When the University of Hawaii football team opened spring practice three months ago there were so few quarterbacks (three) that head coach Nick Rolovich felt obliged to jump in and start slinging passes, too.
“Gotta keep all these receivers busy,” Rolovich said, hardly minding the double duty.
When the Rainbow Warriors begin fall camp in a month there might not be enough balls for all the quarterback hopefuls UH has amassed since then.
Their ranks have swelled to eight with the addition of the latest one, Cole Brownholtz, a junior college transfer from Sierra College in Rocklin, Calif.
And with 30 days until they report to camp, would anybody really be surprised to see another check in?
But the question that hovers over the position and, indeed, much of the team’s fortunes for 2016 is: Will there be one among them that UH can win with?
Long the spotlighted position, lately the quarterback has been an under-performing area of concern for the ‘Bows for the past four years. Not since 2011, when Bryant Moniz was mostly at the controls, has UH bettered its opposition in completion percentage, touchdowns and fewer interceptions over a season.
Last year the disparity was particularly wide with 2016’s foes completing 61.5 percent of their passes against UH while the ‘Bows completed just 47.9 percent. UH had fewer TDs (23-12) and sustained more interceptions (21-3).
Not all of that imbalance could be laid at the feet of the quarterbacks, but enough of it so that Rolovich had his work cut out for him when he took over at his alma mater for 2016.
To complicate matters, nobody emerged helmet and shoulder pads above the limited field in the spring, which is part of why the sweepstakes has been widened as the hunt continues into the fall.
Of course, opening the gates wide to competition isn’t exactly a new concept at UH. It recalls the June Jones era (1999-2007) when there was always room enough for another quarterback. Back then the saying was that eight was, barely, enough.
In fact, during Rolovich’s first fall camp as a player in 2000, he recalls looking around and doing the math with some astonishment. “I remember there were eight of us when I first got here,” Rolovich recalled. Sixteen years later he is still able to reel off names: “Timmy (Chang), Mike Harrison, Shawn Withy-Allen, (Kevin) Gilbride, Jared Flint, me …”
When Rolovich joined Greg McMackin’s staff as a quarterback coach in 2008, UH listed nine quarterbacks for the fall. Three of them, Greg Alexander, Inoke Funaki and Tyler Graunke, got starts.
These days UH is not alone in scanning the landscape for 10th-hour quarterback pick-ups, of course. Fresno State and San Diego State are among the West Division teams in the Mountain West Conference that still have been gathering new arms.
After five consecutive losing seasons, UH just has more urgency to come up with an answer at the quarterback position than most.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
