Luke Felix-Fualalo may be named after Luke Skywalker, but on the football field, he continues to work towards creating his own legacy.
Felix-Fualalo, a native of Australia, made his way to the United States in high school to pursue his football goals. He began at Cathedral High School in California, then transferred to national power Mater Dei for his senior year.
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After playing sparingly as a reserve and on special teams at Utah, Felix-Fualalo transferred to Hawaii prior to the 2022 season. His true breakout occurred in the 2023 season, where he cracked the starting lineup, playing 13 games at right tackle with 11 starts.
The data shows that Year 1 as a starter was a success for the 6-foot-8 Felix-Fualalo. In 491 pass blocking reps, he allowed only one sack. He also earned 2023 first team All-Mountain West Conference honors from Pro Football Focus, with an overall grade of 74.8, good for third among tackles in the conference.
Felix-Fualalo enters his final year of college football as one of the leaders of UH's offensive line. Count him as one of many optimistic about the team's 2024 season, which begins on Aug. 24 against Delaware State.
“Everyone’s extremely excited, especially me and the coaches, too. I can definitely see it in how they coach us, the way they talk to us, but just the overall attitude and atmosphere of everybody, it feels a lot different than previous years, Felix-Fualalo told KHON2.com. "Everyone’s bought in, everyone’s locked in. There’s sort of an excitement behind all the actions, especially when it came to fall camp. We started hitting again and all that and everyone was excited to go after it. Of course there’s the nerves, but I think everyone has high hopes this season, especially me too.”
When Felix-Fualalo looks back on his journey and what led him to the islands, he believes he's right where he's supposed to be.
"I felt like I was called here. I remember seeing a video of a guy saying, ‘You don’t just move to Hawaii, you’re called here.’ I definitely feel that," Felix-Fualalo said. "Ever since I moved here, I haven’t regretted it since and I love being here. I love the island, the people, my teammates, everything. I just love it. I’ll definitely be living here in the future.”
Felix-Fualalo draws inspiration from Jordan Mailata from the Philadelphia Eagles, another Australian offensive lineman with Polynesian descent.
“That guy is my hero," Felix-Fualalo said of Mailata. "When I first saw him get drafted, I was really excited that they took someone with no experience because at that time in 2018, I was in high school. I was kind of like the same. I had no experience. Following his journey this whole way and where he’s at now, he gives me a lot of hope and I’m sure it gives people back home a lot of hope. I kind of want to follow in his footsteps and hopefully meet him one day. I watch (Eagles) tape as well because it’s great O-line film, especially Lane Johnson. Lane Johnson’s my idol, and Jordan’s like my hero. It’s just great. I love Jordan.”
Despite Felix-Fualalo's adoration for the islands and the proximity to Australia as opposed to other schools on the continent, he doesn't plan to apply pressure to prospects in the future.
“My bias of course, I’d want them to come to Hawaii. But the way the world, the universe works, you get put where you’re supposed to go," Felix-Fualalo said. "You’ll make the relationships you’re supposed to make, you’ll learn what you’re supposed to learn. But I mean, Hawaii’s close to Australia. Not too far. You don’t have to fly all the way to the mainland, there’s similar culture, similar landscape and all that, beautiful. Any Aussies want to come here, it’s definitely a great place to play football and live your life.”
With one last year to play collegiate football for the place he loves, Felix-Fualalo hopes to be a part of a group that changes the trajectory of head coach Timmy Chang's program.
“In my time here, I just want to say this is only the beginning of the Chang dynasty," Felix-Fualalo said. "One thing that people need to understand is I’m a student at UH but I play for Hawaii.”