The young men who play defensive back for the University of Hawaii football team want to be known as takers in the fall — as in taking the ball away from their opponents.

Now, in the spring, there is focus on giving.

“One of the big things is to let the young guys come alive and become leaders, too,” said junior safety Daniel Lewis. “Part of my job is to make sure I’m giving knowledge to the young guys. Just like the older guys pushed me and energized me.”

UH intercepted 11 passes in 14 games last year. That might not seem like a whole lot, but it is when you compare it to the three of the previous season.

That’s right. Just three interceptions in an entire season.

Cornerback Jalen Rogers — who had one of those three — got more all by himself in 2016, leading UH with four picks.

But, with Rogers now gone, along with Damien Packer and Jamal Mayo, only four of the interceptions from last fall were made by defensive backs still on the team.

Three were by safety Trayvon Henderson and one by cornerback Rojesterman Farris II (who would surely like to have some interception returns as long as his name).

What it all adds up to is pretty simple: When a team intercepts nearly four times as many passes as it did the previous year, it is one of the reasons that team went from 3-10 to 7-7.

Lewis was not part of the pick parade last season, but only because he was lost for the season in the second game, at Michigan, with a sports hernia. He’s still working his way back to full-speed this spring, but is expected to be a big contributor to Hawaii’s defense in the fall.

Lewis broke up three passes in 2015, when he played in 13 games, starting 10. He and Henderson could be one of the Mountain West’s better safety duos in 2017.

However it works out at safety, it will be with a new coach. Jacob Yoro, the newest addition to the UH staff, is tasked with coaching them with Abraham Elimimian, who has overall responsibility for the secondary.

So far, so good, Lewis said of the new command structure.

“The assimilation process has been relatively easy. He’s not trying to force all his ideology down our throats,” Lewis said. “One thing you see right away is how they both have such a genuine love for the game. I’ve seen (Elimimian) come with so much energy and juice every day for years now, and you see that with Coach Yoro, too.”

The goal for spring camp is mostly fine-tuning, Lewis said.

“There are a lot of developmental things, but a lot of things stay the same. More of it now is attention to detail.”

With turnover at both starting cornerback spots and three-quarters of the secondary from last year, Elimimian said it’s back to basics.

“The biggest thing is communication,” said the former four-year UH starter at cornerback. “Alignment, assignment, technique and execution. If we can do that, we’ll win the individual battles. And if we can do that, it brings a winning part to the whole.”

As for communication between the coaches, Elimimian and Yoro are about the same age and have known each other a long time.

“He’s phenomenal. One of the things he and I have done well together so far is bounce things off each other,” Elimimian said. “He’s been a defensive coordinator before too. I ask him, ‘What do you think we should do here?’ I’m really excited to be working with him.”

Yoro was an All-State linebacker at Saint Louis School, and that’s the position he coached at Pacific, where he was also the DC.

“The last two years really prepped me for this,” he said, referring to coaching the safeties at Cal Poly. “The opportunity to coach at home is an awesome situation, getting to be part of creating a foundation for success.”

Yoro fills the opening created when defensive line coach Legi Suiaunoa was promoted to defensive coordinator after Kevin Lempa left for an analyst position at Michigan.

“The most important thing is we have continuity,” Elimimian said of Suiaunoa. “I’m happy for him and for our program.”

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. Click here to read his blog.