Matautia to join Hawaii

Solomon Matautia adds to UH's haul of local talent. Photo by Dennis Oda / Star-Advertiser
Solomon Matautia adds to UH’s haul of local talent. Photo by Dennis Oda / Star-Advertiser

Two time Star-Advertiser first teamer Solomon Matautia is staying home.

Matautia, a safety from Campbell, switched from Oregon State to Hawaii according to his Twitter account.

Here is a snippet from the Star-Advertiser’s Stephen Tsai from his story in tomorrow’s paper:


The past June, Matautia made an oral commitment to play for Oregon State. Still, Hawaii, Washington and Colorado pursued Matautia.

This past September, Oregon State held off UH at Aloha Stadium. Matautia attended that game, and although he was an OSU commit, he silently rooted for the Warriors. UH’s loss, Matautia admitted, “kind of hurt me.”

In December, Mike Riley resigned as OSU coach to accept the head coaching job at Nebraska. OSU defensive coordinator Mark Banker was on a flight to Hawaii to meet with Matautia when Riley announced his decision.

Gary Andersen, who left Wisconsin to succeed Riley at OSU, wanted Matautia to grayshirt, delaying his enrollment until January 2016.


By then, Matautia felt he wanted to play for UH. Matautia said assistant coach Lewis Powell, who was UH’s point recruiter, “was in touch with me since I can remember.” Powell and Matautia’s mother are relatives.

matautia

That gives Hawaii five players from the latest All-State team. Here is a partial list of Hawaii’s haul:

Class of 2015
Soli Afalava DB Kahuku
Jordan Agasiva OL Mililani
Kamuela Borden OL Iolani
Salanoa-Alo Wily DL Kahuku
Solomon Matautia DB Campbell


Class of 2016
McKenzie Milton QB Mililani Hawaii
Kalakaua Timoteo WR Mililani Hawaii

And the link:
https://nebraska.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1724305

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