TUCSON, Ariz. >>> As Sani Fuimaono strode toward the University of Arizona’s glimmering Lowell Stevens Football Facility Thursday a teammate stopped and waited as if to deferentially hold open the door for him.

Then Fuimaono, the defensive tackle known as “Dad” and “Pops” to his fellow Wildcats, smiled.

“I guess I’m the old man of the team,” acknowledged the 24-year old Fuimaono. “What can I say?”

Even at that age — some graduate assistant coaches on the UA staff are older — the 2010 Punahou School graduate more than holds his own on the field, where he has started 20 games over his career.

That another one of them will be against the University of Hawaii Saturday at Arizona Stadium is something he has looked forward to.

“When I first heard (last year) that we were going to play Hawaii this year I thought they were joking at first,” Fuimaono said. “Then, I saw it on the board (in the football operations office) and I started getting excited. My only wish is that it was back home.”

For that Fuimaono would have to wait another three years to 2019 when the Wildcats are contracted to play in Aloha Stadium. But it is already six years since he was a wrestling and football standout at Punahou and if time has flown, then Fuimaono has enjoyed the flight.

He’s played a lot of football, done a two-year church mission to Chile, married, started a family and gotten an education. “I’ve been blessed,” Fuimaono said.

Head coach Rich Rodriguez praises not only Fuimaono’s steady play but his maturity and leadership examples, saying, “He is such a neat guy … a mature young man.”

But there is significantly less of him this season. After playing nose guard at as much as 315 pounds on a 6-foot, 1-inch frame, Fuimaono dedicated himself in the offseason to fitting the leaner, quicker profile of the new defense employed by Marcel Yates, a former Boise State defensive coordinator. With a change in defensive staffs, the Wildcats have moved away from the 3-3-5 scheme that had called on him to be a rock, the point-holder at nose guard.

Now, as a defensive tackle expected to beat blocks and get up field, he weighs in at 271. “It was difficult giving up the rice and carbs, the ice cream and cheese; it took discipline, but I’ve never felt better,” Fuimaono said.

He is part of what his coaches have termed their “lightening” unit for its quickness and agility. They average 251 pounds per man across the front, lightest in the Pac-12 Conference.

“You can see that other teams kind of laugh (at that), but we play with confidence and we really bring it,” Fuimaono said.

In two games of a 1-1 start, the Wildcats have forced six turnovers and made six sacks while yielding an average of just 136.5 yards rushing per game.

“We play hard and, like the saying goes, its not the size of the dog in the fight, it is the size of the fight in the dog and that’s us. It is basically understanding who you are and giving all you’ve got.”

In that the Wildcats need just look at their “Pops.”

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.