[UH FOOTBALL]
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A 5-year overnight success
By Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.com"He is the future for Hawaii at quarterback. ... I don't know when or how much time he'll get, but Shawn proved himself time and again in practice last week."The future was nearly now four years ago for true freshman quarterback Shawn Withy-Allen.-- UH offensive coordinator Don Lindsey, Sept. 8, 1998
But everything and nothing has happened around and for him since. Fred vonAppen left and June Jones arrived. Rainbows became Warriors. The world laughed at Y2K, but not 9/11.
Four quarterbacks have started games for UH since Withy-Allen made the travel squad a couple of months out of Kalaheo High School. But none of them had a hyphenated last name.
There are lots of reasons the past few years can seem like a lifetime. Withy-Allen has one more than most people; he embraced religion and was born again after his freshman season.
Despite everything that has occurred, though, when it comes to football the fifth-year senior finds himself in an eerily similar situation to that first fall. Going into today's spring practice finale Withy-Allen is back where he began some 1,300 days ago -- competing to be Hawaii's starting quarterback.
"He's had a good spring. He's worked really hard. His arm has gotten stronger," Jones said. "He understands what we're doing and he's throwing the ball more accurately."
Right now, Withy-Allen is the No. 1 guy, but he's not really the No. 1 guy.
Much hinges on whether sophomore Tim Chang can recover quickly from wrist surgery and regain the strength and timing that made him the starter going into last season.
How do you look over your shoulder at someone who is actually in front of you?
"It's something that's there. But it's not that big a deal to me," Withy-Allen said. "I came into this spring with the mind-set that Timmy may not come back so I need to step up and fight off the other two guys and be the guy. If Tim comes back, it's coach's decision. I can only do what I can do. I can only work as hard as I can and it's up to God's hand. The faith I have has given me a lot of peace because we can't worry about things we can't control. All I can do is continue to work hard, continue to improve. I know at some point this season I'll get a shot on the field, and I'd better be prepared to lead this team to victory."
Such opportunities have been rare for Withy-Allen. vonAppen told him he would play a quarter against Utah that first year, but Dan Robinson started and performed well in a close game, so it never happened.
After playing one down that was negated by a penalty all season, Withy-Allen redshirted, and played scout team quarterback in 1999 and 2000. Last year he got into four games, mostly on special teams. He was used sparingly at quarterback and never threw a pass.
"It can be a struggle when there's a change of staff," said senior running back Thero Mitchell, another vonAppen leftover who has adjusted well. "But Shawn is very focused and determined on playing at quarterback. He was an option quarterback, but he's adapted (to the run-and-shoot)."
Withy-Allen is 6-feet-4 and a sculpted 220 pounds. He has a strong arm and is mobile enough to run out of trouble. He is also close to a 4.0 overall GPA.
But when he got his first chance to impress Jones and the rest of the new coaching staff, in the spring of 1999, he failed.
"I was probably playing the worst football I played in my life," Withy-Allen said. "My freshman year I was very highly touted, when coach vonAppen was here. Coach Jones came in and it was like I forgot how to play football that first spring. I thought it was God taking me down and wanting me to grow as a man first, because He knows that's the most important thing. Football isn't my whole life. What I've learned these past three years I can carry with me the rest of my life."
Withy-Allen said he had never been in a church until he was a senior in high school and he went to services with a girl he was dating.
"Before that I didn't know anything. I was agnostic, atheist, really didn't care about religion, didn't think it was for me. Then it was very gradual. I learned who Jesus was real slowly and God started to work his way into my heart," he said.
Withy-Allen is active with the Champions for Christ and Victory Campus ministries, especially in outreach efforts to high schools.
He wasn't exactly running wild and destroying the campus, but Withy-Allen feels he underachieved the first semester of his freshman year and wants to help others make a smoother transition.
"It was an extremely drastic change for me. Some of the fifth-year seniors here, they love to tell the younger guys how I used to be. Guys can't believe it," he said. "My first semester I partied a lot, it was my worst semester here as a student. It was a 3.5, but I had to scrape for those Bs. Now I'm a lot more focused.
"It's like a five-year overnight success."
What: UH football intrasquad scrimmage. Spring Challenge
Where: Cooke Field.
When: 5:30 p.m. today, gates open 4 p.m. Limited to first 3,000.
Also: Other events including quarterbacking and punting contests, music by Kapono and Na Leo Pilimehana.Admission: $6 for most adults, $5 for Na Koa members, senior citizens, UH students, military, police and fire personnel. No charge for children 3 and under.
UH Athletics