UH signs UCLA transfer Ulu-Perry

The University of Hawaii football team’s holiday-season present is offensive lineman Fred Ulu-Perry’s presence.

“He’s pretty good,” UH coach Nick Rolovich said of one of the nation’s top high school seniors last year. “We’re happy to have him back.”

After securing a scholarship release from UCLA, Ulu-Perry signed a scholarship agreement with the Rainbow Warriors on Thursday.

“I felt my heart was always here,” said Ulu-Perry, who will enroll at UH in January, participate in spring practice, then redshirt in the fall in accordance with NCAA transfer rules. After that he will have three years to play three UH seasons.

As a Saint Louis School senior, Ulu-Perry was rated as ESPN.com’s No. 1 guard and Scout.com’s No. 1 center. Ulu-Perry strongly considered UH before signing a letter of intent with UCLA in February.

“It was kind of close,” said Ulu-Perry, whose UH recruiting visit was the weekend before the signing day.

Ulu-Perry played in eight games this season, with turns at offensive guard, short-yardage runner and defensive tackle. But he twice left the team — for three days in September and, for good, just before the Thanksgiving weekend.

Despite developing friendships and doing well in school, Ulu-Perry said, “things didn’t work out. … When I was at UCLA, my heart was here. I wanted to be home and play for the home team.”

UCLA coach Jim Mora initially decided not to release Ulu-Perry to UH because the teams would meet in the Rose Bowl on Sept. 9, 2017. Without a release, Ulu-Perry would not be allowed to receive a football scholarship from another school for a year. Following talks with Ulu-Perry and grandfather Brian Perry, Mora granted the release, opening the way for the transfer to UH.

“I think Jim Mora deserves a lot of credit for allowing him to come here,” Rolovich said. “I think he did the right thing. Local boy wanted to come home. Not all coaches would have done what Coach Mora did, and we appreciate that.”

Ulu-Perry said, “I thank Jim Mora and (UCLA offensive line coach) Adrian Klemm for giving me the opportunity and experience. That’s one of the reasons I went away. I got that experience for six months, and I didn’t really like it.”

Ulu-Perry said he looks forward to working under Chris Naeole, who coaches UH’s offensive line. They have known each other for six years. Naeole was one of three coaches retained from Norm Chow’s staff.

“I was definitely happy when Coach Rolo announced he would be hiring Coach Chris,” Ulu-Perry said. “He’ll definitely make me a better player, for sure.”