Setting up for a quick video, Beau Yap offers to switch places with the interviewer to adjust to the angle of the morning sun.

Once in place, he speaks comfortably about Hawaii’s upcoming senior night game and his memories of playing in Aloha Stadium.

"It’s been a long time since I’ve been playing there and this could possibly be the last time in there," Yap tells the camera. "Just gotta go out with a W and we just have to leave it all out on the field."

Poised and personable, the Rainbow Warrior defensive lineman answers a few more questions about his time at UH and his first experience at Aloha Stadium playing Pop Warner ball before obliging another interview request.

By no means overly verbose nor a camera hog, Yap is simply more at ease in the role after five years in the program, growing from a soft-spoken high schooler into something of a spokesman for both the team and the university as a senior leader.

He ably represented the Warriors at the Mountain West Conference media days along with running back Joey Iosefa in July and was joined by his family in taping a promotional spot for the university now in regular rotation during UH telecasts.

It’s understood that playing football for UH comes with added visibility. Even so, could he have imagined embracing that aspect of college ball when he signed with the program as a Kamehameha senior?

"No," he says with a smile, "No way. … I used to be scared of talking to media. Talking in class was always hard."

Yap tended to shy away from interviews back then and it was action that spoke more forcefully as Yap ascended into a leadership position over the course of his UH career, designated by the C on the upper right corner of his jersey.

"He is the leader of this team," said fellow senior defensive lineman Moses Samia. "The thing about him is he’s vocal and he leads by example. That’s why we all look up to Beau."

Statistically, Yap enters Saturday’s Mountain West Conference home finale against UNLV with 29 career tackles for loss, including 13 sacks. He led the Warriors with 51⁄2 sacks last year and tops that category again this season with 31⁄2 and two games left on the schedule.

He turned in his most productive game of his senior season last Saturday when he posted a career-high eight tackles with a sack as UH ended a 17-game road losing streak with a 13-0 win at San Jose State, the program’s first shutout since 2005.

"We didn’t want to jinx anything so we weren’t saying anything about the shutout," Yap said. "Every series, every play we had to go in and execute and get after the quarterback.

"These last few weeks we’ve been struggling so much on defense and as a team, just getting this victory and a shutout was huge."

Yap’s reputation as a playmaker on the defensive front preceded him when he committed to UH as an All-State lineman at Kamehameha.

Samia shared the dais with Yap at the Sheraton Waikiki at the Pacific Islands Athletic Alliance signing day event in February 2010 as a UH commit out of Saint Louis. While they hadn’t formally met yet, "I knew of him," Samia said.

"That’s Beau Yap. Everybody knows Beau Yap."

College recruiters certainly did and Yap initially committed to Baylor before making his official visit to UH. He went on to Oregon State before the prospect of "staying home, playing in front of my family and friends, representing the state" prompted him to change his pledge to UH the weekend before signing day.

It’s a decision he talks about in the TV spot that also features his mother, Kehau, and father, Boyd, a UH running back in the early 1980s.

"We’re all going to graduate from here and it’s huge because the university has done so much for us," Yap said.

So although Yap has savored just seven wins in three years as a starter, he speaks with fondness of his choice and his time in Manoa.

"I remember (signing day) like it was yesterday. The whole day I was signing and how stressful it was," Yap said. "But looking back on it now, I love the decision I made. No regrets. I’m so happy to play for UH."