Kennedy Tulimasealii is sporting a new look for yet another spring transition.

Heading toward his senior season under a new coaching regime, the University of Hawaii defensive lineman reported for spring practice about 10 pounds leaner than his playing weight last season and isn’t really sure how he did it.

“There’s no ‘diet’ in my vocabulary,” Tulimasealii said with a laugh.

“I just pretty much eat. I honestly don’t know how I lost weight. It went just like that. This is the lightest I’ve ever been since eighth grade.”

Tulimasealii said he weighs between 265 and 270 pounds and the pounds that dropped off during the offseason conditioning program were balanced by gains in strength and quickness as he adjusts to his role in the system implemented by the new UH coaching staff headed by Nick Rolovich.

“I’m loving the tempo,” Tulimasealii said after the Rainbow Warriors’ high-energy session in Rolovich’s first practice as head coach Tuesday morning.

Rolovich leads a coaching staff stocked with former UH players and coaches, including defensive coordinator Kevin Lempa, who returns to the position he held from 2000 to 2002.

Lempa is the fourth defensive coordinator to arrive in Manoa since Tulimasealii and the unit’s other fourth-year seniors joined the program in 2013. Tulimasealii broke in with Thom Kaumeyer, then played for Kevin Clune and Tom Mason the past two seasons. He’s also adjusting to his third position coach, with Legi Suiaunoa taking over the defensive line following Lewis Powell and Lance Samuseva.

“Just take it one moment at a time,” Tulimasealii said of learning another system. “It feels like something new. You just have to get used to it and keep going. It’s the way of the game.”

Listed as a defensive end in UH’s 3-4 scheme last season,Tulimasealii led UH with 181⁄2 tackles for loss, 31⁄2 sacks and eight quarterback hurries while earning first-team All-Mountain West Conference honors.

This spring, he’s lining up as one of the tackles in the four-man front Lempa plans to install over the team’s 15 practices.

“I play more inside now, nothing I’m not used to from the past years and even my high school years,” said Tulimasealii, formerly an All-State lineman at Waianae. “Nothing I haven’t recognized and just gotta build more on top of it and I’m loving it right now.”

Although Tuesday’s practice was Lempa’s first opportunity to work with the Warriors defense on the field, Tulimasealii’s performances on game tapes left an impression with the new DC.

“He’s an interesting player. He’s not very big, but he’s very powerful and very quick,” Lempa said. “We’re going to have a four-man front with a lot of twists … so there’ll be a lot of movement and that’s his strength.”

While Tulimasealii said he feels he’s moving well at his lower weight, he expects to put a few pounds back on before the season, “just in a better way.”

“I feel like I got even stronger just because of the training we did this whole spring,” Tulimasealii said. “I feel like my strength is taking over for the weight that I lost.

“Especially playing inside, if I lose something I have to gain something else. I’m glad I gained some strength, now it’s time to gain good weight.”

After three productive seasons, Tulimasealii’s time in the program is down to about nine months, as he reminded one of the coaches after a team meeting on Monday.

“Just me saying that, it’s weird,” Tulimasealii said.

“But just gotta keep your head straight, stay humble and just do my job. Just do my job and that’ll help everybody else to fit into their jobs.”