With a new coaching staff on board, seniority doesn’t count for much in the competition for positions on the Hawaii offensive line.

Then again, upperclassmen are pretty scarce within the group anyway.

First-year offensive line coach Chris Wiesehan took over leadership of a 12-member unit that includes just one senior and two juniors this spring and featured three freshmen and two sophomores in the first unit at times in Thursday’s practice.

"It’s a big learning curve. There’s very limited experience up front and it is a transition from what they’ve done in the past," Wiesehan said, referring to the conversion from the run-and-shoot to a pro-style blocking scheme.

"Three-point stances are new. The run blocking, communication across the board is new. But there’s a willingness and an eagerness to learn. They are playing with effort. We have to keep the gas on the fire and keep challenging them."

Wiesehan, who also holds the title of run game coordinator, certainly isn’t lacking in fire during practices, whether instructing, encouraging or admonishing the linemen through drills designed to get them accustomed to a system that places a heavier emphasis on run blocking.

"We’re new and he has to drill this stuff into us," sophomore center Kody Afusia said. "It’s a lot to learn at once, but you have to do what you have to do."

The Warriors started senior-laden offensive lines the past two seasons and the arrival of a new staff put the returning linemen on equal standing entering spring practice.

On Thursday, the first line included freshmen Blake Muir and Ben Dew at left tackle and guard, freshman Ben Clarke at center, sophomore David Lefotu at right guard with freshman Sean Shigematsu and sophomore Jordan Loeffler rotating at right tackle.

Afusia, junior guards Chauncy Winchester-Makainai and Hunter Hollowed, and sophomore tackle Frank Loyd were in the next unit.

The combinations tend to be fluid from practice to practice, however, depending on performance.

"We’re going to put heat on you every rep of every practice," Wiesehan said. "That’s globally throughout our team."

Lefotu, Shigematsu and tackle Levi Legay — the lone senior in the group — are the only linemen with Division I starting experience.

Legay has suited up for practices, but a back ailment has kept him out of much of the action so far. Shigematsu started two games as a freshman last fall but suffered a season-ending knee injury in the second week and is applying for a medical hardship. UH’s incoming signing class included three more offensive linemen, junior college transfer Mike Milovale and incoming freshmen Leo Kolomatagi and Kiha Sai.

Clarke, a grayshirt freshman, is the youngest member of the current unit. He graduated from Chatfield (Colo.) High in 2011 and attended UH as a part-time student last semester. He paid his own tuition in the fall and went on scholarship this spring.

"The speed, the tempo is insane compared to high school," Clarke said. "It’s so much faster, everyone’s bigger, but I’m getting used to it."

Along with triggering each play, centers Clarke and Afusia bear the added responsibility of coordinating communication within the line.

"We have to be talking to everybody," Afusia said. "If our centers aren’t talking, then our line is not going to be a unit, we’re just going to fall apart. So it’s a big job. Both of us know what we have to do."

Clarke was recruited by the previous coaching staff and came from a passing system in high school, but "I think most O-linemen like the run," he said, "love to get in there and get dirty."

But amid the changes in staff and philosophy, the impact of the line’s play on the fortunes of the offense remains constant.

"You can’t win if you don’t win up front on either side of the ball," Wiesehan said. "There’s nowhere to hide up there."