LAS CRUCES, N.M. >> Looking ahead, the University of Hawaii football team went back in time, reintroducing elements of the run-and-shoot offense this week.
Despite Saturday’s 45-26 setback, the Rainbow Warriors were encouraged that the four-wide, read-and-attack system — popularized by former coach June Jones — would be beneficial the rest of the season.
“There’s a lot of potential,” said quarterback Brayden Schager, who threw for 261 yards and a touchdown. “We’re in the beginning phases of it. We showed some promising things.”
The four-wide offense bases plays on the defensive coverage. There are patterns designed to draw a defender away from a receiver and also to overload an area to create mismatches. Several times, the Warriors ran layered double-arcing routes.
In this version, tight end Caleb Phillips aligns in one of the slot spots.
“I like how they’re trying a lot of different stuff and getting everybody the ball,” said Phillips, who caught eight passes for 138 yards. He was targeted a team-high 11 times. Phillips made a juggling catch, and then later improvised to break free while Schager scrambled.
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“We always talk about ‘ball finds energy,’” Schager said. “His improvement from last year to this year has been bigger than anybody else’s on the team. He’s really comfortable playing tight end. He didn’t play it at all at Stanford (before transferring to UH). Now he’s a reliable (receiver), and he pulls the team together.”
Wideout Jalen Walthall said: “I feel like over time, we’ll be much better. We have to keep working. This was the first week (with the scheme). We knew there would be some problems. But it is fun, and we’re going to have fun this year with the new offense.”
Walthall breaks UH’s TD reception drought
It took 19 quarters, but the Warriors finally had a scoring catch.
UH, South Florida and Florida entered the day as the only three FBS programs without a touchdown pass. Florida got its first on Saturday afternoon. Schager’s 16-yard pass to wideout Walthall in the third quarter left South Florida as the lone team without an aerial touchdown.
“We wanted to get the win more than how we scored,” said Walthall, downplaying the catch.
RB Parson rues missed opportunities
Running back Dedrick Parson scored two touchdowns, increasing his team-leading total to six this season. But Parson said the Warriors did not capitalize on opportunities to score more than 26 points against New Mexico State.
“When we’re in the red zone, we’ve got to catch some balls and put up seven (points) instead of three,” Parson said. “Those are game changers, those drops and missed throws. We’ll get better. That’s how it goes. Those are the ones we’ve got to make all week in practice. Once you make them in practice, you’ll see better results.”
