For two straight weeks, the University of Hawai‘i football team has invested heavily in its backup plan.
After starting quarterback Micah Alejado injured his right ankle in the team's season-opening victory over Stanford, the Rainbow Warrior coaching staff took a cautious approach towards using him in practice, giving backup Luke Weaver the majority of the first-team reps. Alejado was sidelined in the team's first practice prior to its game at Arizona, then gradually increased his workload before taking the field.
In a 40-6 loss at Arizona, Alejado aggravated his ankle injury, leaving his status in Hawai‘i's next game against Sam Houston in question. The Rainbow Warriors and Bearkats kick off on Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex.
For the second consecutive week, Weaver had the lion's share of the first-team reps as Alejado observed and gave pointers while supporting his teammates. If Alejado is deemed unable to play on Saturday, then Weaver will make his first FBS start after earning All-American honors at Modesto Junior College last fall.
"Same thing as last week," the even-keeled Weaver said following Tuesday's practice. "Just prepare like a starter and be ready at any moment. That's all it is. Luckily, I can get some more reps in my system and just be ready if I need to be."
Hawai‘i head coach Timmy Chang estimates Alejado received 80% of the first-team reps in fall camp, with Weaver getting the bulk of the remaining 20%. Over the course of the week, Weaver took almost every rep and also got his bearings playing in a game last weekend.
"We have a lot of trust in Luke, comes from a background of winning football at Modesto Junior College," Chang said. "That's what really drew us to him first. He'll get a lot of the reps this week, and hopefully it gets him ready."
Following Alejado's removal at Arizona, Weaver completed eight of his 16 pass attempts for 66 yards and two interceptions. His day included a 26-yard completion to Tama Uilata on a fade route and an improvised two-yard flip to Landon Sims that was dropped in the end zone.
Each live rep Weaver took against Arizona, 29 by UH quarterbacks coach Chad Kapanui's count, was of immense value.
"Anytime you get more reps, you always get more comfortable. You always get better," Kapanui said. "You're taking the reads that are fast-paced. Watching it is different. Yes, you can take your mental reps, but actually physically doing it, it really helps, and then you can go back into the film room and actually fix it at the same time and see what they're doing right or wrong.
"But having the 29 snaps, it really helped him, I think, get ready for if anything else has to happen, and that's what you want. You want to make sure your backups are always ready to go, because if something happens, you can come in and the offense (can continue to) run smoothly."
Added Weaver, who lamented the team's five tournovers: "Being able to get live game reps with every bullet flying and stuff, that was good to see on film and be able to correct and move on."
Were Alejado to play on Saturday, he'll do so with some key streaks broken from the Arizona game. In the third quarter, he threw an interception, his first in a game since his junior season at Bishop Gorman in 2022. The 2022 season was also the last time Alejado lost a game as a starter.
"We have that one snap clear mentality, and I think he'll be fine," said Kapanui, who was also Alejado's QB coach at Gorman in 2022 and 2023. "The pick was kind of off of a tip, but an interception is an interception. I know he's hard on himself on that, but we just gotta make sure we don't put ourselves in that situation again."
Regardless of who takes the first snap behind center on Saturday, the objective for the UH offense will not be complicated.
"Just making the reads simple, that was a big thing that coach was emphasizing for me, and that's the same thing going into Sam Houston, make our reads simple and get the balls to our playmakers," Weaver said.
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Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
