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Hawaii football will be sneaky sleeper in Mountain West for 2019

By John Mitchell

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - AUGUST 27: Hawai'i Rainbow Warrior players embrace before the College Football Sydney Cup match between University of California and University of Hawaii at ANZ Stadium on August 27, 2016 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - AUGUST 27: Hawai'i Rainbow Warrior players embrace before the College Football Sydney Cup match between University of California and University of Hawaii at ANZ Stadium on August 27, 2016 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Kent Horner/Getty Images)
(Photo by Kent Horner/Getty Images) /

Offense

In a throwback to the great June Jones teams, Rolovich’s Rainbow Warriors boasted one of the nation’s most prolific passing attacks in the country last season. Hawaii led the Mountain West and ranked ninth in the country at 310 yards per game through the air.

The main architect of the passing renaissance was first-year starting quarterback Cole McDonald, and the junior is back and looking to stake his claim among the elite of the elite at his position in college football. In 2018, McDonald threw for just shy of 3,800 yards with 35 touchdown passes.

Despite that, Rolovich hasn’t officially named McDonald the team’s starting quarterback for 2019, and that speaks to the talent alongside him in the quarterback room. Redshirt freshman Chevan Cordeiro, one of the best signal-callers in the history of Hawaii high school football, was terrific in relief of an injured McDonald at times last season.

The Rainbow Warriors have a lot of talent at receiver, even despite the loss of leading receiver John Ursua. Whether it is McDonald or Cordeiro at quarterback, they’ll have the benefit of two receivers who both cracked 850-plus yards through the air last season in Cedric Byrd and Jojo Ward.

Hawaii also returns an experienced offensive line that brings back four of last season’s five starters up front. They should provide ample time for either quarterback to pick apart opposing secondaries and light up the scoreboard.

Rolovich will hope to get a little more balanced on offense with an improvement from one of the nation’s worst rushing offenses last season. Both Dayton Furuta and Fred Holly III, last season’s leading rushers, are back, but must be more productive for Hawaii’s offense to reach its full potential.

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