The players in the orange jerseys were off-limits not only for the defenders at Hawaii football practice on Tuesday.

Reporters wanting to know how Taylor Graham felt about getting more repetitions and Ikaika Woolsey fewer snaps from center with the starters were also prohibited from going after the quarterbacks. You just had to trust your own eyes and what coaches and players were willing to divulge in a vague kind of way.

Practice wasn’t even over, and it was one of those worst-kept-secret kind of deals, as Stephen Tsai reported on staradvertiser.com that Graham, No. 2 on the depth chart, "took reps with the No. 1 offensive unit."

Publicly, UH made no announcement as to any official switch, but it didn’t need to. And if Saturday’s opponent, Wyoming, is surprised … well, that would mean the Cowboys coaching staff has been out on the range too long, and maybe that’s why the Rainbow Warriors are a 31/2-point favorite despite a 1-4 record.

"Those guys know more than us," UH coach Norm Chow said of the sports bookies, who seem more concerned about running back Joey Iosefa’s status (still out) than that of the quarterbacks.

Actually, it’s not that hard to decipher: Hawaii is home, where it has won and its two losses were within one score of Pac-12 opponents. And Wyoming has lost six road games in a row going back to last September. (Of course, that’s nothing compared to UH’s road futility.)

The Rainbow Warriors braintrust needn’t worry about losing the element of surprise. That is, as long as it doesn’t get married to the idea of playing only Graham.

The non-matching skill sets of Woolsey (runner) and Graham (chucker) are viewed by some as a problem for UH. But if Chow and offensive coordinator Jordan Wynn can devise a game plan to use both — or at least project that it will — Wyoming defensive coordinator Steve Stanard must prepare for both.

Sometimes the old saying "A team with more than one quarterback has no quarterback" should be ignored. June Jones did this successfully on a few occasions. He spelled Timmy Chang with Shawn Withy-Allen and later with Jason Whieldon … and Whieldon led the Warriors to a win over Alabama.

Then there was that 2007 game in which Jones kept the Nevada coaches guessing up to kickoff — and beyond. UH’s opening drive featured three QBs: Colt Brennan, Tyler Graunke and Inoke Funaki, with Graunke eventually leading Hawaii to the win.

Hawaii can play Woolsey and Graham — maybe even both on the same plays at times.

Now, if it is just Graham, a lot of folks are worried that the big dropback guy doesn’t "fit" UH’s offense.

As Chow said Tuesday, "You have to adjust your style to the quarterback."

Remember a couple of guys named Garrett Gabriel and Dan Robinson? Their profiles didn’t match the prototype for the offensive scheme at the time, but they QB’d Hawaii to some of the biggest wins in program history.

This much is certain: The Rainbow Warriors cannot absorb seven sacks like Woolsey did at Rice, regardless who is at quarterback and who is to blame.

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