The Hawaiian connection lives on.

Sunday afternoon Hawaiian three-star running back Vavae Malepeai announced his verbal commitment to Oregon to DuckTerritory.com.

Malepeai is in town for an unoffical visit to the Ducks and saw the Oregon campus on Saturday prior to the Opening Regional combine Sunday. He now becomes Oregon's ninth verbal commitment in the 2016 class.

The 247Sports Crystal Ball was 100-percent for Oregon, including both Justin Hopkins and Matt Prehm giving their picks.

Vavae Malepeai Mililani Where will Vavae Malepeai commit to? 100%

At 6-foot, 195-pounds the Ducks just added another solid athlete to their backfield who has the ability to not only play at running back, but he could see time in the slot on offense or move to the defensive backfield for defense.

Malepeai picked the Ducks over offers from Michigan, Stanford, USC, Cal, Washington, Ole Mis, Nebraska, and others.

Last season as a junior Malepeai rushed 227 times for 1,337 yards and 24 touchdowns.

We'll have more from Malepeai later for a full story.