Former University of Hawai'i quarterback Timmy Chang has been released by an NFL team for the second time this month.

Chang, who passed for an NCAA record 17,072 career yards with Hawai'i, was cut by the Detroit Lions yesterday, just four days after signing with the team.

On Aug. 9, Chang was released by the Arizona Cardinals, who signed him after he was not chosen in the NFL draft.

Yesterday, Detroit coach Steve Mariucci said releasing Chang was part of a numbers game.

"My conversation with him was that we brought him in to take a look at him," Mariucci said on www.detroitlions.com. "We had to waive one of the quarterbacks because we had five and that's a little heavy for now. We thought we needed to waive one of them."

Joey Harrington and Jeff Garcia are the top two quarterbacks for the Lions, with Dan Orlovsky considered No. 3.

Mariucci said that if Harrington and Garcia were not performing on Friday in a preseason game at Buffalo, and Orlovsky were to go down, Chang would not be ready to step in.

"If (Orlovsky is) the guy who gets a hang nail or something and has to come out of the game, Timmy Chang is really not prepared to finish a game off," Mariucci said. "We thought that Todd Mortenson (another QB) would give us a better chance to do that in case Dan got hurt."

Mariucci went on to say that he has not determined who the team will keep on its practice squad.

"Some teams will add a quarterback," he said. "We haven't determined that yet. It just depends on how the roster falls."