Sunrise was nearly an hour away in Manoa when quarterback Cole McDonald threw his first passes of the opening day of spring practice Wednesday morning.

But he had seen the light long before the dawn arrived or the electricity was switched on at the University of Hawaii’s Clarence T.C. Ching Athletic Complex.

When his roommate, Dru Brown, the Rainbow Warriors’ starting quarterback the past two years and the presumptive one for 2018, announced plans in January to graduate early and transfer to Oklahoma State, McDonald instantly grasped and took deeper aim at the 24-karat opportunity awaiting him.

As the only quarterback remaining on the roster who authored a pass last year, his upcoming redshirt sophomore season could be a launching pad to the much-coveted starting job. Maybe, for several years to come.

If that didn’t make McDonald just about the luckiest quarterback in Hawaii, he was definitely the most well-positioned.

“It is an opportunity to go out and take (the job) and that’s my mentality,” McDonald said. “I mean, that’s what I came here for (in the first place). That’s my aim.”

After appearing in six games last season in a change-up role as a runner or on mop-up duty, running more often (16 times) than he passed (nine times, completing five), McDonald greets the opening and the return of the run-and-shoot offense as a double-barreled blessing.

Head coach Nick Rolovich said, “I think he’s got something to prove. He saw himself coming in to compete for the job this spring even before Dru’s decision. He wasn’t assuming he was just going to be the backup, again.”

Nor is winning the starting job the limit of McDonald’s bold ambition. “I want to get the rock rockin’ again,” McDonald said.

“Not going 3-9 again, that’s what I mean. Winning football games again for this team and this community,” McDonald said. “Football is special here, more special than a lot of places. People live and breathe football here. Football is a big-time sport. With my coaches and teammates, I think the sky is the limit.”

He does not lack for competition, either now or when the summer comes. For the moment, Jeremy Moussa, a freshman from Corona, Calif., Farrington graduate Justin Uahinui and junior Kyle Gallup are also vying for the spot. In the fall, Saint Louis’ Chevan Cordeiro joins the mix.

“The competition is there and that’s always good pushing each other,” McDonald said. “‘Competition’ is the key word. I feel like if you are not competing, you’re not getting better. If you stagnate, you are staying the same. If you aren’t moving upward or forward you’re just going sideways and nobody wants to do that. We want to win football games, coming off last year. And, that’s what we’re going to do.”

Offensive coordinator Brian Smith said, “If their eyes aren’t big and they aren’t excited about (the opportunity), then there is something wrong with them. It is a wide open (position) and there is an opportunity to get lots of reps.”

And there is nothing wrong with McDonald, someone who has seen the light and embraced the opportunity. “I just have to go out and show everybody that it’s me (who should be starting).”

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.