Kana’i Mauga was voted the best defensive player in the state his senior season at Waianae.

Credentials like those are usually good enough to get you on a football field in your first year of college.

While Mauga did see the field in limited action in every game of his freshman year, it took him 19 games to earn his first start.

The question USC fans have now is, what took so long?

The 6-foot-2, 240-pound linebacker had a career-high 13 tackles — four more than he had in the previous six games combined — to go along with a sack, a forced fumble and an interception in a 41-14 victory over Arizona on Saturday.

The Trojans have been hit hard on defense by injuries. Mauga started in place of Palaie Gaoteote, who spent one season at Mililani before transferring to Bishop Gorman as a sophomore in high school. Senior Jordan Iosefa, a 2016 Saint Louis alumnus, has missed the entire season so far with a knee injury suffered in August.

Mauga said after the game in an interview with the Pac-12 Network that despite not being on the field, both Gaoteote and Iosefa were instrumental in his breakout game.

“It was a team effort. Palaie was right there by my side,” Mauga said. “He was just there telling me all of my rights from wrongs and coaching me up on the sideline, and especially Jordan Iosefa … it was just a great experience.”

USC has six players who graduated from high school in Hawaii on its roster. True freshmen Kaulana Makaula (Punahou ’19) and Maninoa Tufono (Punahou ’19) both played, with Makaula recording three tackles and a pass breakup and Tufono adding two solo tackles. Junior running back Vavae Malepeai (Mililani ’16), Hawaii’s all-time leading rusher in high school, is out at least a month with an injury.

He still leads the team in rushing by more than 100 yards.

Mauga is expected to receive more playing time, even after Gaoteote returns from a high-ankle sprain.

“We always say put your resume on tape,” USC coach Clay Helton told the Los Angles Times. “And (Mauga) produced a great resume.”