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Hawaii football team does as much as it can indoors

ASSOCIATED PRESS
                                Hawaii coach Todd Graham is still raving about sophomore quarterback Chevan Cordeiro.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Hawaii coach Todd Graham is still raving about sophomore quarterback Chevan Cordeiro.

The show went on even though the snow went on.

On Tuesday in Denver, the Hawaii football team was forced to improvise again when a practice field it had rented was covered with snow.

“We couldn’t get it scraped off,” head coach Todd Graham said. “We wound up renting an indoor practice facility.”

The indoor site had a field that was 80 yards in length. Graham said the offensive and defensive units had their own 40-yard area to practice.

The Warriors have not had an outdoor workout since arriving in Denver early Sunday following Saturday’s season-opening road victory over Fresno State.

“We got some work done,” said Graham, whose Warriors are training in Denver ahead of Friday’s nationally televised game against Wyoming in Laramie.

He said he preferred to have practiced “outside and be on a big enough field where we can really work, prepare.”

Graham said the Warriors will have an extensive practice today; a “dress rehearsal” on Thursday, when they will make the 128-mile drive to Laramie; and then a walk-through session on Friday morning.

Chilly weather? Snow? The thin air of Laramie’s 7,200-foot elevation?

“I don’t worry about any of it,” Graham said. “I mean, nothing I can do about it. I can’t do anything about the altitude, can’t do anything about the weather. I signed up for football because it’s hard, and it’s for tough people. If you ain’t tough, you should get out of it. Nobody around here is talking about being cold.”

But Graham was willing to praise the cool demeanor of quarterback Chevan Cordeiro. “I think we’ve got a leader,” Graham said of the third-year sophomore. “I think this is his team.”

The deed was transferred because of Cordeiro’s deeds against Fresno State. After reviewing video, Graham determined Cordeiro made only one bad decision in UH’s 84 offensive plays — a pass that was nearly intercepted by the middle linebacker. Other than that, Cordeiro’s skills on video and in practices transcended to the game.

“You don’t know about a quarterback until he’s in the battle, and he’s taking fire, and you see how he responds,” Graham said. “This kid can see the field. And he’s very disciplined. And he’s very coachable. That’s what (Saturday’s game) showed me. He’s coachable, and he took what the defense gave him. I like that.”

Mindful of field position, Cordeiro launched two long passes from his end zone. When the Bulldogs dropped into a cushion of four defensive backs, Cordeiro fired a pass to wideout Rico Bussey on a speed-out route. And then another one to Bussey. And then another.

“A great quarterback just takes what they give you,” Graham said. “They don’t make up their mind before the play where they’re making the throw.”

Graham said Cordeiro is disciplined in focusing on preparation.

“He doesn’t say very much,” Graham said. “I don’t think I’ve had a conversation longer than 10 words with him. But he listens, and I respect him a great deal.”

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