Of all of the roles, the most challenging for Hawai'i's Shane Austin is to be himself.

This football season, Austin has portrayed the upcoming opponent's quarterback in Warrior defensive drills. Defenders have been supporters, giving his performances thumbs-up reviews.

At the team banquet, he was announced as the scout team's offensive player of the year.

Austin's goal is to earn a spot in the regular quarterback rotation. His wish was partially granted the past two days when redshirts and developing players received expanded practice time with the first units.

"We wanted to give everyone reps, and see how far they've come," quarterbacks coach Nick Rolovich said. "Shane is doing a nice job with our offense. He gets it. He makes good decisions, and he throws a great ball. He's got a chance to play."

Austin said: "Coach (Greg McMackin) is giving some of us an opportunity with reps, and I'm using it as a chance to get better. It's fun to be able to run our offense. I remember all of the reads."

With Inoke Funaki expected to move to running back or slotback, Austin is projected to be the No. 3 quarterback entering spring practice.

Austin's ascent is a testament to his work ethic and perseverance. The 6-foot, 200-pound second-year freshman from Camarillo, Calif., is not receiving a football scholarship.

"As a walk-on, he's really worked hard and paid his dues," Rolovich said. "He pays attention even when he's not getting reps. That's why he's so good on the scout team."

As the scout quarterback, Austin has to learn a new offense every week. The coaches will hold up a diagram of a play, and Austin will have to run it.

"All you have to do is look at the cards," Austin said. "It's like playing Madden, really. You look at the plays, and you go off what the cards say."

Austin also does extra work, studying videotapes of the quarterbacks he will portray.

"I try to imitate all of the little things," Austin said. "If a quarterback claps his hands before the snap, I try to imitate that. Even if it comes down to a dropback, I try to make it as realistic as possible for the defense."

In turn, the experience is beneficial to Austin.

"That's a quarter of a game every time you go down there and play against those guys," Rolovich said of facing the first-team defense. "You start to get the pocket feel. You start to learn how to play against really good defensive players."

Austin said it helped to train in Hawai'i the past summer. He participated in the conditioning program and nearly all of the unsupervised passing drills.

"You get a lot of 7-on-7 work," Austin said. "You get to see what different guys can do. You get the timing down with the receivers. You know which guys break where, and where to throw. I look forward to doing that this offseason, too."

He said he plans to focus on leg-strengthening workouts in the months leading to the start of spring practice in April.

"I'm trying to get faster," he said. "Inoke kind of inspired me to work on my speed. I'm working on my footwork so I can have better scrambling ability."

He also consults frequently with his father, Dave Austin, who serves a sports psychologist for several major league pitchers.

Austin said his father taught him techniques involving "goal-setting and visualization. Those are the keys. If you see it in your head what you're trying to do, and you see it over and over, then you can do it. It becomes second nature. It definitely helped me."