Just minutes after knocking heads with his University of Hawai'i football teammates for the first time this spring, junior defensive end John Fonoti already wanted more.

"Feels hella good," Fonoti said after the Warriors' two-hour practice yesterday. "I can't wait until we get more contact."

For the first time during spring drills, the Warriors practiced in full gear yesterday.

"I always thought football was a contact sport," defensive coordinator Cal Lee said. "If you don't make contact, you're not playing the game."

The contact was limited yesterday — there was no "live" tackling — but the Warriors were instructed to practice at full speed.

"We had to talk about the rules," Hawai'i head coach Greg McMackin said. "We don't want to hurt anybody ... practice pro style."

The most contact came during one-on-one drills between the offensive and defensive linemen. The offensive linemen tried to pass protect; the defensive linemen tried to rush an imaginary passer.

Not surprisingly, each side claimed victory.

"I think you have to give a little edge to the defense," senior defensive lineman David Veikune said. "But the offense has a lot of new guys, and they're the ones who have to read us, so we probably should be ahead right now."

Several of the veteran defensive linemen were impressive yesterday, including Fonoti, Veikune and Keala Watson.

"This is the kind of stuff you can't do in the offseason — going full speed with pads on," Watson said. "It was good for the young guys to get into it and get that game experience, and good for the returning guys to stay ahead of the game."

The defensive line is considered one of the team's strengths, and its strength may be in numbers.

"We definitely want to use a lot of guys on the (defensive) line, provided we have the people who can play without a dropoff," Cal Lee said. "The way it looks now, we feel like we have several guys who can contribute. That will help us keep guys fresh."

The Warriors have new defensive line coaches this season in Dave Aranda and Ikaika Malloe. Because of that, even the returning players feel like they are newcomers this spring.

"Coach Malloe and coach Aranda told us that spring ball is going to be used to evaluate the players," Watson said. "There are no starters right now, and it could change every day. That means you have to go all out every play."

The offensive linemen had their moments yesterday, too, during the drills against the defense.

"I would say it was a tie, but that's like a win for us because we have younger guys on offense," offensive tackle Keoni Steinhoff said. "If we can compete with the defense every day, that's only going to make us better. Our (defensive) front seven is one of the best in the nation, so we have to work hard to keep up."

Guard Lafu Tuioti-Mariner and tackle Ray Hisatake drew praise from McMackin. Hisatake even got a high-five from the head coach after one of the drills.

After the one-on-one drills, the offensive and defensive linemen greeted each other with hugs and high-fives.

"That's what coach (McMackin) brings to the practice field — he always stresses 'ohana," Watson said. "Before we started, he told us what to do and what not to do. We all have to give 100 percent, but you have to respect your teammates. That's why you didn't see any cheap shots, nothing like that."

Steinhoff said: "There's always going to be that offense versus defense thing, but in the end, we're one big family and we have to look out for each other. We all respect each other."

After the one-on-one drills, the offensive and defensive units met at midfield for an 11-on-11 session — without the tackling. The projected starters and reserves shared equal time on both sides of the ball.

"That's when I wanted to get in some real hits," Veikune said. "So I'm kind of bummed about that. But it was still good just to get that feeling of hitting, period. Today was a good day."