Catherine Baldwin no longer spends two or three hours a day poring over the Internet trying to find any mention of her son, right wideout Malcolm Lane, choosing instead to use the time to watch him in person during fall camp practices.

Baldwin and her husband, Michael Baldwin, were transferred to Scho-field Barracks in Wahiawa from Germany earlier this year so the family, which includes Lane's brothers Corey and George, could be together.

"Everybody is here," Lane said. "My first years here I was very homesick. I was just not loving things here, just not having fun. With my family here it takes a lot of pressure off of me; I get to see them whenever I want to see them, it makes me happier, and it makes me happier around the football field, too."

It made it that much more important for the family to make the transfer to Hawai'i.

"It was a big fight to get to Hawai'i," Baldwin said. "We've been trying for two years to get here, trying to get stationed here so we could be here.

"A lot of people helped, our majors got involved and different people helped to get us stationed here."

Lane, who is projected to start at right wideout, missed practice Friday and Saturday to nurse a sore right groin muscle.

"My groin has been hurting me since the first day of camp and I've been practicing and practicing and it's been getting worse and worse, to the point where I couldn't run," he said. "It's still hurting me but I have to get out here and do what I can because it's getting down to crunch time. I just have to be out on the field with everybody else."

Lane's father, George, lives in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Lane expects about 30 of his family members to be at the season-opener against Florida Aug. 30.

"But they are going to be rooting for Hawai'i, so that's going to be nice," Lane said.

Baldwin and Corey watched practice yesterday, content with the small amount of time they get with Lane, who calls himself a "family-first person."

"He calls every day, and we see him when he needs to do the wash or he's hungry," Baldwin said with a laugh. "But I think it's helped him a lot knowing we're closer."

Lane retorted with: "She's lying, she's trying to make it seem like ... cause I barely have any free time. So I go there once every weekend. I don't go there as much as she wants me to, but every time I'm doing laundry or something like that. That's what she said, she's making little jokes. She knows I love her though."

Schofield-to-Manoa is a much easier commute for the family, who had to deal with a 12-hour time difference and more than 20 hours of travel to keep in touch with Lane. It will also be a welcome adjustment to see the games in person — instead of watching them online at 3 a.m.

That Lane is in Hawai'i is a wonder, with Baldwin taking charge of getting him recruited from Germany.

"It was really hard to get him a scholarship because we sent out a lot of packets and a lot of film," she said. "It's difficult. I feel sorry for the athletes in Germany because it's hard for them to get over here."

She said it was also difficult to find out what courses Lane needed to take in high school to be academically eligible to play Division I football.

Lane didn't send a tape to Hawai'i, but his tape made its way to former defensive line coach Jeff Reinebold.

"I didn't send the tape to Hawai'i," Lane said. "I'm pretty sure it was Tyrone Willingham of Washington (who) gave my tape to coach Reinebold.

"They didn't have any more scholarships to give out, and I feel grateful that somebody who didn't have a spot for me would look out for me in other ways, trying to find me a spot on another team. It says a lot about him."