In a communication with athletic director David Matlin, Tennessee Titans’ quarterback Marcus Mariota has endorsed Craig Stutzmann Opens in a new tab for the vacant University of Hawaii football coaching  Opens in a new tabjob Opens in a new tab, according to a person briefed on the exchange.

Stutzmann, who was UH’s passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach this past season, was a graduate assistant at UH when Mariota was in high school at Saint Louis School.

Mariota reportedly had dinner with Stutzmann earlier this week during the coaches’ convention in Nashville, Tenn., and encouraged him to pursue the opening.

Stutzmann encouraged Mariota during the years he was a backup quarterback for the Crusaders and offered him a scholarship to Memphis while an assistant coach there in 2010.

Mariota congratulated Nick Rolovich for hiring Stutzmann in 2016. Stutzmann and Mariota still review film together in the offseason.

Mariota’s Motiv8 Foundation has been UH’s single biggest purchaser of tickets for Rainbow Warriors games the last two years, treating nearly 3,500 local youngsters to an experience at Aloha Stadium.