Bryant Moniz apologized to his team. Someone in the room the other day tells me the University of Hawaii quarterback “;said all the right things”; and admitted to “;making a mistake.”;

But why did he apologize?

A fair question. According to Warriors coach Greg McMackin, Moniz was on “;personal leave”; from the team for most of last month. If his absence from spring practice had been termed a suspension, that's different and the apology wouldn't seem so strange. People get suspended because they mess up. They generally go on leave because they're ill, a family member dies, or some other unforeseen circumstance (as opposed to a mistake on their part) dictates at least a temporary change in priorities.

When people get suspended, it is often appropriate for them to apologize. When they go on leave? Not so much. You don't say, “;I'm sorry I let the team down because I had to take care of my father's funeral arrangements.”;

There are some at UH who feel what Moniz did merited a suspension, and there's a practical as well as punitive reason. The mistake may have compromised Moniz's ability to lead the team this season—and, as has been drilled into all of us since Pee Wee days, a quarterback must lead.

Another person close to this situation tells us players have accepted the apology, some didn't think the whole thing a big deal, and they've moved ahead. But it won't be that easy for all of them to just forget about it.

JUST AS we refrained when the story of Moniz's absence broke last month, we feel it's in our best judgment not to report the reason for his “;leave,”; the mistake. If we were TMZ or the National Enquirer, oh yeah, a field day.

The reason isn't important except in the context of how it affects the player's future with the team, and team chemistry. And we'd love just to pretend none of it happened, but because he's the incumbent starting quarterback for the Warriors, we've got to address it.

UH is rejecting interview requests for Moniz per McMackin's instruction, and his phone was recently disconnected. There's no black-and-white rule that says Moniz must talk to us, but even during normal times people want to know about the UH quarterback ... where his head's at, how he is physically, if he's ready to lead the team.

WITH MONIZ out most of the spring sessions, five other quarterbacks got the chance to unseat him with increased practice time. But we're told none was impressive enough to make the coaches forget about Moniz, who led the Warriors to three wins in eight starts last season after injuries knocked out the two players ahead of him.

From what I saw last month, I agree with offensive coordinator Nick Rolovich's assessment that “;no one separated.”; All showed flashes of competence, but not consistency. Also, Moniz has much more game experience; he threw 319 passes last fall, while the other five have 107 total in Division I (Shane Austin with 93 and Brent Rausch 14).

But all the experience and ability in the world aren't worth much without the respect of your teammates. Bryant Moniz had lost that with some. He took a step toward regaining it this week, though deep-down, “;sorry”; might never be enough for everyone in the Warriors locker room.

Reach Star-Bulletin sports columnist Dave Reardon at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), his “;Quick Reads”; blog at starbulletin.com, and twitter.com/davereardon.