Austin takes lead, Funaki to work at QB
Greg McMackin was asked about the Warriors’ depth chart at quarterback during his press conference this morning.
“Right now it’s Shane Austin and … it’s Shane Austin,” McMackin said.
With the availability of Bryant Moniz and Brent Rausch for Saturday’s game at Nevada contingent on medical evaluations today, Austin began the week as Hawaii’s top quarterback.
McMackin said Moniz would retain his starting spot if he’s medically cleared after suffering a concussion in Saturday’s loss to Boise State. Rausch would be third, again if he receives clearance, since he hasn’t practiced since breaking a bone in his throwing hand in early September.
Austin completed 22 of 36 passes for 174 yards and a touchdown and threw three interceptions against Boise State after Moniz left the game in the first quarter.
McMackin said Inoke Funaki will take repetitions at quarterback as well. Funaki, a quarterback turned running back this season, had been the emergency quarterback since Greg Alexander’s season-ending knee injury, but hadn’t taken many snaps in practice.
“He’s going to be a guy that comes in if we have any more problems,” McMackin said.
The Warriors have a walk-through practice scheduled for his afternoon.
>> UH’s imbalance in turnovers will result in some live hitting this week to work on securing the ball on offense and creating takeaways on defense. UH lost three fumbles last Saturday.
“It’s something we do in preseason, but we can’t fumble the ball like that,” McMackin said. “We’ve got to work together to get that solved and we’ve got to do that this week because it’s a disease.”
