Tonight, the Hawai'i football team opens its season against Central Arkansas.

Yesterday, the Warriors made a down payment on its future, securing a commitment from the top defensive end in American Samoa.

"I'm going to be a Warrior," 6-foot-2, 225-pound David Katina said.

Katina attends Kanana Fou High, which does not field a football team, but plays for Fa'asao Marist High.

"He's an awesome player," Fa'asao coach Time Fitala said. "He's the best defensive end on the island."

Katina also plays offensive tackle, offensive guard, defensive tackle and linebacker. The Samoa News named Katina as the defensive player of the week after he amassed 12 tackles, including four for losses, and two sacks against powerful Samoana High.

"With a little more technique and a little more muscle, he'll be another Fonoti," Fitala said, referring to UH defensive end Fetaiagogo "John" Fonoti. "He's about the same size, same height, same body structure. But he's a younger version."

Katina's siblings are the Katina Brothers, a musical group based in Tennessee.

His father, David Katina Sr., is a pastor and musician who recently moved to Hawai'i.

Katina attended Word of Life Academy as a freshman and Campbell High as a sophomore. He moved back to American Samoa for his junior year. He lives with his grandmother.

He considered attending Campbell this year, but decided to remain in American Samoa to graduate from Kanana Fou.

Katina also plays basketball and volleyball. American Samoa does not have facilities for track and field events.

Katina can run 40 yards in 4.8 seconds, and bench press 315 pounds.

He is scheduled to take a recruiting trip to Hawai'i in November. But he decided to make an early commitment to UH.

He turned down offers from Southern Methodist and Oregon State.

"I always wanted to be a Warrior," he said. "Most of my family went there."

FONOTI MAY MISS OPENER

Katina's idol, Fonoti, might not be available for tonight's game after suffering a bruised left kneecap. No operation is necessary.

The Warriors also will be without middle linebacker Brashton Satele, who underwent season-ending shoulder surgery last week.

But after 2 1/2 weeks of training camp, and another two weeks of practices and meetings crunched into a school schedule, the Warriors are ready for the season's start.

That was apparent during Wednesday's practice, when two usually cool-headed players, slotback Kealoha Pilares and cornerback Jeramy Bryant, shoved each other following a drill.

"I guess nobody wants to lose," Bryant said. "It's game week. He's taking it like we're already in the game. As long as it dies down in the locker room, it's all good. And it died down. We have a lot of respect for each other. Coming here (last year) and seeing what he had already done, that was enough for me to give him respect right away."

Unlike last season, when a starting quarterback was announced on the eve of the season opener, Greg Alexander was awarded the job shortly after the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl in December.

That allowed Alexander to work on quickening his decisions and throws. During spring drills, he even worked on throwing away passes to avoid sacks.

"He's more fluid with his throwing motion and his footwork," quarterbacks coach Nick Rolovich said of Alexander. "He also has a comfort level with the offense. He knows how to anticipate plays. He's doing well with the whole process."

With Alexander set, the coaches were able to develop a hierarchy. In a duel that extended into overtime, Brent Rausch edged Bryant Moniz for the No. 2 job.

Rausch, who had slipped to as low as fourth string last season, appears to be more comfortable this year.

"We've had a good (preseason)," Alexander said. "We threw a ton of balls."

Alexander said the defense helped the offense work on pass protection and recognizing different schemes.

"Our defense brought a lot of blitzes at us," Alexander said. "We were able to see a lot of things. That helped us. There are no concerns about the offensive line. We'll be all right."

The Warriors were able to rebuild a defense that returned only one full-time starter (Fonoti).

Through this week, they still were tinkering. Spencer Smith, who excelled on special teams last year, won a starting job at safety.

Lametrius Davis, who transferred from Butte Community College in January, claimed the left cornerback's job. Davis alternated between corner, where he played in junior college, and safety during spring training. He moved back to cornerback at the start of training camp.

Tank Hopkins appeared to be ahead at left corner before aggravating a sore hip flexor. Hopkins missed four practices, leading to Davis' emergence.

Lewis Walker, who had to endure ailments and his mother's health scare, will be in the rotation at both cornerback positions.

Linebacker was one of the deepest positions in training camp. But Satele was injured, Paipai Falemalu moved to defensive end, and Cory Daniel missed two weeks after contracting pneumonia.

The Warriors will rotate Soares, Mana Lolotai, R.J. Kiesel-Kauhane and Corey Paredes at the three linebacker positions.

They also moved Aaron Brown from safety to outside linebacker. Brown is being brought along slowly, and will mainly play rover in defensive schemes involving five defensive backs or three defensive linemen.

"I think everybody is excited about the opening game," Alexander said. "It's going to be good to see some different faces out there on defense. We're sick of going against our own guys."

Head coach Greg McMackin said: "This will be a good test. You never know until the lights go on. We'll find some guys who step it up when they get the juices going."