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Further Review
Dave Reardon
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Hawaii’s QB a mystery to everyone
Through either conniving brilliance or serendipitous kismet, the Hawaii quarterback situation was completely muddled when Greg McMackin and his Warriors got on the plane yesterday, headed for Atlanta and parts south.
Right now it's anyone's guess who starts behind center for UH at Florida on Saturday. Maybe it can make arrangements to borrow a QB for the weekend from old Rainbows' assistant Paul Johnson when Hawaii practices at Georgia Tech tonight.
Is Tanner Tokunaga or Bryan Clay available? That would be golden.
(I once almost convinced Natasha Kai to try out for kicker, but she said, "Nah, I no like bench heem," referring to then-freshman Dan Kelly.)
Believe it or not, there's a positive in this for the Warriors.
Brent Rausch's sore arm and the fact that Greg Alexander took the first-team reps yesterday mean the Gators need to prepare for two very different quarterbacks.
Three, if you count Tyler Graunke. Urban Meyer's a good coach, so he won't discount UH's most experienced QB until he sees a picture of Graunke waving aloha as the wheels of Warrior Air leave the tarmac.
Graunke probably won't be an option for at least a couple of weeks because he needs fine-tuning and time to acclimate to some guys he's never played with before. He also must regain the team's confidence in his accountability level.
Graunke saved last year's perfect regular season as many times as he's been removed from team activities since its end -- twice.
Unless Alexander or Rausch grabs the job and keeps it in the first three weeks of the season, Graunke becomes the difference between 6-7 and 8-5 or 9-4.
McMackin clearly learned something from June Jones last year. He has invoked the infamous phrase "game-time decision." We heard that one a lot when Jones had to choose between a bruised or concussed Colt Brennan and a healthy Graunke.
Let's just say Jones didn't limit his trick plays to the field, and reporters either learned to observe very carefully or unwittingly aided in Jones' misdirection via an ever-changing injury report.
Mack is a shrewd guy, but Rausch really does appear to be ailing.
The trick now is getting Rausch's arm sharp again while not damaging it, and also allowing Alexander to get his rhythm and rapport going with the offense.
The way things have worked out, McMackin's plan to have a starting quarterback in place in plenty of time for the first game had to be scrapped.
But this might not be as bad a thing as it seems.
Urban Meyer? There's absolutely no way he can know which one will start, Alexander or Rausch.
Sadly for Warrior Nation, it probably won't matter unless the rest of the Gators' starters join Brandon Spikes and Percy Harvin on the hurt list.
And, by the way, the Warriors have no way of knowing if they'll play or not.