"Potato dumpling!" the Fresno heckler repeatedly yelled last week as quarterback Inoke Funaki made the walk to the Hawai'i football locker room after the Warriors' road victory.

"I don't know what a potato dumpling is," Funaki said. "I'll take it as a compliment. It sounds like a really delicious food."

It was a reference to a gnocchi (pronounced noh-kee) potato dumpling, which was a play on Funaki's first name, which was an acknowledgement that Funaki had made a name for himself. Hecklers do not research second-tier players.

"That was funny," quarterbacks coach Nick Rolovich said. "I used to deliver pizza when I was in high school. I worked in an Italian restaurant. I know what a gnocchi is."

Here's some more food for thought: A week after being hissed by the home crowd, Funaki has earned respect and gained confidence entering tonight's homecoming game against Louisiana Tech at Aloha Stadium.

Funaki, at the controls of a modified offense, led the Warriors last week in Fresno, passing for 170 yards and two touchdowns. He was not intercepted.

"He's showing a lot of comfort" in the offense, Rolovich said.

During this week's practice, Funaki made a "level-5 read" on a play, the gold standard in UH's offense, the equivalent of a 55 rating in Call of Duty 4.

"It's top notch," Rolovich said. "It's seeing everything."

Funaki said he feels comfortable in the modified offense, which incorporates rollouts. It is an alteration to the classic run-and-shoot offense in which the quarterback throws mostly out of the pocket. In the new scheme, the pocket can move laterally or Funaki can scramble outside of the protection.

"We didn't build a new offense, we modified it," Rolovich said. "Ninety percent of the plays we run now we would have run in the first week of practice. We put in a few things to keep (the defense) off guard."

Still, Rolovich said, Funaki "will have to make the throws. He's not (former Nebraska quarterback) Tommie Frazier."

Funaki said: "I was struggling to run the run-and-shoot the way it was supposed to be run. I don't consider myself a stereotypical run-and-shoot quarterback, like Colt Brennan, who has a really good, accurate arm, and is really good in the pocket, and can make all of those great throws. I wish I were. I'm trying to get to that point."

But Funaki is a more elusive runner than his predecessors, a line that includes Rolovich, and that threat puts pressure on defenses. If a "spy" defender is assigned to track Funaki, it takes away a player from the middle.

He said he learned toughness growing up with older brothers.

"You have your battles when you're playing sports with one another," Funaki said. "Basketball turns into no-rules basketball."

At a young age, he learned to be resourceful. His family owned a farm on the North Shore. On weekends, he was supposed to help plant taro and the root plants to make tapioca.

"We didn't want to go there in the first place," Funaki said. "We always complained. We always tried to get away from doing the work. We'd make mudballs, or we'd take rocks, and we'd throw it at each other. We were hiding behind bushes, and throwing them at each other."

Yes, he said, back then was when "literally, I started throwing the rock."

Now, he said: "I'm trying to get used to this whole offense. Hopefully, we'll get it working. It doesn't matter what they call it, as long as we can move the ball and get some points."

Visit Tsai's blog at http://warriorbeat.honadvblogs.com.