Alema Kapoi takes his responsibility to his team and his school very seriously.

The Kamehameha senior defensive lineman is just one of the players that third-year coach Doug Cosbie will be counting on to lead this year's squad.

"Alema is just a beast," Cosbie said of the 6-foot, 265-pound Kapoi. "He's an all-state track guy, he's really explosive, he's got a lot of leverage and he's just a thick, explosive inside player."

For Kapoi, however, it's a privilege to simply don the blue and white of Kamehameha.

"We have a history of defense at our school, especially on the defensive line," Kapoi said. "We've had countless years of Division I (collegiate) defensive linemen, so it's an honor to just play d-line at this school."

One of them — defensive end Mika Tafua — is now preparing for his first season at Brigham Young after anchoring the Warriors' front seven the past two years.

"He was just a guy who puts his head down and works everyday," Kapoi said of Tafua. "From my sophomore year I was never the talker in front, but I'm trying to get more into that role this year."

Another defensive standout — cornerback Dylan Kane — has also graduated and is now an Oregon Duck, but Cosbie is confident this year's team can fill the void left behind by both Tafua and Kane.

"The defense is really good; I think there's seven returning starters and five of the front six are returners, some of them three-year starters," Cosbie said. "They're really active, really physical."

Inside linebackers Tainoa Foster and Wesley Faagau are among those returning starters.

"They're both really talented," Cosbie said. "Tainoa is getting a lot of attention because he's a little bit longer and maybe a little more athletic, but they both started last year as juniors. Wesley was on varsity as a sophomore. Tainoa was on JV as a sophomore, but he learned a lot last year."

Cosbie has had the benefit of solid defensive units in his first two seasons, but he said this year's group may be even better.

"I think, as a team, we're a little stronger, a little quicker and a little more athletic than we have been in the past few years — not that we weren't before — but this is probably the strongest, most athletic team and probably the deepest," Cosbie said."We don't have a big-time D1 recruit, but we have a lot of good football players."

While the Warriors may be without a "big-time D1 recruit" in Cosbie's eyes, they have benefitted from a couple indirectly.

Kapoi is hoping to draw from his time growing up alongside former Kapolei All-Hawaii tackle, Micah Kapoi.

"He's a great offensive lineman," Alema Kapoi said of his older brother. "He goes to offensive line university pretty much over at Wisconsin, so one-on-one's in the backyard and all that stuff helps all the time."

On the other side of the ball, senior Kumoku Noa, is in a similar spot as the younger brother of former-Punahou and current-Cal Berkeley wide receiver Kanawai Noa.

"He taught me a lot about getting open and expecting the ball on each play," said Kumoku Noa, the youngest of nine brothers. "A lot of people ask me about my older brothers and it's good because I look up to them as role models, so I don't want to be like them, but I want to be better than them."

In addition to Noa — who led the team in both receiving yards (462) and receiving touchdowns (6) last year — the Warriors also return starting quarterback Fatu Sua-Godinet (1,468 pass yards, 560 rush yards, 18 total TDs) and running back Jordan Bayudan (510 rush yards, 10 rush TDs, 7.4 yards per carry).

"Fatu is one of the best players on the island and arguably one of the best athletes in the ILH. He's a three-sport guy, a really good basketball player, good track guy, so we're going to try to use him every way we can; He's going to be tired," Cosbie said. "He's still going to be our quarterback and we're going to try to get him involved on special teams, defense, some at receiver."

Bayudan, who stepped into the starting role last year after an ACL injury to Kaulana Apelu, ranked third in the ILH D1 in rushing last year.

"Hopefully he can build on what he did last year after (Apelu) got hurt," Cosbie said. "It was a big blow to us and Jordan stepped up. I think he surprised the coaches and maybe himself a little bit. I think the thing that we found out was that he's a lot tougher runner than he kind of looks like because his style is pretty smooth and it's not real violent moves."

There are, however, a few "new" faces around on the coaching staff this year.

The Warriors have first-year coordinators this year in Parker Bode (offense) and James McClure (defense), but Cosbie said the transition has been as smooth as can be expected at this point.

"It's easy because we're running the same system on offense and defense and James has been a varsity coach for a long time; he was d-line coach, linebackers' coach, he was the coordinator on the JV about five years ago, so it's been pretty much seamless," Cosbie said.

Kamehameha last won the Interscholastic League of Honolulu six years ago, a fact that is not lost upon this team.

"Every day we talk about it," Noa said. "We're just too hungry, but we just try to stay quiet and do our jobs, because you never know what's going to happen.

Cosbie, who is 14-5 in his two seasons at the helm of the Warriors, is optimistic.

"Our kids are ready," Cosbie said. "I think we're in the best place we've been since I've been here and so if we can keep progressing, good. If not, then we'll need a little more luck."