He was an all-state quarterback in Colorado. He has the genealogy. His father even knows Hawai'i football coach June Jones.

But Arizona sophomore closer Daniel Schlereth knew for some time that he wasn't going to be following his father's cleat marks into the NFL. Mark Schlereth played offensive line 12 years, six each with the Washington Redskins and Denver Broncos and was a member of three Super Bowl championship teams. He is an NFL analyst with ESPN.

"I've talked to him about this a bunch of times and he almost kind of made me lean away from the sport of football because of all the injuries he's had," Schlereth said of his father's advice. "He said baseball's a lot easier on your body. You can have a longer career playing baseball, so no matter how much I told myself I was going to play football, there was no way of that happening."

Schlereth is here with the No. 24 Wildcats (13-5), who will play the Rainbows (14-6) in a three-game series starting tonight. Schlereth said his parents, Mark and Lisa, will be attending the games. His mother, in fact, attended UH for two years, he said. Schlereth is no stranger to Hawai'i, having visited a number of times because he has relatives here.

The way things look, it appears Schlereth has made a sound decision to play baseball. As a redshirt freshman last year, after transferring from UNLV, he was pressed into the closer's role when Mark Melancon got hurt. (Melancon, a ninth-round pick by the New York Yankees last June, was on the North Shore Honu in Hawaii Winter Baseball, but left early because of an injury.) Schlereth went 3-1 with a 4.56 earned run average and notched seven saves.

"We put him in a tough spot last year," Arizona coach Andy Lopez said. "He scuffled around a little bit, but did a good job at the end."

After fall workouts, Lopez wanted to see Schlereth as a starter. Schlereth started the second game of the season against Gonzaga, lasting 2 1/3 innings, giving up two runs and four walks with two strikeouts.

Schlereth, a 6-foot-1, 210-pound left-hander, said being a closer matches his personality.

"I definitely have the makeup of a closer because I'm just kind of chaotic and what not," he said. "I like to come in when the game's really close."

Schlereth is picking up where he left off. He is 1-0 with a 1.46 ERA and four saves. He has 24 strikeouts in 12 1/3 innings.

"Since we put him back, he's done a very good job," Lopez said. "If anything, I'm not using him enough. We may be doing that here as soon as we can."

NOTE

Andy Lopez, who coached at Pepperdine and Florida before becoming Arizona's coach in 2002, confirmed he was approached about the UH coaching job that eventually went to Mike Trapasso.

"They called me when Coach Les (Murakami) was kind of going out," he recalled. "I told them that we would talk at the appropriate time. Things just didn't pan out after that."

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.