Hawaii football: Chevan Cordeiro right at home at Saint Louis

You could feel it immediately upon stepping foot out of the parking structure at the Saint Louis and Chaminade University campus and onto the track bordering the artificial turf football field.

The stiff breeze.

“It’s always (like that),” said Hawaii redshirt freshman quarterback Chevan Cordeiro, the 2017 state champion quarterback for the Crusaders. “(Thursday) when they said we were practicing at Saint Louis, everyone who practiced here before, played at Saint Louis knew it was going to be windy. It always comes from the mountains, and we had it today.” He grinned.

Saint Louis alumnus and #HawaiiFB redshirt freshman quarterback Chevan Cordeiro talks about returning to his old school to practice with his Rainbow Warriors teammates.

He and his fellow Crusaders alums capped the practice by singing the alma mater. @HawaiiPrepWorld pic.twitter.com/1Mln4Sg24i

— Hawaii Warrior World (@hawaiiwworld) August 2, 2019

The whole morning Friday was a homecoming for Cordeiro and his handful of UH teammates of the Kalaepohaku brotherhood. UH quarterbacks coach Craig Stutzmann unapologetically wore a Crusaders shirt and cap to the relatively brisk practice about a mile away from the UH campus. UH practiced there because of concerns of damaging its grass practice field in the midst of potentially inclement weather.

“(I) made mention to Rolo (head coach Nick Rolovich) and some of the guys, ‘hey, there’s a pretty consistent wind that comes from Palolo Valley that whips through, and it comes directly into your face.’ Even more so than the grass field or turf field (at UH),” Stutzmann said. “Today was probably about 5-to-10 mph a little bit heavier coming through. But that’s the reason why a lot of those guys who come through Saint Louis are able to create a lot of spin on the football, and cut through the wind.

“They might not be the strongest guys in the weight room, but man, they can cut it. And they can spin it. All the way from a guy like Joel Lane. Joel Lane’s not the biggest guy. But he would be able to cut it through the wind. Darnell (Arneneax), (Jason) Gesser, Timmy (Chang), Chevan, Tua (Tagovailoa), all those guys. And obviously mixing with Vinny Passas, Ron Lee and Coach Cal (Lee), you got a great mixture to create great quarterbacks.”

When the brisk practice was done, Cordeiro and his fellow Crusaders were bidden to sing the prep powerhouse’s alma mater. They belted it out with pride (as some other Hawaii high school products lobbed some good-natured boos the way of the three-time defending Open Division state champs).

“It was fun coming back, stepping on this field. Feeling that energy of just playing with all the teammates, seeing them all looking around the school,” the soft-spoken Cordeiro said. “I didn’t know (the song was coming), but it was fun to sing the alma mater again. We all remembered it, and that’s it.”

The @HawaiiFootball team’s Men of Kalaepohaku sing the @StLouisHawaii alma mater #HawaiiFB #StarAdvertiser pic.twitter.com/yJNnOIayCb

— Stephen Tsai (@StephenTsai) August 2, 2019

Cordeiro, despite some fantastic flashes in his four games of action in 2018, remains the backup to redshirt junior Cole McDonald, who led the way most of last year and entrenched himself as the Rainbow Warriors’ starter in the spring.

There remains undeniable excitement about the potential and possibilities for the lithe Cordeiro, who has made a habit of emerging from backup status and lifting a team to great heights.

He authored two comeback wins last season — Wyoming and UNLV — while maintaining his freshman-year eligibility under a new NCAA rule that allows true freshman to play up to four games without burning a year of eligibility. For the year, he passed for 384 yards and six touchdowns against two interceptions while completing 61% of his throws.

“This rule is, to me, a game-changer. It plays a huge factor in his development right now,” said Stutzmann, who doubles as UH’s passing game coordinator.

He noted four different experiences for Cordeiro in his four games: the comeback victory over Wyoming with UH playing conservative; a struggle against Nevada after a tough week of practice; leading the storybook rally over UNLV with three fourth-quarter TD throws on just four completions; and the mixed bag in the Hawaii Bowl against Louisiana Tech, an immediate touchdown upon entry followed by some struggles.

“Now he’s able to take those four different types of experience and we’re able to pinpoint why you were successful in these games or instances and why you struggled,” Stutzmann said. “To be able to work on those and still get those four years after that, I mean, gosh, this is a great thing. And it happens for all the guys who are able to redshirt playing four games. There’s only so much you can learn in practice, and then there’s another learning curve when you play in the game.”

Cordeiro, who was one of just three QBs in the spring, along with McDonald and Justin Uahinui, is now one of six (freshmen Boone Abbott and Zach Daniel and junior Kamali‘i Akina have joined the fray). But Cordeiro’s still the solid bet as the top backup.

#HawaiiFB Friday practice ends with some sprints at nearby Saint Louis School. pic.twitter.com/bE4qFobPqQ

— Hawaii Warrior World (@hawaiiwworld) August 2, 2019

Stutzmann commended him on a strong fall camp to this point after an “up and down” spring training in which he talked to the young signal-caller at length about not feeling like he’d plateaued, but just needed to absorb more knowledge of the run-and-shoot offense.

Cordeiro offered Friday of fall camp: “It’s been great, grinding every day. Iron sharpens iron. You just get better. Grinding with Cole and all the other QBs makes us get better, improving every day.”

“What we’ve been seeing in camp, he’s been starting to get a greater feel of the offense, feel more comfortable in there so he’s not just scrambling around trying to make plays,” Stutzmann said. “He’s actually a little more in control of what he’s trying to do and he’s getting the ball out on time. We’re seeing him make that next step.”

Even — or maybe especially — throwing into the wind of Kalaepohaku.

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Like Friday, Saturday morning’s practice/scrimmage is closed to the public because the site was moved due to the threat of inclement weather on UH’s grass practice field.

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Check out the Warrior World debut of Christian Shimabuku, who wrote a story on former UH slotback John Ursua bonding with Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson in advance of preseason games that could determine Ursua’s future with the team. Look for more from young Shimabuku on Warrior World in the near future.