Spring Day 15: Warrior Bowl Wrap-Ups

HawaiiAthletics.com has a wrap-up of last night's Warrior Bowl.

“I’m really proud of what I saw tonight,” head coach Greg McMackin said. “It was very competitive and very physical.”

Junior Shane Austin and freshman David Graves each took snaps at quarterback with the first team offense. The defensive held its own for the first half of the scrimmage, keeping the offense out of the end zone. The offense eventually got into gear, highlighted by the shifty running of Chizzy Dimude and the more bruising style of freshman John Lister.

Here's a wrap-up from Jason Kaneshiro.

"You don't even know what it's like to get in the huddle and know that I have weapons sitting right next to me," said Graves, who completed four of seven passes for 46 yards. "A.G. and Chizzy are just straight weapons, give them the ball and they're going to get some big time yards this year."

"The thing I'm most proud of is the defensive guys feel good about themselves," defensive coordinator Dave Aranda said. "They hit people, they feel like they can swarm to the ball and they feel like they can compete with anybody. I don't know that we felt that at this time last year. I think if we have that, the other things as coaches we can get done."

Kaneshiro also has some stats from the game.

Here's a wrap-up from Leila Wai.

Next week, McMackin and the coaches will meet to whittle down the team's numbers for fall camp, and will talk to each player to let them know where they stand.

One issue still uncertain is the team's No.1 quarterback.

"There's really not a depth chart," McMackin said. "Obviously (Bryant) Moniz is going to be in the mix also really soon, so I think our quarterbacks have done a good job all spring and when we put Moniz in there, we have a good situation at quarterback."

Ferd Lewis profiles Chizzy Dimude.

Indeed, last year as a junior college transfer from Hayward, Calif., he found himself overshadowed and underutilized behind returning starter Leon Wright-Jackson and fellow transfer Alex Green. That meant but 11 carries spread over six games and no touchdowns.

"It was frustrating but I wasn't mad about it; I just tried to hold my head up," Dimude said. "Now, this is my senior year so I'm not holding anything back. I'm putting everything into it."

Dave Reardon writes about pride drills and David Graves.

In the first pride drill before the scrimmage, defensive back Richard Torres was called for the defense. And for the offense? David Graves ... a quarterback, and one near the top of the depth chart. This was definitely never in the UH practice plan under the previous regime. Anyone in an orange jersey was off-limits, even in the final spring scrimmage.

"I just wanted to see how tough he is," coach Greg McMackin said. "He's always telling me how tough he is."

"I am tough, Coach," said Graves, who was walking by, as if on cue. "I am tough."

Graves said he was surprised to get the call, and then surprised by Torres, the former state champion wrestler who quickly took him down.

"I was all right with it," Graves said. "I was like, 'Let's go.' Then he got me, fast."

Give Torres the win, but give Graves checkmarks for toughness and enthusiasm, two of the necessary traits for a starting quarterback.

Reardon has more news and notes on his Quick Reads blog.

And some SportsHawaii members share their impressions of the scrimmage.