Hawai’i got off to a slow start in their first game against Delaware State, but the offense was humming by the second half. The UCLA Bruins should expect them to pick up where they left off.
The Rainbow Warriors turned it around on the back of senior quarterback Brayden Schager. While his stat sheet isn’t terribly impressive from Week 0, he showed last year that he can light it up. He threw for over 300 yards six times last year and once for 413 yards.
UCLA Bruins Will Have To Contain Dual Threat QB, Brayden Schrager
One of his best games came against Stanford, where he threw for 355 yards and three touchdowns.
And head coach Timmy Chang isn’t afraid to put the ball in Schager’s hands and keep it there. He threw the ball more than 40 times in seven games last season, twice more than 50 times.
Manny Navarro of The Athletic is predicting that Hawai’i will push the UCLA Bruins to their limit and that Schager will pass for more than 450 yards in this game facing what he calls a ‘suspect secondary.’
But that isn’t all. He is also dangerous when out of the pocket. In the Delaware State game, Schager rushed for 50 yards on 10 attempts. Most importantly, he kept drives alive with his legs. He picked up 4 first downs on the ground.
“He ran a lot more in this game, more than he did last season,” said Foster.
Last season, Schrager rushed 103 times in 13 games for just 54 yards
Even with a tough challenge ahead of them, the UCLA Bruins are a 14-point road favorite.
The UCLA Bruins’ game kicks off at 4:30 pm PST on Saturday, August 9th in Hawaii.