This football spring training, University of Hawaii running back Ryan Tuiasoa appears to be lighter.

But appearances are deceptive.

“Everyone is saying that,” Tuiasoa said. “I didn’t lose weight. I actually gained 5 pounds. I changed my body composition.”

By adding muscle definition and losing fat, Tuiasoa has improved his quickness and strength — and gained a busier workload. Complementary running backs Steven Lakalaka and Paul Harris completed their UH eligibility in December.

“There’s no doubt we’ll count on him,” UH coach Nick Rolovich said of Tuiasoa. “His ability to be a major contributor is real.”

Tuiasoa, who is 5 feet 11 and 212 pounds, said he always felt miscast. “It’s a misconception people have about me,” he said. “They think I’m a bruiser, that I’m slow. I never felt I was slow, not even in high school. I ran track.”

In the 2013 ILH track and field championships, Tuiasoa, a Punahou School senior, won the 110-meter high hurdles in 15.61 seconds.

At the end of the 2016 UH season, Tuiasoa decided that if he wanted to go from being anybody to somebody, he needed to reshape his body.

“Something clicked in my head,” said Tuiasoa, who will be a senior this fall. “I wanted to give it my all, whether I got a lot of playing time or not. I wanted to be the best I could be for this team and for this last season.”

Each Sunday morning, Tuiasoa’s mother, Lori, and sisters, Pua and Mele, cook and prepare a week’s worth of meals. “They decided I’m going to be healthy,” said Tuiasoa, who picks up the meals at his parents’ Kailua house and then stores the food in his Honolulu home’s freezer. Pua created the meal plan.

Breakfast consists of a three-egg omelet and a bowl of oatmeal. After the Warriors’ morning practice, he will have a protein shake. The lunch menu is brown rice, vegetables and a portion of salmon, steak or chicken. Dinner is meat and vegetables. He also has specific times at which he will eat a cup of yogurt and take supplements.

“I follow it strictly,” Tuiasoa said. “If they’re going to take their whole morning on Sunday to cook, I’m going to follow through.”

During the offseason, Tuiasoa worked with a personal trainer and participated in UH strength/conditioning coordinator Bubba Reynolds’ workout program. Tuiasoa and a group of teammates also did extra workouts on their own. Observers have noted Tuiasoa’s first-step quickness and burst in scrimmage-like sessions. He rushed for two touchdowns in Tuesday’s red-zone drill.

“I always thought I was a fast runner even though I had a bigger build,” Tuiasoa said. “I think the fat slowed me down. But now that I shed it, I can show people the second-level speed that I have.”

Rolovich conceded Tuiasoa fits the fullback’s profile. “He’s got some physicality, but he does have some speed,” Rolovich said. “It’s a combination that makes him more of an every-down back than a third-down blocking back or short-yardage back. He can do a lot of things for us.”