The University of Hawaii football team’s 2022 recruiting class now includes a protection plan.

Offensive tackle Luke Felix-Fualalo, who grew up in Australia and played high school football in California, is transferring from the University of Utah and will join the Rainbow Warriors next month.

“In all honesty, it’s much closer to home,” said Felix-Fualalo, noting Hawaii and Australia “share a lot of similarities — the fauna, the beaches. Speaking to the coaching staff, I felt (the team) was a family. And I actually have family in the islands. I know a few people on the team. Putting it all together, it felt like the best move.”

Felix-Fualalo is 6 feet 7 and 310 pounds. He was named after Luke Skywalker of the Star Wars series.

He has three seasons of UH eligibility.

Felix-Fualalo’s football path began when he attended a youth basketball camp. At the end of the week, director Eric Moses told Denise Felix: “Ma’am, I don’t think your son will be a good basketball player. But I think he’ll be a great football player.”

Felix-Fualalo’s response? “I was like, what’s that? I’d only seen (American football) in the movies.”

Felix-Fualalo was introduced to a local football club. He eventually met David Tuinavai of Conquest Athleric Performance. Tuinavai and Keiki Misipeka, UH’s running backs coach and overseer of South Pacific recruiting, are good friends.

To develop in the sport, Felix-Fualalo and a friend, Ben Key, moved to Los Angeles, where they attended Cathedral High in 2017. A year later, Felix-Fualalo played his senior season at Mater Dei High in Santa Ana, Calif. He received a 3-star rating, as well as scholarship offers from Colorado and Oregon State. He chose Utah.

He was limited to 11 games in three seasons at Utah, including seven games in 2021. He often went against 6-foot-6, 304-pound Viane Moala, a former Warrior, in practices. “That dude is a freak of nature,” Felix-Fualalo said. “I had to put everything into this block. He’s a great guy.”

Felix-Fualalo said he enjoyed his time at Utah. “I loved it there,” he said. “But it was time for a change.”

It will be a full-circle move for Felix-Fualalo. In 2016, he attended the Warriors’ football clinic in Sydney. He recalled struggling through a drill. “I remember the look on his face,” Felix-Fualalo said of a former assistant coach’s grimace. “It was, ‘oh, my God.’ It would be good for him to see how much I’ve grown.”