Wednesday, October 10, 2001
[ UH WARRIOR FOOTBALL ]
Hawaii plays waiting Hawaii starting quarterback Tim Chang returned to practice yesterday, but said it is not a given he will be ready to play when UH (2-2, 1-2 WAC) hosts Texas-El Paso (2-3, 1-1) this Saturday.
game with Chang
The UH quarterback says he isn't
sure yet if he'll be able to play
against Texas-El Paso on SaturdayBy Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.com"I would say I'm about 50 percent, and my body is 75 percent," said Chang, who threw a football for the first time in nine days. "We'll see (about playing Saturday). We can't speculate now."
Chang sprained his right (throwing) wrist near the end of a 27-24 loss to Rice on Sept. 29.
He threw the ball about 60 to 75 times yesterday, mostly playing catch. It was about half the throws Chang normally makes in a practice, he said.
"It was nothing special, no deep outs, no corners," he said.
Coach June Jones said he wants Chang to work gradually back into game-throwing shape early in the week.
"And then try to push it a bit Thursday or Friday," Jones said. "Obviously, you'd like Timmy to be ready to play if he can. But we feel better that Rolo did what he did."
Backup Nick Rolovich replaced Chang last Saturday at Southern Methodist and led the Warriors to a 38-31 overtime victory. He said he will be ready again if needed.
"I'm working to win this game come Saturday, whatever my role is," Rolovich said. "A lot of things are in my hands and a lot aren't. What is in my hands is how hard I can work to be prepared. I can't really worry about who is going to play. That's Coach Jones' decision and I just have to be ready."
Whoever quarterbacks UH this week will be taking on a UTEP defense that plays a lot of man-to-man coverage.
The Miners are statistically the second-best team against the pass in the WAC, yielding only 743 yards by air all season. (The Miners, however, are last in the league against the run after giving up 360 rushing yards in a 56-7 loss to Alabama last Saturday.)
Hawaii leads the conference and is second in the nation with 363.2 yards per game.
"Our receivers have to be physical to get off the line," Rolovich said. "But if you put the ball in the right place, the best spot where the receiver likes it, they can be running for a while after a catch."
Said Chang: "We're going to have to put the ball right on the money, make it either ours or nobody's. We can't be inaccurate. If I start feeling that I might be that way, maybe it won't be the right time for me to come back and play."
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