HONOLULU -- Inoke Funaki hasn't started a football game in nearly seven years. But after having doors literally slammed in his face and spending two years on the bench, patience is something the Hawaii quarterback has aplenty.

Listed No. 3 on the depth chart to open the season for the third straight year, Funaki has been named Hawaii's starter against Weber State on Saturday night.

Funaki said he's ready to lead.

"I've been in the system a couple years now. There's still a lot of things I need to get good at but overall, I have a pretty good idea of what goes on, on the field," Funaki said Tuesday.

Funaki earned the nod after a strong performance last weekend at Florida. He entered in the fourth quarter with Hawaii down 56-0 and directed the Warriors to their only two scoring drives on the game. He was 8-of-11 for 110 yards and threw Hawaii's lone touchdown, a scrambling 13-yard strike to Greg Salas.

"Inoke Funaki came in and played his heart out," Warriors coach Greg McMackin said.

Quarterbacks coach Nick Rolovich said, "He wasn't perfect, but he was inspiring. I think that's something you can't put a price on."

It will be Funaki first start since 2001 when he led Kahuku High School to its second straight state title at Aloha Stadium. Raised in the quiet coastal North Shore community of Laie, he will become the first homegrown product to assume the high-profile job since Timmy Chang.

"It's nice to be here at home and play for a lot of people I know and play for family and represent a state that raised me," he said. "It's exciting."

Junior college transfers Greg Alexander and Brent Rausch are taller with strong arms. But Funaki has shown he has experience, poise and the respect of his teammates.

"He's a leader," running back Leon Wright-Jackson said. "He's not really a vocal guy, but you saw him at The Swamp. When he got in, he's just a phenomenal player. He's an athlete. I'm sure he's going to get it done this weekend."

• Tressel reassures Buckeyes fans on Wells: At Columbus, Ohio, coach Jim Tressel has some reassuring words for all those fretful Ohio State fans who have had trouble sleeping since tailback Chris "Beanie" Wells hit the deck with a right foot injury on Saturday.

"Tell them to worry about Gustav and Rita and those kinds of things," Tressel said Tuesday. "Beanie's going to be fine."

Wells was in obvious pain in the moments after he fell to the turf in the third quarter of Saturday's 43-0 victory over Youngstown State. He was almost dragging the foot, encased in an immobilizing boot, when he slowly returned to the sideline to watch the last few minutes of the blowout.

Yet Tressel didn't slam the door on the possibility that Wells might still play in Saturday's game against Ohio University. Wells' status will be evaluated later in the week, Tressel said. The Bobcats are a five-touchdown underdog against the Buckeyes, who dropped a spot to No. 3 in this week's AP Top 25.

"I have the third vote. The first vote is the young person. ... Then the medical people have a major vote," Tressel said. "How you practice has a little bit to do with it especially as you get into the back end of the week. But when you have a veteran who's had a lot of snaps and so forth, it's not quite as critical. I'll have that third and deciding vote, I guess."

That's good news for Ohio State's uneasy faithful. A crowd of more than 105,000 was reduced to silence when Wells, who rushed for more than 1,600 yards last season, fell backward on a handoff near the goal line. After he was checked out by doctors and trainers, he was helped off the field and taken to the locker room on a cart.

Ohio coach Frank Solich said whether Wells is or isn't in the lineup really doesn't have a big impact on what his team has to do.

• Police confirm 2 Sooners injured in brawl: At Norman, Okla., two University of Oklahoma athletes stabbed at a nightclub during a brawl that reportedly involved guns, knives and tire irons were identified by police on Tuesday.

Football defensive end Frank Alexander and freshman basketball guard Ray Willis sustained knife wounds during the Sunday morning altercation, officers said in a news release.

Alexander, 18, was treated and released from Norman Regional Hospital. Willis' condition wasn't immediately available, although police said both stabbing victims required surgery.

Nineteen-year-old Rachel Taylor, who was struck by a vehicle outside, was treated at a hospital and released. Police added that the incident was under investigation, but no arrests had been made, contrary to reports that a man had been arrested for carrying a concealed weapon.

The fight erupted about 2:30 a.m. after a number of people tried unsuccessfully to crash a private party at the club and allegedly attacked invited guests after they were denied entry, police said.