The early signing period allowed for football this year has made recruiting a little different this year.
Some of Hawaii’s top recruits in the class of 2018 are taking that opportunity to sign early, including Pearl City’s Zion Tupuola-Fetui.
The 6-foot-4, 250-pound defensive end at Pearl City looks like a perfect fit at BUCK linebacker for the Washington Huskies. Tupuola-Fetui signed his national letter of intent this morning before school started.
Tupuola-Fetui, who chose Washington over an impressive list of offers including California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Oregon State, Vanderbilt and Washington State, stayed true to the school who offered him first.
For our full list of recruits, check out our Football Recruiting Tracker.
Other recruits to sign:
>> Kamehameha’s Jonah Welch, a 6-foot-2, 230-pound linebacker prospect, had been committed to Navy for about a month before announcing on Twitter yesterday he was opening up his recruiting process.
That sure didn’t take long.
Welch flipped his commitment and announced his decision to stay home and play for the University of Hawaii.
There's no need for ⭐️'s now. They don't mean anything, time for a new chapter in my life. #GoBows 🌈 pic.twitter.com/brKOGnmJth
— JKW (@jonah_41) December 20, 2017
That gives Hawaii two of the top 10 recruits in the state this year in Welch and Saint Louis QB Chevan Cordeiro. Cordeiro just signed his letter of intent along with teammate Kai Kaneshiro. WR Jonah Panoke, a UH commit, will not be signing with the Rainbow Warriors today.
>> The No. 1 high school prospect from Hawaii for 2018, Waianae linebacker Kana’i Mauga, has officially signed with Southern California.
Welcome to the #TrojanFamily, @kanai_mauga! The No. 1 LB in Hawai’i is headed to SC! #F18HTON pic.twitter.com/DBb3MYZeDq
— USC Trojans (@USC_Athletics) December 20, 2017
>> Former Saint Louis defensive back Luca Vartic, who spent two years at Arizona Western, has officially signed with UNLV.
Officially a Rebel! Help us welcome @lucavartic to the Rebel Football Family. #NSD18 pic.twitter.com/QujN0I6Z9G
— UNLV Football (@unlvfootball) December 20, 2017
>> Kapolei’s Kukea Emmsley, who announced before the start of the season he had committed to Boise State, has made it official with the Broncos. Emmsley (6-5, 230) had offers from Air Force, Army, Boise State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Idaho, Navy, Oregon and Oregon State.
>> Utah State welcomes Punahou defensive tackle Hale Motu’apuaka.
Welcome to the #AggieFamily!
DL – Hale Motu'apuaka from Honolulu, HI. #MeetTheChallenge#AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/e2SVtpXIf7— USU Football (@USUFootball) December 20, 2017
>> Motu’apuaka’s teammate at Punahou, offensive lineman Alama Uluave, is second among Hawaii high school seniors with 11 total offers: Air Force, Army, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Hawaii, San Diego State, Syracuse, Texas Tech, UNLV, Washington State. Uluave, who is 6-foot-4 and 275 pounds and has a brother, Semisi, at Cal, is not expected to sign early according to Punahou coach Kale Ane.
>> Former Kalani defensive lineman Sione Vea, who now goes by Sione Vea-Kava, played at East Los Angeles Junior College this past season and will make the big jump to the Pac-12 and play for the Oregon Ducks.
MONSTER IN THE TRENCHES!! WELCOME TO THE DUCK "FAMILI" 🇹🇴🐥 @SIONEKAVA_676 #WARDADDIES #GoDucks #brOtherhood18 pic.twitter.com/BfnBjGn0TU
— Mario Cristobal (@coach_cristobal) December 20, 2017
>> Oregon State posted the following video breaking down safety signee Isaiah Tufaga of Saint Louis.
Timberrr! Hear about @IsaiahTufaga from @JakeCookus #BTD18 #GoBeavs pic.twitter.com/9lru0naip5
— Oregon State Football (@BeaverFootball) December 20, 2017
>> The recruit with more offers than anybody else with ties to Hawaii was junior-college product Jonathan “Pono” Lolohea. Lolohea, who is 6-foot-3 and 315 pounds, played this past season at Copiah-Lincoln Community College before starting his JUCO career at Los Angeles Valley J.C.
Lolohea originally had committed to Kansas but backed off that pledge. Out of 23 total offers, he is officially a Washington State Cougar for 2018.
Welcome to the WSU Cougar Family, @Pono_Lolohea! #GoCougs #JoinTheHunt pic.twitter.com/yfbunl4ZIF
— WSU Cougar Football (@wsucougfb) December 20, 2017
>> A total of eight high school seniors take advantage of the early signing day.
How come Panoke not signing today? Decommit?
I Hope Faumui (Kapolei) signs with Notre Dame and plays with Amosa-Tagovailoa🤙
Panoke is gonna wait till Feb sources say