Hawaii football player Billy Ray Stutzmann is indeed a quick receiver.

Eighteen days after undergoing surgery to repair a fractured hand, Stutzmann was cleared to practice. He was notified an hour before the start of Monday’s practice.

"How about that?" coach Norm Chow marveled.

Stutzmann was initially told he would need up to six weeks of recovery. But a week after the surgery, he wore only an Ace bandage on his left hand. On Monday, he was in the orange jersey for players who may practice but are restricted from being hit.

"I was focusing on this game," Stutzmann said of Friday’s road game against Brigham Young. "I would be in my bed, looking at my hand, and imagining it would be healed already."

Stutzmann credited his rapid recovery to sessions with UH’s athletic trainers and squeezing a stress ball.

"My dad bought me a Nerf football," Stutzmann said. "I’d catch around with it. That really helped."

During the surgery, eight screws and a metal plate were inserted into his left hand. They will remain there for a while.

"I felt great out there," Stutzmann said. "My first catch was a little iffy. I have to concentrate a little more with my hand placement. But it feels normal out there."

Stutzmann rotated between playing at the X (single side) and Z (strong side) during Monday’s practice.

"I know both positions, and I’m comfortable at both positions," Stutzmann said.

Chow said he expects Stutzmann to be on the 64-player travel roster.

Van Ackeren gets reps on the weak side

Kendrick Van Ackeren, a second-year freshman, is expected to get more reps this week.

With George Daily-Lyles expected to move back to middle linebacker, Van Ackeren and Kamalani Alo are splitting reps at weakside linebacker.

Van Ackeren was recruited as a safety, but he moved to linebacker during his first year at UH.

"If I went back to safety, it would be a little weird for me now," Van Ackeren said. "I’m definitely getting used to (linebacker)."

He said he has found a suitable playing weight. He weighed 195 pounds when he first enrolled at UH in June 2011. He was 210 at the end of the 2011 season, 220 at the start of this past summer and is now 210.

"I want to be fit, not fat," Van Ackeren said.

At linebacker, Van Ackeren said, he has better "eye control" — the visibility to read an opposing offense.

After that, he said, "it’s taking on blocks, the physicality of football."

Grimes is working his way back

After a tough debut in the opener against Southern California when he missed a tackle that went for a 75-yard touchdown and was penalized twice for pass interference, cornerback Tony Grimes is earning more playing time.

"I had to re-prove myself," said Grimes, a junior college transfer who played at Mississippi as a freshman in 2010.

"That’s what I’ve been doing each and every day. I’ve been on my grind. It’s a long season. I’m putting in work. I hope to be playing the way I’m expected to be playing."