For the University of Hawaii football team, last semester’s offensive line was just a spring fling.

“The only guy who was here last spring who’s in (this week’s) starting lineup is J.R.,” offensive line coach Mark Weber said of left guard J.R. Hensley.

If the season were to begin today, Hensley, two freshmen, a junior college transfer and a 5-foot-10 center would form the No. 1 offensive line.

Weber, who has 36 years of coaching experience, also is new to the Rainbow Warriors. He was hired in January as the permanent replacement for Chris Naeole, who resigned as line coach during the 2017 season. Weber has coached many of the concepts — six-man protection, inside-zone blocking — that are ingredients of the run-and-shoot offense.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Weber said of the Warriors’ resurrected read-and-attack offense. “It’s a great system.”

Weber said he enjoys developing a youthful line. Left tackle Ilm Manning and right guard Solo Vaipulu are freshmen who enrolled at UH in July. Right tackle Kohl Levao transferred from City College of San Francisco. Kaiwi Chung is a fifth-year senior who was a fullback in 2017.

“The nice thing is we have good competition, and they’re pushing each other,” Weber said. “And there’s good upside with this group because they’re starting from ground zero. So many of them are new.”

Levao, who is 6 feet 6 and 350 pounds, seized a leadership role. He opened training camp at left tackle before moving to the right side to make way for Manning.

“Ilm has extreme athletic ability,” Weber said of Manning.

Vaipulu also is playing with energy and toughness that belie his youth.

“Solo has a very good football IQ,” Weber said. “Those freshmen wouldn’t be in there if they weren’t ready for this. … Those guys can go in — and the other guys can help them out — and they’re learning well. They’re doing a nice job.”

Weber praised Chung, who was an All-State lineman for Kamehameha Schools. Chung has trained under former NFL centers Olin Kreutz and Dominic Raiola.

“He embodies everything that I feel about offensive-line play,” Weber said of Chung. “Now, he has to have great technique because he’s at a disadvantage. But I’ve always said, everybody has some sort of deficiency. So, you’ve got to make up for that deficiency. If you’re short, you’d better be tough, you’d better play your butt off, you’d better be a technician. Those are the things he’s doing right now.”

Weber said Chung should be able to get leverage against taller defensive linemen. “There’s nobody who will get under him,” Weber said.

Weber has tried different combinations in advance of the Aug. 25 opener against Colorado State. Emil Graves, who was the No. 1 right guard in the spring, is getting a look at center. Alex Dalpe, who transferred to UH after one season at Long Beach City College, has practiced at tackle.

“We’ll see how it ends up,” Weber said.