Hawaii football player Kody Afusia expressed a willingness to accept any assignment. On Wednesday, he was asked to cross the line.

"It was pretty last moment," said Afusia, the Warriors’ backup center. "We were in the morning workouts and one of our (graduate assistants) pulled me out. I thought we were going to watch films. He said Coach (Lewis) Powell wanted to move me to the D-line."

The Warriors had been running low on interior linemen on defense. Nose tackle Moses Samia is scheduled to undergo surgery for a season-ending ACL injury in his right knee. Defensive tackle Calen Field will not play this year while recovering from a fractured ankle.

"We’re down, bro," said Powell, who coaches the defensive line. "Usually we travel with five D-tackles. Now we have three. We needed some bodies to help us out."

The Warriors will use defensive ends Tavita Woodard and Marcus Malepeai to help at tackle. But while scanning the roster on Tuesday night, Powell focused on Afusia, who was named his league’s defensive player of the year as an Ocean View High senior in 2009.

"He’s athletic," Powell said. "He plays with good pad level. He’s played a little D-line before, so this isn’t anything new for him. He can help us out."

Afusia participated in individual drills at defensive tackle. During line drills, he was used as a center before returning to defense.

"I was pretty rusty at first," Afusia said, noting that some skill sets are used on both sides of the line. "You have to play at pad level and you have to keep your hands inside. It was a first day, I’ll leave it at that. I’ll get better from that."

Afusia said he expects to get a quicker start on defense. As a center, he had a hand on the football. At defensive tackle, he will have a hand on the ground.

"It’s better now because all of my weight will be on my front hand," Afusia said. "I can burst off."

Afusia redshirted as a freshman in 2010 and played in 10 games at center and guard in 2011. With the graduations of Matagisila Lefiti and London Sapolu, the starting center’s job was vacated. Ben Clarke, a grayshirt who joined the Warriors in January, was named the No. 1 center exiting spring training. Clarke started this season’s first two games.

Afusia, meanwhile, has remained upbeat.

"You can’t get frustrated," he said. "If you have a bad attitude, you’re going to have a bad practice. I’ve noticed a couple of times I’ve come in (angry) because of stuff that didn’t go the way I wanted it to. But if you look at things in a positive way, things will turn out better. That’s what I’ve been noticing."

Afusia has met one of his goals, decreasing his weight to 295 pounds from 310 in 2011.

His next goal is to get playing time.

"I’ll do whatever the coaches ask me to do," Afusia said. "Right now, it’s to fill in on the D-line."