RENO, Nev. — With its long-distance playmaker, Rodney Bradley, out for the season due to a broken leg, the University of Hawai'i football team was looking for somebody else among the receivers to help fill the considerable void.

And up stepped Jovonte Taylor yesterday with the best game of his UH career.

Taylor had six catches for 109 yards and two touchdowns in the Warriors' 31-21 loss to Nevada.

"The coaches told me they needed me to make some plays, especially now that (Bradley) is out for the year," Taylor said.

One of his first plays was Bradley-esque, a 71-yard catch-and-run from quarterback Bryant Moniz for UH's second touchdown and a 14-0 first-quarter lead.

"I knew from the (defensive back's) angle I could go and there was plenty of daylight," Taylor said.

It was the longest reception of the season by a Warrior not named Bradley, who had a 73-yarder.

Taylor, a junior from Los Angeles, also caught a 4-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter.

"He has that big-play potential," said receivers coach Ron Lee. "But he's had some nagging injuries that he has had to fight through. It was one thing after another for a while but the main thing is he has been getting in practice time lately. That wasn't happening earlier and it was hard from him to get better when he wasn't able to practice. But he has stepped it up and it shows."

GREEN PUSHING FOR MORE PLAYING TIME

Running back Alex Green was a handful for the Wolf Pack yesterday and he isn't making it easy on his coaches, either.

After running for a UH season-high 70 yards on 10 carries, Green has the coaches reevaluating who will start at the position Saturday against Utah State.

"As a coaching staff, we're going to have some discussions," said head coach Greg McMackin. "But he ran the ball real hard and we'd like to find a way to get him in there more."

Senior Leon Wright-Jackson has started all eight games at running back this season. He had 33 yards on six carries against Nevada.

The biggest thing holding back Green, a junior college transfer, was his blocking, UH coaches said.

"I've been working hard on that, trying to learn from (Jayson) Rego, Leon and the others," Green said.

Green's 10 carries were the most by a UH running back this year. "That felt good," Green said, after coming from a junior college (Butte Community College in Oroville, Calif.) where he regularly carried 20 times a game. "I liked getting the ball like that (yesterday), but I'll do whatever the team needs."