A week ahead of the NFL Draft and the ensuing free-agent signings, it is crunch time for several football prospects.

For former Hawaii safety Ikem Okeke, every day is crunch time.

As part of his daily training, Okeke will do crunches, regular sit-ups and push-ups at his home in Las Vegas. Sometimes he will have competitions against his older brother, Obim. “We’ll do that all day,” Okeke said. “We’ll exercise at home.”

Okeke, whose parents are physicians, is mindful of the restrictions on workouts — and football dreams — during this pandemic.

Since completing his UH eligibility following the 2019 SoFi Hawaii Bowl, Okeke fostered his pro-football aspirations with a training scheduled geared toward the Rainbow Warriors’ joint pro day in Los Angeles.

Okeke played well in the Newsweek Hula Bowl in February, alternating at both safety positions.

Okeke also trained under Randall Cunningham, a UNLV alumnus who was a quarterback for 16 NFL seasons. As part of Cunningham’s program, Okeke did field drills under Rod Woodson, a Hall of Fame defensive back who played 17 NFL seasons. Former UH linebacker Chris Brown serves as Okeke’s strength coach. Brown is one of a few Warriors to bench press 500 pounds. Brown was Okeke’s linebacker coach at Bishop Gorman High in Las Vegas.

When UH’s pro day was canceled, Okeke participated in Zybek Sports’ combine-like event at All American Field in Las Vegas. Okeke said he ran the 40-yard dash in a hand-timed 4.37 seconds. During training, he bench pressed 225 pounds 20 times.

But a couple of weeks ago, Cunningham’s program was put on hiatus because of the pandemic. “I had to start training by myself,” Okeke said.

He said most of his workouts are at at home. He said he occasionally will go to an open field to work on his footwork. “Just to keep my breaks on point,” Okeke said, “and stay sharp. I stay home and work out. I wasn’t going out too much before the pandemic because I was training. Now there’s nowhere to go.”

At 6 feet and 210 pounds, Okeke is capable of playing both safety spots, as well as an in-the-box nickel.

“I always felt he was a linear, straight-ahead-speed NFL prospect,” said Rich Miano, executive director of the Hula Bowl. “You look at his size, the intelligence factor, all the intangibles in terms of his IQ and ability to play linebacker and safety. And he’s a really good special-teams player. He was one of the better special-team players Hawaii has had in the past couple years. He brings a lot of those things the NFL is looking for.”

While waiting, Okeke is working on his iron-chef skills.

“I try to take some random stuff, put it all together, and see how it works out,” Okeke said.