Filling a gap in the defensive secondary, the University of Hawaii football team has received a commitment from a junior college safety.

Manase Time of Golden West College in Huntington Beach, Calif., has pledged to sign with the Rainbow Warriors on Feb. 7, the first day of the NCAA’s spring-semester signing period for football prospects. Time will have three years to play three UH seasons.

Time is 6 feet and 205 pounds. As a Golden West freshman in 2016, Time averaged 8.3 tackles. He redshirted this past season because of an injury.

Time is named after Manase Jesse Sapolu, a Farrington High and UH graduate who played 15 seasons with the San Franciso 49ers, winning four Super Bowl rings.

“I’m so happy he’s becoming a Rainbow Warrior,” Sapolu told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in a telephone interview. “He’s a great, young man. He doesn’t say much but he’s one of the toughest players for his size that I’ve ever coached.”

Sapolu and Mo Time have been friends for more than 30 years. They were both assisting Edison High’s football team when Manase Time was a defensive end. Time switched to safety at Golden West.

At Edison, Sapolu said, “Manase was dealing with offensive tackles who were 6-4, 6-5. And if he can thrive at that position where the big boys play, he can sure come up to the line of scrimmage and support the run as a strong safety and not be affected at all.”

Time made 22.5 sacks in two seasons as an Edison starter.

“Coming out of Edison, there are two things,” said Greg Biggins, national recruiting analyst for 247Sports. “They play extremely hard and they’re very, very well coached. (Time’s) technique is advanced (in) using his hands. (He’s) a super, smart player, and just a relentless motor.”

The past weekend, Keala Santiago announced on Twitter he was transferring. The past season, Santiago started four games when the Warriors opened in a three-safety alignment. Free safety Trayvon Henderson completed his UH eligibility at the end of the 2017 season.