For some, summer is about relaxing with a day at the beach, a plate lunch and shave ice. For Navy quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada, summer means it's time to roll up his sleeves for some old-fashioned hard work.

Kaheaku-Enhada, a 2004 graduate of Kapolei, will enter fall camp as the starting quarterback for the Midshipmen, who have led the country in rushing with their triple-option attack for the past three seasons.

"I haven't come home (to Hawai'i) any summer since I got here," said Kaheaku-Enhada, a 5-foot-11, 195-pound senior. "We gotta get ready for the season. You don't want to be the team that drops the ball."

Navy, which finished with an 8-5 record in 2007, won the past five Commander-In-Chief Trophies — which goes to the winner of the annual series among the Air Force, Army and Navy — and qualified for postseason in each of those seasons.

"Our goals are always the same and that is to win the Commander-in-Chief Trophy and to win a bowl game," said Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo, who replaced former Hawai'i assistant Paul Johnson after Johnson took over at Georgia Tech in December. "Our expectations this year are to again achieve those two goals."

Niumatalolo, who prepped at Radford before going on to play and coach at Hawai'i, knows much of the expected success for the upcoming season will depend on his quarterback.

Last year, Kaheaku-Enhada carried 180 times for 834 yards and 12 touchdowns. He also completed 55 of 98 passes for 952 yards with eight touchdowns and five interceptions.

"He has a great grasp of what we're doing offensively," said Niumatalolo, who is said to be the first head coach of Samoan ancestry in NCAA history. "He played in this offense back at Kapolei and was coached by John Hao and Michael Carter there. Just like Colt Brennan's probably seen every blitz in that pass offense, Kaipo's seen every option stunt there is."

Ivin Jasper, a former Hawai'i quarterback now in his ninth year in Annapolis, has worked with Kaheaku-Enhada on the finer points of quarterbacking.

"As far as running the option, he was pretty much well-schooled in high school and that made it easier for me as a coach," Jasper said. "He's by far the best option quarterback I've had as far as reading it, understanding it and knowing when to pitch it and to keep it, but we wanted to develop his throwing ability. We don't throw it a lot, but when we do throw it, we want to be effective."

Kaheaku-Enhada acknowledged he's had to work on his passing.

"I'm terrible at passing and I'm still terrible at passing," he joked. "But luckily for me, we run the option and we'll throw it maybe 10 times a game."

Still, Kaheaku-Enhada's experience makes him the clear-cut leader of the Midshipmen.

"This is going to be almost his third full year of starting and for us as a staff and program, that gives us great confidence to know we got a guy back there who's taken us to South Bend (Ind.), in front of 90,000 fans and helped us beat them," Niumatalolo said of Navy's breakthrough 46-44 triple overtime win over Notre Dame that snapped a 43-game losing streak to the Fighting Irish.

"When we recruited Kaipo out of high school, I remember talking to (Kapolei) coach (Darren) Hernandez and going over to Kaipo's house and to see where he is now is a testament to the work he put in," Niumatalolo said. "As a football player, he's come a long way, and as a person, he came here as a kid and now he's a young man."

Part of Kaheaku-Enhada's maturation process included becoming a team leader.

"He was a little disappointed that he wasn't voted as a team captain," said Jasper, who took over as offensive coordinator. "But I'm expecting him to be a team leader and I really want him to take control of the team because he's still the guy they're going to look to to guide us."

Kaheaku-Enhada was limited during spring practices because of offseason knee surgery.

"I'm about 90 percent right now. It still gets a little fatigued here and there," he said. "I'll be getting back to 100 percent soon. I have to get in there and set the tone early (in fall camp) so that they know they can depend on me."

Navy opens at home against Towson, of the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA), on Aug. 30.