The Hawaii football team got a running start on the future with a 2021 commitment from a speedy running back from Texas.

Da’Qualen “DQ” James, a junior at Lancaster High, announced on Twitter and confirmed to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser he has accepted a scholarship offer from the Rainbow Warriors. He said he will sign during December’s early signing period for football prospects.

James received the offer in March and made his decision based on research and conversations with UH head coach Todd Graham.

“I picked Hawaii because I love their football scheme,” James said of the Rainbow Warriors’ up-tempo spread attack. “Their coach is from (Mesquite) Texas. He let me feel I was at home.”

James also said he followed Arizona State when Graham was the Sun Devils’ head coach for six seasons through 2017.

In two seasons as Lancaster’s starting back, James rushed for 1,411 yards, averaging 9.4 yards per carry. In 2019, James ran for 837 yards and 10 touchdowns, an average of 9.5 yards per rush. He also averaged 8.3 yards per catch. James was named to Texas’ 6-5A Division I first team. Lancaster was 11-3, reaching the quarterfinals of the 5-A Division I tournament.

“At Lancaster, we played fast, we played physical,” James said, referencing the similarities between the Tigers’ and Warriors’ offenses.

James, who is 5 feet 7 and 170 pounds, has been clocked at a sub-4.4 seconds over 40 yards and 10.8 seconds in the 100-meter dash. He also competes on Lancaster’s 4×100 and 4×200 relay teams.

James and his father, Byron Sparks, spend time watching football videos. “When I saw Barry Sanders’ film,” James said of the 5-foot-8 Hall of Fame running back, “everything he did, I wanted to do. He worked hard. He’s small. He went hard every play. I felt I could do the same thing.”

As a sophomore, James wore No. 20, Sanders’ jersey number.

“He’s a great kid,” Sparks said of James. “We never had any problems with him.”

When James was 6, Sparks said, “he told me he wanted to play football. We took him, and let him play. I promise you, the same thing he does at the high-school level, he did it on the middle-school level, Pop Warner. He’s special, man. He’s a special kid.”