Arizona Football adds Minnesota OL transfer Saia Mapakaitolo for 2022

Continuing to make more recruiting moves this off-season, Arizona Football has added Minnesota offensive line transfer, Saia Mapakaitolo. 

Arizona Football and Jedd Fisch have been on a roll this off-season! Weeks after signing a recruiting class that ranks in the Top 20, the Wildcats have also been aggressive in the Transfer Portal, as they have added another valuable piece to the roster in Minnesota transfer, Saia Mapakaitolo.

Making news via social media on Monday, the commitment of Saia officially announced, this just days after announcing his transfer from the University of Minnesota.

Joining the Wildcats as a former standout in the class of 2021, Saia hails from Arizona as he was a three-star recruit from just up the road at Red Mountain High School in Mesa.

Saia of course made news last year, as he flipped his commitment from USC to Minnesota, picking the Golden Gophers despite owning offers from BYU, ASU, UCLA, and Utah among others.

Coming in as an immediate transfer, Saia Mapakaitolo is exactly the kind of prospect that Arizona Football desperately needed to add this off-season.

The commitment of Saia is a big one for Arizona, and his addition comes on the heels of the Wildcats adding former New Mexico lineman Jack Buford and JUCO OL transfer Joe Borjon.

Standing 6-feet-5-inches and weighing roughly 280 pounds, Saia is a big prospect with tremendous size and length, and his upside should give Arizona a nice value add along the offensive line.

Coming into this off-season it was clear that the Wildcats need a serious upgrade along the offensive line, and with Saia’s addition, we should benefit greatly.

He is a big kid that plays with the physicality and aggressiveness that Arizona has been needing along the line, and even better, is that he joins the Cats just ahead of Spring.

While the Cats still have a ways to go in terms of playing catch up with the rest of the conference, Arizona looks to be a significantly improved team in 2022.