Osamu Kobanzame

Kobanzame is the short, nervous captain of the Kyoshin Poseidon. He and the other third-year players on the team are of below-average height, as opposed to the extremely tall underclassmen on the team. Kobanzame has a tendency to stutter and mess up quotations in his attempts to raise the morale of the team. According to the mangaka, Kobanzame is one of the shyest characters in the series, second only to Sena. He is often unsure of what to do and will usually wait for Kakei to decide on something before claiming to have thought of the exact same thing, in a half-hearted attempt to appear to have some capacity for leadership. Kobanzame additionally has a tendency to complain a lot, but he is extremely dedicated to helping his team to win in any way possible - he actually completed the same amount of training as the diligent Kengo Mizumachi prior to the tournament. He also resorts to spying on opposing teams to help his teammates to win as a way of making up for his lack of athleticism. After Kyoshin is eliminated from the tournament, he tearfully states that although his dreams of winning the championship are over, and his final year with the Poseidon was his hardest, it was also the most enjoyable.

Kobanzame is very short, especially for a quarterback, and is also slow and physically weak. His lack of self-confidence also makes him generally unsuited for his position as captain. While he lacks natural skill and a commanding personality, Kobanzame is well-respected for his hard work and mistake-free play as a quarterback. He never throws an interception throughout the tournament, and reacts quickly to rushing defenders by immediately but safely getting rid of the ball, preventing both turnovers and sacks (although in the anime he throws a single interception against the Devil Bats when Hiruma frightens him into making a mistake). Additionally, in the anime only, his ability to escape being tackled is a key aspect of the "Tempest Formation", an offensive strategy of throwing quick, short passes to his receivers.