For quarterback Luke Weaver, Hawaii was a football paradise.<\/p>\n
As a junior-college transfer last year, Weaver was 2-0 as a UH starter in place of injured Micah Alejado. He came off the sideline to throw the winning touchdown pass against Cal in the 2025 Hawaii Bowl. He was a member of a tight-knit, four-quarterback unit. He had a warm symbiotic relationship with teammates, coaches and the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a great experience there,\u201d Weaver said. \u201cI learned a lot about myself and developed as a football player. But, really, just enjoyed the people I was around; the players I got to play with, the coaches I got to be with. I really appreciate my time there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weaver had everything but a realistic shot at the starting job as a senior in 2026. Two days ahead of the new year, Weaver entered the NCAA transfer portal. He eventually signed with San Jose State.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, Micah does his thing over there,\u201d Weaver said of Alejado, who was named the Mountain West\u2019s Preseason Offensive Player of the Year. \u201cI wanted to get my opportunity \u2026 my chance to compete.\u201d<\/p>\n
UH head coach Timmy Chang was saddened but understanding.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI love Luke,\u201d Chang said. \u201cI love his personality. I love what he brings to a team. Everything about him as a person is what you want. I really enjoyed our time together. On top of that, he\u2019s a hell of a football player.\u201d<\/p>\n
But in this version of the run-and-shoot, Chang acknowledged: \u201cWe had our No. 1. We love Micah.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weaver entered free agency without any guarantees. He was not motivated by name-image-likeness money nor location.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was all about the opportunity to play more,\u201d Weaver said.<\/p>\n
San Jose State made a pitch. Weaver, who grew up in Manteca, Calif., a 75-minute drive from the SJSU campus, was not previously recruited by the Spartans.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey had Walker (Eget) and Emmett (Brown),\u201d Weaver said. But Brown transferred after the 2024 season and Eget went to Duke earlier this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cGod worked his way for me to get out here,\u201d Weaver said.<\/p>\n
SJSU head coach Ken Niumatalolo grew up on Oahu, and played and coached at UH. During the recruiting visit, Niumatalolo wanted to hear Weaver\u2019s thoughts on his Hawaii experience. Niumatalolo was impressed with Weaver\u2019s positive response.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt shows the way he was brought up,\u201d Niumatalolo said. \u201cHe has great parents. He doesn\u2019t talk bad about people. He spoke glowingly about his time there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weaver said the Spartans presented the best situation. The QB1 job was open. Offensive coordinator Craig Stutzmann\u2019s spread-and-shred was tailored to Weaver\u2019s decision-making, accurate right arm, and running ability. There were former high school and JC teammates of Weaver\u2019s on the Spartans roster. His family would be able to drive to all the Spartans\u2019 home games. And he could attend San Jose Sharks\u2019 games.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn\u2019t come here for money,\u201d Niumatalolo said. \u201cHe just wanted an opportunity to play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weaver said: \u201cI had a really good connection with Coach Ken and Coach Stutzmann. It felt like we really connected well on my (recruiting) visit. They cared a lot about me as a person and not just as a player. It felt like home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weaver, true freshman Daniel Rolovich (son of former UH coach and quarterback Nick Rolovich) and second-year Spartan Robert McDaniel entered training as the top competitors for the starting job.<\/p>\n
Stutzmann said Weaver won the job because of his football IQ, serenity in pressurized situations, and leadership. Weaver was named an offensive captain.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a quick learner,\u201d Stutzmann said. \u201cHe\u2019s got ice in his veins. He acts like a pro. He treats everybody well. He matches our culture because he\u2019s hard working but he\u2019s also very loving and very compassionate to his teammates. But he\u2019s also going to push them.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the Spartans\u2019 first three games, Weaver completed 61.9% of his passes for an average of 262.7 yards per contest. He was sacked twice in his first 105 snaps. He averaged 4.15 yards on non-sack keepers and scrambles in the first three games. But Weaver struggled against Fresno State, being picked off four times and absorbing five sacks.<\/p>\n
And after last week\u2019s bye, Weaver returns to the Manoa campus for Saturday\u2019s UH-SJSU game at the Ching Complex. After a year of home games and practices, Weaver knows the temperament of Ching\u2019s cross winds.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t make it a bigger deal than it is,\u201d Weaver said. \u201cBe aware of it, and push through it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Through social media and texts, Weaver remains in contact with many of his former teammates. But the socializing will be on pause for three hours on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re focused on handling business, focused on the game, focused on our jobs,\u201d Weaver said. \u201cThat\u2019s the main focus.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For quarterback Luke Weaver, Hawaii was a football paradise. As a junior-college transfer last year, Weaver was 2-0…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481603,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[14596,88,90,89],"class_list":["post-481602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-editors","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}