It was the so-called “money down” — third and 1 — and the defense was on high alert for a quarterback keeper.

“Watch the RPO,” the defenders yelled, a reference to the run-pass option. In spring football training a year ago, quarterback Cole McDonald, trusting his feet as much as his powerful right arm, often would sprint for the first down in similar situations. During Saturday’s scrimmage-like session, McDonald scanned the coverage, then lasered a 5-yard completion to slotback Melquise Stovall.

A season and 3,875 passing yards after the Rainbow Warriors resurrected the run-and-shoot offense, McDonald has developed into an all-around quarterback. Runner who passes? Passer who runs?

“I’m everything they need me to be,” said McDonald, who will be a fourth-year junior in the fall. “I feel like this past year’s film, there’s a lot of ups, there’s a lot of downs. There’s a lot of learning curves. I just took that into the offseason, watched the film, critiqued myself extremely hard, and worked on the areas I needed to help this team get to the next level.”

During Saturday’s team session, McDonald was 9-for-11. He threw a 41-yard scoring pass to slotback James Phillips. On his success as a deep passer, McDonald said, “reps, reps, reps.”

Quarterback Chevan Cordeiro also appeared crisp, with passes from the pocket and on the move. “Simulating game situations just gets us better,” Cordeiro said. “It’s better than 7-on-7 or half line. At least we had people rushing against us.”

On the warm Saturday morning, the Warriors also showcased their expanded running attack. Fred Holly III sprinted away for a 23-yard touchdown. Hekili Keli‘iliki burst for 21 yards on a second-and-3 play. And Miles Reed planted his left hand on the turf to spin free for a 13-yard gain.

“That’s something we drill every day,” Reed said of the hand-down move. “I try to incorporate it into the live period and make it part of my reps.”

Last season, the running backs’ 1,139 rushing yards accounted for only 19.4 percent of the Warriors’ total offense. “Last year, I don’t want to say we weren’t a factor, but a lot of teams disrespected our running backs,” Reed said. “So this year we kind of came in as a group and tried to make sure we made a bigger impact to the game in every facet, whether it’s pass pro(tection) or catching the ball out of the backfield or (the quarterbacks) handing it to us.”

Running backs Elijah Dale, Melvin Davis and Genta Ito fulfilled their UH eligibility at the end of the 2018 Hawaii Bowl. KK Padello and Justice Augafa moved to running back this spring. The Warriors did not sign a running back to the 2019 recruiting class.

“They like the guys we have, which was awesome to see,” Holly said.

Reed said: “We can push each other to get better. I don’t think we really needed somebody to come in and be that spark for us. We already had that spark inside of our group.”

This spring, the Warriors have had several team-bonding exercises. This past week, a team meeting was called to discuss Nipsey Hussle, a Grammy-nominated rapper and community advocate who was shot to death a week ago in Los Angeles. Cornerback Rojesterman Farris II said the discussion was helpful. “There’s no need to keep the sad feelings all cooped up inside,” Farris said. “It’s always better to let it out and talk about it.”

Holly said Hussle’s death was senseless and disheartening. “He wanted people to do better,” Holly said. “He opened job opportunities for lower-income people. He opened up a lot of different opportunities in line for people who were less fortunate. I feel his message was to better the world, better the community.”