HONOLULU — Even as UNLV entered the red zone of his recruitment process, there was never a doubt in Micah Alejado's mind where he'd end up.

Home.

Timmy Chang and the Hawaii football team achieved one of their primary objectives for their 2024 recruiting class with the official pickup of Alejado, an undersized but valued three-star prospect from Ewa Beach who led Las Vegas-based Bishop Gorman to a national championship this year.

Alejado, who moved with his parents to the "Ninth Island" with a plan to improve his recruitment prospects while he was still in middle school, made his next career step official along with eight Gaels teammates at a 9 a.m. signing day ceremony.

"Yeah, UNLV pushed for me a lot, but you know, I’m big on loyalty, so when I committed in April I knew I was going to come to Hawaii no matter what," Alejado told Spectrum News in a phone interview. “So, they made that push; it’s part of the recruiting process, part of having fun as a kid – you only get to enjoy it once. But I mean, Hawaii’s my home and I can’t wait to get back down there.”

Alejado acknowledged he's never passed the naked-eye test as a 5-foot-10, 160-pound left-hander. And yet, he helped guide the Gaels to a 12-0 record, a MaxPreps national No. 1 ranking and was named a MaxPreps second-team All-American to cap his senior season at the powerhouse private school. Per MaxPreps, Alejado threw for 2,714 yards and 35 touchdowns with no interceptions, and completed 77.4% of his passes. He also ran for three touchdowns and 261 yards on 25 carries.

When it came to judging UH's facilities against those of UNLV and others – for example, the NFL-caliber Allegiant Stadium against the makeshift Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex – he said Manoa's shortcomings were not a deal-breaker for someone of his upbringing.

"I believe I’ve always been a guy who’s made do with what you have, being grateful for what you have," Alejado said. "I think Coach Timmy has something in the running and I think this year could be a big breakout year for him as well."

The early high school graduate plans to arrive on Jan. 6 and be present for spring football with an eye on capturing the starting quarterback job that was vacated when Brayden Schager entered the NCAA transfer portal on Dec. 6 following UH's 5-8 season of 2023. That domino placed extra weight on Alejado's final call, but he followed through to become one of the biggest signees to date by Chang in terms of prestige and possible importance to the program.

He was one of 14 players announced by UH on Wednesday. Twelve are incoming freshmen, one is a Division I transfer and one arrives from junior college. Seven are Hawaii high school products.

"A 5-8 season, 3-10 the year before, (we) are taking cracks for two years now," Chang said on a video call with local media. "It really starts with the (returning) guys that have built this thing. I can’t wait to start this offseason with those guys. And then all these guys who are coming in, a couple are going to be immediate impact guys, like (Nevada defensive lineman Dion Washington) who I recruited out of Las Vegas and had a great relationship with."

But Alejado was clearly a special target. Chang and UH linebackers coach Chris Brown traveled to visit him in Las Vegas to shore things up ahead of signing day. Brown, a former defensive coordinator at Bishop Gorman, was Alejado’s direct tie to UH.

Another player verbally committed to UH from Bishop Gorman, running back De Von Rice, flipped to Kansas State in recent days.

"Micah’s been solid with us since June. We spent a lot of time (on him) because he’s valuable," Chang said. "We think he’s going to lead our program one day and he’s a great quarterback. Anytime you’ve got great quarterbacks, the probability of you winning games goes up. We really believe in his skill set and we wanted to give him the attention that he needed so that we could get him out here."

Said Alejado of the coaches' late visit, "That just showed how dedicated they were to making me become a Warrior and about their perspective on being family, not just being coaches and football players. ... I think them coming really helped me and my mom a lot."

He said he will receive "a little bit" of Name, Image and Likeness money from a Hawaii collective, but he added that, like the facilities, was not a primary concern for him.

There were recent rumblings that Schager, an All-Mountain West honorable mention who helped UH to wins in three of its last four games, was a possibility to rejoin the program. It was not immediately clear how the Alejado signing affected his decision-making. As of midday Wednesday, Schager had not announced a new landing spot.

Alejado said he saw the Schager situation play out over the last two weeks.

"I don’t think it really changed my perspective on stuff. I was going to come in January and do what I need to do to try to take the spot."

UH's other signees were:

• Frank Kahoa Abreu, FR TE, Kamehameha-Maui
• Armando Lewis Jr., FR WR, Canyon Springs. (Nev.)
• Dion Washington, RS-JR DL, Nevada
• Tu’i Muti, OL, FR OL, Punahou
• Noah Wily, FR DE, Saint Louis
• Alika Cavaco-Amoy, FR LB, Punahou
• Alvin Puefua, FR DL, West High (Utah)
• Jarvis Heimuli, FR WR, Trinity High (Texas)
• Jay Tauala-Harris, FR OL, Lakewood (Calif.)
• Nazaiah Caravallo, FR DE, Campbell
• Joshua Tavui, FR OL, Campbell
• Christian Vaughn, JR RB, Butte College (Calif.) 
• Tristan Waiamau-Galindo, FR DE, Kamehameha

Note: This story was updated with comments from Micah Alejado and Timmy Chang.

Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.