Arizona Football: No. 2 linebacker in Hawaii, Wildcats recruit Isaac Slade-Matautia

Zona Zealots recently posted an article about how Arizona Football Coaches recruit in Hawaii and how it all works, so now we bring you Arizona recruit and Hawaiian linebacker Isaac Slade-Matautia’s story.

Isaac Slade-Matautia (class of 2017) is a 6’1″ 205-pound senior linebacker out of St. Louis High School in Honolulu, Hawaii. Slade-Matautia is No. 2 ranked linebacker in his state, 22nd in his position nationally according to ESPN, 18th according to 247Sports, and is the highest ranked recruit on Arizona’s list.

Other schools who have offered Isaac are Arizona State, Nebraska, Washington and Washington State. Most recently he was offered a school in his home state, Hawaii.

Slade-Matautia trains with the same coach as Arizona Commit Michael Eletise. Isaac has received an offer from coaches Rich Rodriguez and Marcel Yates and took an unofficial visit in March 2016.

We talked to his coach, Chad Ikei, his special outside linebacker.

1) Tell me about Isaac Slade-Matautia, what makes him rise above others in his position? Any intangibles?

First of all, I’ve known Isaac since he was in middle school and been training him ever since so I know a lot about him.  As far as physically this young man is extremely explosive and his game speed is second to none.  As far as football intelligence & instincts go, he is the REAL DEAL; he plays fast and hits hard.

But to me the biggest & most important aspect of what makes Isaac so special is who he is and how he was raised.  He’s a very quiet and humble young man that coaches will not have to worry about in the classroom or off-the-field and although he may seem shy in public don’t be fooled because when the pads go on he is a complete BEAST and natural leader on the field.

His work ethic alone will take him far in life and he doesn’t like to miss workouts not even when he was just a little boy in middle school. He’s extremely respectful and reliable which are very important characteristics to have in order to develop into a great leader.

2) The Pac-12 is very interested in him, has he visited any colleges yet? When does he plan to?

He has taken a few unofficial visits this past spring to Arizona, ASU, Utah & BYU.  His family will plan out his official visits later in the year.

3) Is he leaning towards any school? Is Arizona in the mix?

I really can’t speak for him as he’s such a respectful young man that he’ll only speak positive things about each program but I do know he enjoyed his unofficial visit to Arizona and enjoyed meeting the coaches, so I believe Arizona is in the mix but that’s a complete decision that he and his family will have to make as they move further into the recruiting season.

4) Why would he fit in at Arizona under Rich Rod?

Isaac is to me one of the best linebackers to come out of the state of Hawaii and plays with great passion and instinct which you really can’t teach that.  He can play at any LB position whether it be coming off the edge to rush the passer, sending him up the middle on blitzes, coming downhill to stuff the run and dropping back in coverage to defend the pass.

His versatility is simply amazing, and Coach Rod and Coach Yates will have a field day playing Isaac on the field, not to mention he would love to run down on special teams just to hit someone and make a play.

Check out Isaac’s highlight video care of Scout.com:

4) is Michael advising him at all on his journey and choice of schools?

Michael is the biggest salesman here in Hawaii for the Wildcats not just to Isaac but everyone that plays football.  Michael’s affectionate personality and smile help spread positive things about the program.

It does help that both Isaac and Michael have been training together for the past four years now and also played together while they both were at Kaiser High school (where I coached them too), so they have a good friendship as well as a bond as brothers on the gridiron.  I hear Michael give advice to Isaac every once in a while, and I hear Isaac ask him questions about the program, so they are both lucky to have each other during this time in their life.

More wildcats: Arizona Football: Recruiting heating up in Hawaii

Wow! Thank you, coach Ikei for the wonderful insight into this very exciting prospect for Arizona. We are sure that the school Isaac decides to commit too will be thoroughly happy to have them on his team! Mahalo and BearDown!