University Of Hawaii Warriors: The Roster Breakdown: Quarterbacks

So here we are yet again. Coming off the high of the NFL Draft, seeing where all the top college juniors and seniors are going, and more specifically where UH players were going and to be even more specific, where Colton James Brennan was going.

Well, he did get drafted in Round six to the Washington Redskins. I see him with good future figuring that when the season ended the 'Skins signal caller was Todd Collins. Excuse me, who? I feel Colt will have good showing in his career in top-flight football.

But the team of the undefeated regular season is no longer together, and the way the rest of the country sees it, Hawaii won't do much of anything this year. Some are saying the Warriors will flounder, others say it will be a re-building year, and others say we will be decent.

I am leaning towards the last of the three and a hint of the second. Anytime you have a star leave, it’s rebuilding in some way. In fact, you always rebuild. Whenever any player moves position or leaves school, you need to re-train to get things back to the way they were.

While Hawaii does have some "weaknesses," people also probably are not giving enough credit where credit is deserved.

The Quarterbacks

This race between what it seems will come down to Inoke Funaki and Tyler Graunke is probably is hot as Graunke v. Brennan if not hotter. Inoke Funaki was a star QB at Kahuku during the Leonard Peters, Tala Esera era and led the team to the State Title consecutive years in 2001 and 2002.

He then served his church mission for two years in the Dominican Republic. He came in looking just as strong with room for improvement. He has done so over the last three years as well.

In 2007, Funaki a 5-foot-11 195-pounder was 10-of-15 with 136 yards and three TDs with a passer rating of 208.8. His freshman year, he played mostly on special teams as a kick holder, but made appearances behind the center three times.

Most notably, he went 5-of-10 for 120 yards against Eastern Illinois.

Tyler Graunke led Salpoint Catholic High School to back-to-back regional titles in 2003 and 2004. He also set a season record for passing yards in a season and was 193-300 with 38 TDs his senior year.

Sounds like a Colt Brennan to me. He then came in, set to be the Heir to the Timmy Chang throne until the "almighty" Colt showed up on campus. Tyler than took his place as the No. 2 man during Colt's three years of stardom. Graunke has experience however.

The 6-foot 185-pounder appeared in 10 games while making two starts for UH during his junior year in Manoa. He completed 90-of-137 passes for 1,234 yards and 10 TDs including a come from behind win against Nevada on the road, winning 28-26 in which Dan Kelly became known as “The Iceman.”

In his sophomore year Graunke played in seven games, completing 32-of-43 passes for 501 yards and four TDs with a 74.4 percent completion rating and an efficiency rating of 202.99. In his freshman year, he appeared in 10 games making starts against USC and San Diego State.

His most notable games were USC and Utah State in which he threw for 127 yards and a touchdown going 12-of-17 while also rushing for 43 more against USC. Against Utah State, he went 5-of-8 with 74 yards and a TD.

Looking at these two, it is hard to say who fits the system better. Both have done lots of reps during practice as understudies to Colt, and now it is one of their turns to take over. Tyler is entering his senior season, and Funaki starting his junior year.

Under the June Jones mindset, seniority rules, and a senior would be the starter meaning, Tyler would finally get his shot, however, Greg McMackin is coach and just like the Mack Attack which throws it all at you, he did it again by saying no one from last year has a starting spot locked up.

You have to earn it. Open Season. Who has the advantage? Personally, I think Inoke is the man for the job because of the new Run-n-Shoot set up. The way Ron Lee is making the offense look Na Koa will finally start running more than four times a game. Making the run-n-shoot hopefully work to its full potential.

Inoke clearly is the stronger runner between the two evidenced by the 'Ohana Bash spring game.

With more running plays in works, it would seem that Funaki would be the wiser choice because of his legs and his ability to still get a ball on target while moving. But Tyler does have the seniority and more experience in games than Inoke.

Keep in mind, Tyler started two of the games Colt was hurt for this year and started against USC and San Diego State in Colt's first year before Colt made it clear he was top dog.

These two young men have experience wearing a Warrior uniform, but let us not forget about Greg Alexander and Brent Rausch, two top Junior College transfers. Both come in with experience and will definitely provide something to the team.

Here is a look at the two of them.

Greg Alexander measuring in at 6-foot-4 and 240-pounds is a 2005 graduate of Piner High School in Santa Rosa, California, earned two varsity letters in football, and was a two-time all-league selection at quarterback.

After graduating from high school, he attended Santa Rosa Junior College in California. He redshirted in 2005 before earning all-conference honors the next two years. Alexander passed for 71 touchdowns in his two-year junior college career, which is a national record.

He completed 63 percent of his passes going 284-448 for 3,487 yards while throwing for 40 touchdowns and only six interceptions in 2007. He posted a passer rating of 155.6 and ranked second in the state in passing with 348.7 yards per game.

He led the NorCal conference in passing and total offense 369.7 in 2006. Alexander is a two-time first-team all-NorCal conference selection and led SRJC to a conference championship as a freshman in 2006.

He was the nation's top-rated quarterback by JCFootball.com among 152 junior colleges.

Brent Rausch is a 2006 graduate of Desert Chapel High School in Palm Springs, California where he lettered four years in football.

A two-time league MVP and CIF MVP, Greg Alexander led Desert Chapel to two CIF state championships, passing for 2,639 yards and 26 touchdowns as a junior. He cranked up the volume throwing 2,353 passing yards and 46 touchdowns as a senior.

After high school, he attended College of the Desert in Palm Desert, California for two years, while playing one season of football. He was named the 2007 Foothill Conference Player of the Year and completed 201-330 passes for a 60 percent completion rate with 2,653 yards and 28 touchdowns.

He ranked 15th in the state with a passer rating of 152.7 and led the conference in total offense 240.8 yards per game and ranked second in passing yards per game with 236.5.

The 6-foot-4 and 190-pound Rausch helped his team to a 9-2 record, and first-place finish in the Foothill Conference, after winning just one game in 2006.

These are the four front-runners for UH this upcoming year with the game against Florida coming up in four weeks. Fall camp starts Monday for UH, with Alexander and Rausch reporting in today and Graunke and Funaki coming in on Monday.

Coach McMackin has said that he will have a starter named within the first two weeks of practice. Going through a progression by eliminating the first two QBs one at a time. Once at the final two, he will determine the starter. The starting signal-caller will get 75 percent of the reps will the backup will get 25 percent.

It has already been determined that Jake Santos, Kiran Kepo’o and Bryce Kalau’oka’a’ea will be scout team quarterbacks this year helping the defense run the opposing teams plays.

Quarterback coach Nick Rolovich has high hopes for all four top quarterbacks and hopefully his guidance will help lead the Warriors to a prosperous year.

Come back soon for the next of an eight part series on the Warrior Team breaking down into quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, offensive line, defensive line, linebackers, secondary, and special teams.