Hawaii football: Opportunities arise with Stovall gone
Slotback Melquise Stovall was one of Hawaii’s most productive players in blowout losses the last two weeks.
The Rainbow Warriors hope they can find someone else to match that productivity in their coming games — ideally in victories.
Stovall was dismissed from the team on Monday, UH announced, in the wake of an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in the 56-26 loss to Air Force on Saturday.
Head coach Nick Rolovich is looking for the next man up in the receiving corps for UH (4-3, 1-2 Mountain West), which heads to Albuquerque, N.M., to face New Mexico (2-5, 0-3) on Saturday. The Lobos recently announced some disciplinary action of their own.
“There’s no excuses. They all work hard. they’re looking for their opportunity,” Rolovich said of his players to the media scrum Tuesday. “Somebody’s opportunity is probably going to come more than last week. But I like our depth. Lincoln (Victor) is probably green-lighted for the season, he can help us in the return game and slot. I think he has the right mentality to do it. You got (Cedric) Byrd, you got (Jason-Matthew) Sharsh, Funk (Robert Funkhouser)’s done some good things for us. So there’s guys. And it’s really not about one guy in the receiver room. It’s about them working together. That’s the important part.”
The decision to go full-speed ahead with Victor’s freshman year (and potentially that of Funkhouser) is no small thing. As the new NCAA rule stands, those who play in more than four games cannot redshirt. Both are right at four right now. (CORRECTION: Funkhouser redshirted last year, so in his case it wouldn’t matter.)
But you can see why the team would like to make use of Victor’s talents sooner rather than later. Here was the 5-foot-10 native of West Camas, Wash., against Central Arkansas on Sept. 21.
It’s freshman Lincoln Victor ending the #HawaiiFB scoring drought with this pass from Cole McDonald.
Check out the yards-after-catch effort.
UH 35, UCA 16, 3:27 left pic.twitter.com/383mOWQasg
— Hawaii Warrior World (@hawaiiwworld) September 22, 2019
Victor also had a TD catch at Boise State. The 5-11 Funkhouser, of Danville, Calif., had a 14-yard touchdown reception from Justin Uahinui in blowout time in a 54-3 win at Nevada.
Stovall appeared in five games this season, starting one, but was at his most productive in the last two. He had all four of his touchdowns, two apiece, against Boise State and Air Force. The former Cal player caught 18 passes for 248 yards on the year.
He’d also returned 14 kicks for an average of 27.4 yards and six punts for an average of 4.7.
Quarterback Cole McDonald voiced confidence in the team’s remaining playmakers.
“We’re going to move past (Stovall),” McDonald said. “He’s a great player, a solid football player, but we have guys just like him backing him up. We’ve got guys who make plays all over the field and we’re going to spread the ball and hit our concepts. We’re just go get the ball and let our receivers run.”
Here's #HawaiiFB quarterback Cole McDonald on the offense adapting without WR Melquise Stovall:
"He's a great player, a solid football player but you know, we have guys just like him backing him up." pic.twitter.com/fG4IGqpeHp
— Brian McInnis (@Brian_McInnis) October 22, 2019
Here’s the season production of the players Rolovich mentioned:
>> Cedric Byrd: 7 games, 53 receptions, 631 yards, 9 TD
>> Jason-Matthew Sharsh: 7 games, 35 receptions, 368 yards, 1 TD
>> Lincoln Victor: 4 games, 7 receptions, 66 yards, 2 TD
>> Robert Funkhouser: 4 games, 4 receptions, 36 yards, 1 TD
“That’s always the mentality (next man up),” Sharsh, a Moanalua graduate, said. “No matter who’s playing, no matter who goes down, the next person has to step up no matter what. We all know whoever steps up will be able to make plays.”
WR Jason-Matthew Sharsh said that "no matter who goes down, the next person has to step up no matter what" for #HawaiiFB. pic.twitter.com/sFLrLHOJ3r
— Brian McInnis (@Brian_McInnis) October 22, 2019
I think today’s article in regards to Tsai, with Stovall out, I would imagine if Rolo is becoming a bit concerned with burning Phillips’ and Victor’s Redshirts, I think putting Kumoku Noa back in would be a splendid idea, just to allow Phillips and Victor to continue playing with the program while not burning their redshirt years. We’ve seen “Moku” do some impressive things in 2017. The only concern would be how much rust he has left in him because he didn’t play in 2016 and 2018, and hasn’t appeared in any of the 2019 games so far. He hasn’t played in 20 straight games (Due to the upcomings from Ward and Byrd) and you wonder if he still has any fight left in him. Of course, you can argue with Funkhouser being a good candidate in the mix, considering that he sat out all of last year and has played in 4 games, so I’m sure having him lose his redshirt wouldn’t hurt much cause. Even Mardner can be a good wideout in a big way. His one TD haul against Boise State for 50 yards should give Rolo some consideration to allow him some playing time. I wouldn’t be surprised if Rolo decides to allow Funkhouser and Mardner to give more opportunities while allowing Victor to keep his redshirt. But likewise, they gotta find a way to ride the ship if they’re going to go back-to-back bowl games. I’m just hoping they make a much better improvement with the win/loss column because Rolo right now is 22-25, and if they’re going to make a BIG improvement after their abysmal 3-9 2017 season, this better be the season to do it.
#WhereIsPhaseTwo
The team can talk it up all they want, but despite being an apparent head case, Stovall was a talent above and beyond some of the remaining players. Then over the last few years, Uh has lost some big-time players due to disciplinary problems, so unfortunately, nothing new. I am afraid with all the turmoil lately, that it might result in a crash and burn at NM.
Funkhouser redshirted last year. No need to save him this year. Let’s see what he can do.
I’m hoping for a comeback and no crash and burn. Hope they bring out the man in them and show some resilience. Lincoln is too good to keep for next year. If he can contribute and help the team win then he should play. On a different subject, people are crying about Hensley unsportsman penalty but it was nothing major he was just protecting his teammate and gave a little shove. I watched the Nevada game and saw the RB Taoa give a major shove pushing the USU player a few steps back and no penalty so the refs should be more consistent.
in defense of Stovall — I saw him raise both arms to the side, not upwards, in preparation to field the punt — like airing out his arm pits
also saw him explaining to the coach, on the sideline, that his motion was NOT upwards ( both hands raised )
It is next man up time and if Victor is the next man then he has to step up and he plays the rest of the season. He keeps his redshirt season for another time, just in case.
Thanks for pointing that out. Updated post to reflect that.