Warriors hoping a ‘simpler’ approach with Brown works

Want to gauge people’s honesty? Ask how tall they are.

“I’m like 5-11 1⁄2, maybe 3⁄4,” Dru Brown, the University of Hawaii’s new starting quarterback, says with a smile. “I don’t say 6 feet. I embrace it.”

Most guys who are that close will just go with the magic number, the one that generally differentiates between tall and short for the general population of men.

But Dave and Terri Brown have always told their son to stay humble, or he will be humbled.

At 6-even, Brown still wouldn’t be considered tall for a college football quarterback. But he’d be the same height as the NFL star with the same initials and similar first name.

“He’s definitely a player I look up to since we’re of similar stature and he’s played pretty well during a long career,” Brown said of Drew Brees, the New Orleans Saints quarterback.

What’s the story behind the spelling of “Dru?”

“My parents wanted something simple, but a little different,” he says.

That’s also the impression Brown has made in his less than three months at UH — “simple” as in focused and not overly flamboyant and “a little different” in that his knack for gaining yards as a runner is a wrinkle previous starter Ikaika Woolsey didn’t provide as often in UH’s 1-3 opening to the season.

The Rainbow Warriors also hope “simple” translates into not trying to do too much and making crucial mistakes as Brown starts for the first time Saturday as Hawaii hosts Nevada in the Mountain West Conference opener for both teams. Head coach Nick Rolovich has lauded Brown for consistency, including steady absorption of the offense.

“If you correct him, he gets it. You only have to tell him once,” quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator Craig Stutzmann says. “He’s a quiet guy, not the kind you have to ever tell to stop talking. He can be a funny kid, but he’s cerebral and humble. He’s mature for his age.

“He ran the ball well in the Arizona game,” Stutzmann adds, noting Brown’s 33 yards and touchdown in the 47-28 loss at Tucson in which Brown consistently moved the offense in the second half.

Brown is a sophomore who played at College of San Mateo (Calif.) last year. He said going the JC route due to lack of Division I offers turned out to be a positive.

“Big-time. There’s a lot of stereotypes, like you’re not smart enough,” says Brown, who qualified academically for four-year schools. “But in a way, it’s smarter. In football it helped. And it changed my perspective because of what a lot of guys were going through. It makes you feel like your own situation isn’t so bad. Some guys were going around from house-to-house. One teammate had just been released from prison. But they were all great guys.”

Brown says Los Gatos High School, from where he graduated in 2015, “was pretty much all white,” but his ethnically diverse JC team “kind of felt like here, a lot of Polynesian and African-American teammates.”

Brown, who aspires to major in business, is “dialed in,” Stutzmann says.

“He’s a football junkie, he’s always in the weight room, and all he does other than that is school.”

Stutzmann then repeats the next question before answering it.

“What sets him apart from the other quarterbacks?

“I think we’ll see this week.”

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.