in a while, I'll be a nice guy and share a little bit. But I don't really want to be a nice guy with her food. I want it all for myself."

On his summer schedule:

"I work out every day except Saturday. I run and lift weights in the morning. In the afternoon, I run routes. I don't want to overlift or over-tire myself. I don't want to pound, pound, pound. I want to give my body a chance to rest, to reboot.

"Every day, no matter what, I'm thinking about (the Sept. 2 opener against) Alabama. I can't wait. I know exactly how many days it is until we play. I feel strongly about this year. It's a way better situation than last year against SC (in the opener). Last year, we didn't know who the starters were. Everybody was new. We went in there blind. Now our offense is focused. When we say we can't wait to go to Alabama, it's real. We know what we've got. We're getting better and better every day. We played 12 games last year. We don't look at this as our first game of the year. We're looking at it as our 13th game as a unit. Plus, my dad is from Mobile, Ala. I know my dad's been talking a little to his old friends."

On the NCAA Football 2007 video game:

"It comes out on the 18th. I've already got mine pre-ordered. I was in (the game) last year, but because I redshirted (in 2004), they didn't know much about me. Now they do. When you're growing up, you're always playing the game. You're creating your own self on the game. Now I'll actually be in the game. It's a freaky feeling. I can't wait. I know during (training) camp we're always playing each other. The first game I play I'm taking Hawai'i, and I'll be playing against Alabama. No mercy. I'll probably throw to myself a couple of times. I'll throw to everybody else, but I'll throw to myself a little more."

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.