This summer, University of Hawaii quarterback Aaron Zwahlen sought balance.

At 6 feet 3 and 210 pounds, Zwahlen wanted a balanced build — not too heavy to slow his elusiveness, not too light that he could not absorb hits.

This training camp, Zwahlen wanted a balanced approach to countering attacking defenses.

“If you react too much, it’s bad,” he said. “If you think too much, it’s bad. I wanted a happy medium of reacting and thinking.”

And twice a week in a fitness center, Zwahlen just wanted balance.

A key workout involved a half-cut exercise ball. With the rounded part on the ground, he would stand on the flat half, then do swinging and turning exercises, sometimes holding weighted objects, without falling. The workout improved his flexibility, footwork and hip rotation.

“It was tough,” Zwahlen said, “but it helped.”

Zwahlen, who is in a six-quarterback competition for the starting job, has made an easy adjustment to the new coaching staff and hybrid offense. Nick Rolovich succeeded Norm Chow as head coach in November.

Zwahlen’s father, Lynn, and Chow were at Brigham Young in the 1970s — Lynn Zwahlen as a wideout, Chow as a graduate assistant. Following a family vacation to Hawaii in 2012, Aaron Zwahlen received — and accepted — a scholarship offer from Chow. After returning from a church mission in May 2012, Zwahlen moved to Hawaii. He redshirted last season.

“I love it here,” Zwahlen said.

That feeling did not change after Chow was dismissed last year. Zwahlen reaffirmed his allegiance to Rolovich.

“Coach Chow gave me the opportunity,” Zwahlen said. “He opened the door. This” — he pointed to UH’s practice field — “is the room I walked into. … Coach Chow and I had a really good relationship. That’s not going to change. Rolo came in, and I think he’s the guy we need, and we’re going to roll with that and do great things.”

Rolovich said: “Because he’s such a good human being, I think he still has a lot of love for Coach Chow. There’s no reason he shouldn’t. I appreciate his trust in our staff.”

Quarterbacks coach Craig Stutzmann said Zwahlen’s “eyes and feet and body are starting to mesh” — in lay terms, Zwahlen is better able to decipher schemes and make throws. Stutzmann said Zwahlen has worked on controlling his powerful right arm.

Stutzmann said Zwahlen sometimes “short changes” his throws to prevent over-shooting the receiver. Stutzmann wants Zwahlen to be consistent with his motion, no matter the intended length of the pass.

“Instead of pulling the string, he should finish the throw,” said Stutzmann, who has emphasized different release points for different throws.

After Zwahlen under-threw two passes in Thursday’s practice, “he came back and said, ‘Ah, Coach, I pulled the string on that one,’” Stutzmann said. “In the beginning, it was, ‘Ah, Coach, what did I do wrong?’ Now he’s recognizing on his own. That’s where experience and maturity come in.”