HONOLULU – The University of Hawai'i Warrior football team enters its final week of preparation for its season opener at No. 5 Florida on Saturday, Aug. 30. The Warriors completed an hour-long practice on Monday morning, the first day of the fall semester, and will conduct a two-hour workout on Tuesday in its final practice at home before heading to the mainland. Warrior head coach Greg McMackin, offensive coordinator Ron Lee, sophomore quarterback Brent Rausch and senior linebacker Adam Leonard talked about this week's matchup following their Monday morning workout.

  

On the quarterback Brent Rausch's return to the practice field:

“He threw some balls today and he said his arm feels a lot better. I still think we have three quarterbacks who can play. We have a week of practice and I want to see how his arm is. Today, he just threw lightly, but he took the reps with the first team. I am still excited with our quarterback situation. As long as he (Rausch) is healthy, he will be the starter for the Florida game.”

 

On preparation for the season opener:

“We've game planned both sides of the ball and special teams. We have all the practices ready for the trips so we have seven practices scripted, ready to go. We're as organized for this game as we could possibly be and now it's a matter of practicing, meeting. It's going to be fun because we are sort of going through another camp. All the players and coaches are excited for the start of the season.”

 

“Florida is a very fast team. They pride themselves as being the fastest team in the country. I'm sure they are really close to being that. I think they are one of the top five teams. I think they may be a little low, ranked at five. Their receivers are really good. Their running backs are young, but good. Their quarterback is outstanding, a class act, setting all types of records and winning the Heisman award. They have a great coaching staff, speed on defense. It's a really tough challenge, but I believe in our coaches, players, and I think we will be right in the thick of things.”

 

 “It's important for us to play our hearts out. We're playing for the state of Hawai`i. We wear Hawai`i on our jerseys. I told the players today that they have two names on their jersey. Their name on their back is theirs and their family's. They play for their family and we play for the state of Hawai`i. These guys know that and they are going to give every effort they possibly have because they know they are playing for the people of Hawai`i. I heard a lot of people are going to go to the Florida game. The loyalty is unbelievable and the team feels responsible to play for them.” 

“They have lots of speed. We have a really good plan, but we don't have Davone Bess, Ryan Grice-Mullins, Colt and all of those guys. We have all new players, eight new starters. I'm anxious for (our guys) to go against a team with the kind of speed Florida has. I can't wait for Saturday. We will know much more about our team then.”

 

“We have a nice plan. The guys have worked hard. They are looking forward to the challenge. We want to basically help the defense and see how they lineup. I feel that the guys are confident…we're not young. We just don't have much game experience. The Michael Washingtons, Aaron Bains, and Greg Salas – they're very excited and really confident with what we are doing. They have a very nice understanding of the packages and offense that we're running.”

“I'm 100 percent. I'm all good, back to normal. I just couldn't get loose (before) and my arm would tighten up on me on the first ten throws. I just needed to rest it. It's healed and I'm all ready to go now.”

 

“This is great for our team, especially after all the criticism we had last year for our schedule. In athletics, you want to compete against the best teams to see where you are at. I wouldn't have it any other way. I would love to play the top teams every week. That's just the competitiveness in me. I know each one of us on this team has that.”

 

“They have great athletes, playmakers. They do a great job getting the ball into the hands of the athletes and they make plays. The offensive line is one of the best we're going to face all year and maybe the best I've faced in my career. We are just excited for the challenge.” 

 

“We don't feel we are fully prepared 'till the last day of practice. We feel that we can always get better each day. We don't view it as we put everything in so let's cruise untill the game. Each day we are trying to improve as athletes and as far as the game play. We're studying it more and more. We know we will be ready by Saturday.”