If the Hawaii football team’s spring training is a 15-practice job fair, then one of the biggest slots to fill is the one vacated with slotback John Ursua’s departure.
At the end of the 2018 season, Ursua announced he would forgo his senior year to apply for the 2019 NFL Draft. Ursua was the Rainbow Warriors’ leading receiver last year. This spring, Cedric Byrd moved from the left side to Ursua’s spot in the right slot. The three contenders for the second starting slot — Jason-Matthew Sharsh, James Phillips and Melquise Stovall — had standout performances during Saturday’s scrimmage-like sessions.
In a situational session, Sharsh, who will be a senior in the fall, caught a 55-yard scoring pass from Cole McDonald. Later in a team session, Sharsh secured a 42-yard pass from Chevan Cordeiro. Phillips turned a pass into the left flat into a 70-yard scoring play. Stovall caught scoring passes of 36 and 59 yards from McDonald.
“They had a really good day,” head coach Nick Rolovich said of three slotbacks. “We’ve got play-making ability throughout the slot position. We’re going to be very deep if we keep going on this path.”
Sharsh knows the offense inside and outside, having served as Ursua’s primary understudy at slot and as a part-time starter at wideout last year. Phillips and Stovall enrolled at UH in January after transferring from junior colleges.
“Sharsh is an older guy,” Stovall said. “He knows the offense more. We try to clinch on to him.”
Sharsh said he prefers slotback, a position with routes that are complex but offer more options. He said he has been working on strengthening his grip and tracking high-arcing passes. “I like to practice a lot of over-the-shoulder catches,” Sharsh said. “And I like to catch (facing) the sun. It’s good to work on that.”
Rolovich said: “Sharsh is as consistent as anybody we’ve got.”
Phillips and Stovall also have picked up the offense quickly. They learned pointers during the player-run practices in the weeks preceding spring training.
“I’m glad I came out here for spring,” Phillips said. “I’m picking (the offense) up really early. As long as you put your time in the playbook, you should get it down.”
Phillips and wideout Jared Smart, also a mid-year transfer, set a post-practice goal of each catching 100 passes. Phillips also has followed Smart’s hand-strengthening exercise of squeezing a fistful of uncooked rice. “I started doing that, and it helps me a lot,” Phillips said.
Stovall learned the run-and-shoot concepts during two years at California, which ran a similarly based Air Raid offense. He transferred to Riverside City College last year after California made a coaching change.
“A lot of reading, a lot of read option, a lot of option routes,” Stovall said of the Air Raid. “I kind of knew (the run-and-shoot) already, but it’s a different terminology.”
This semester, the slots have tried to bond with the quarterbacks during video reviews and talk-story sessions.
“All quarterbacks and receivers watch film together,” McDonald said. “Everybody hears the critiques. Everybody sees what to improve on, everybody sees what you messed up on. It’s a big accountability thing to watch together. We have more of a feel offense. How connected can I be with the receivers? How connected can they be with me? It can go hand in hand.”
