LAS VEGAS » The question of the University of Hawaii football team’s offseason is posted on Twitter, Facebook and Internet discussion boards.
"People want to know if we’re going to have the players’ names on the back of the jerseys," UH coach Norm Chow said, bemused.
The UH jerseys contained names for several years through the 2011 season. Then in 2012, Chow’s first as UH head coach, the names were removed as a symbolic way to promote teamwork over individualism. At midseason, "Imua" — go forward with spirit — was sewn onto each jersey.
Pressed about the return of the names, Chow smiled and said, "Tell everyone ‘We’ll see.’ Tell them to wait and see."
Chow was more specific about his plans during interviews at Tuesday’s Mountain West Conference media preview at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas hotel. He said he will continue to call the offensive plays. He also announced the coaching assignments for games, and hinted at opening the passing attack.
For the past three decades, Chow called the plays as offensive coordinator at Brigham Young, North Carolina, USC, UCLA and Utah and with the Tennessee Titans. Although Tommy Lee held the title of UH’s offensive coordinator last year, it was Chow who crafted the offensive game plan, wrote the play scripts and called the plays. It was a difficult adjustment for Chow, who made the calls from the sideline instead of his familiar seat in the coaches’ booth on the loge level.
Lee retired at the end of the 2012 season. Aaron Price, who succeeded Lee, and graduate assistant Jordan Wynn, whose career as Utah’s quarterback ended last season, will help Chow prepare game plans and scripts.
Price and running backs coach Chris Wiesehan will be in the Rainbow Warriors’ booth identifying defensive schemes during games. They will relay their observations to Chow, Wynn and assistant coach Phil Rauscher on the sideline. Chow then will call the plays.
Last year, 52.4 percent of the Warriors’ plays were rushes. They ran 63.3 percent of the time on first down.
The Warriors are expected to pass more this season — thanks to quarterback Taylor Graham, who redshirted in 2012 after transferring from Ohio State, and in part to running back Joey Iosefa’s foot injury. Iosefa faces a significant rehabilitation after suffering a fracture during conditioning drills this past Monday.
"There’s no question we have to (open the offense), especially because of Joey," Chow said.
Three freshmen — Diocemy Saint Juste, Aofaga Wily and Steven Lakalaka — are expected to fill in at running back.
Graham was among seven quarterbacks to represent their teams at the MWC media preview. Chow said Graham is potentially as good as the other MWC quarterbacks.
"Taylor definitely has it talent-wise," Chow said. "I think there’s a difference experience-wise. The other (MWC) quarterbacks have been through the wars. Taylor has not. He hasn’t played a football game in 3 1/2 years. That’s the concern. He was hurt his senior year of high school. He sat around for two years at Ohio State. He redshirted with us. No matter how much practice you get, it’s not quite the game experience. You can’t duplicate that speed."
In spring training, the Warriors experimented with several offensive schemes. They had alignments of up to five receivers. They ran no-huddle plays out of the shotgun. They even ran the read-option.
"Taylor’s not a runner," Chow said. "He’s more of a drop-back guy. You have to let him go. I’ve coached quarterbacks for a long time. To think he has that ‘it’ factor. You can’t describe it."
