Following an unexpectedly light day, Beau Yap didn’t mind bearing the weight of a full set of pads on Saturday.

Twice.

"It was nice to practice again after (Friday’s) walk-through," Yap said.

A day after being limited to a players-only walk-through, the Hawaii football team practiced in full pads for the first time in training camp Saturday morning with another session in the afternoon.

The coaches were back in full voice after being restricted from the field due to Friday’s campus shutdown. The players conducted the walk-through and Yap said the lack of a full practice didn’t amount to a lost day in the Rainbow Warriors’ preparation.

"We just didn’t want to sit around and do nothing because we know we’re playing great teams, Washington and Oregon State, the first two games," said Yap after Saturday’s morning session at Ching Field. "So we know we have to prepare every chance we get. We know how the pace is supposed to be and just did it.

"It was actually real productive," Yap said. "It was more mental than physical, of course, because it was a walk-through, but it was great for both sides of the ball."

One of UH’s most productive defensive linemen the past two years, Yap is now part of a senior class charged with providing leadership heading toward the fall.

"Beau’s by nature not very loud and we don’t need that, we just need his leadership by example," coach Norm Chow said. "He does a tremendous job on and off the field."

A senior on the roster, classifying Yap on the depth chart was a bit tricky at times in the spring.

Yap started 20 games at defensive end and another two at defensive tackle over the past two years in UH’s 4-3 alignment. With first-year defensive coordinator Kevin Clune installing a 3-4 system in the spring, Yap dabbled at outside linebacker as well.

But Clune prefers a broader label.

"He’s a ballplayer," Clune said. "Pretty much if Istuck him at free safety he’d find a way to make plays."

Through the first week of fall camp, Yap has been fixed at defensive end and the 6-foot-2, 260-pound senior’s skill set gives Clune flexibility in devising schemes for the defensive front.

"It’s going to allow us on third down to use him in different ways and use all the pieces in the puzzle in different ways," Clune said.

Yap contributed as a defensive tackle at times in 2012 and earned second-team All-Mountain West Conference honors last season after recording 12 tackles for loss, including a team-high 51/2 sacks from a defensive end spot.

As a defensive end in the new system, Yap can pull from both experiences.

"(Defensive ends will) have to hunker down in the B-gap (across from a guard) sometimes, they’ll slant all the way to the A-gap, they’ll be outside in contain," Clune said. "We’re asking them to do a lot of different stuff."

Although the unit is learning a new defense, experience on the defensive line figures to be one of the Warriors’ strengths with the return of Yap along with fellow fifth-year seniors Moses Samia and Marcus Malepeai and sophomore Kennedy Tulimasealii.

"We’re even tighter in our fundamentals and technique, we know how to play with each other, where each other is going to be and we trust each other," Yap said.