Eastman does well against Hawaiis best

The Hawai'i Athletes In Action/Chevron Football Combine at Aloha Stadium took recently and one of the stars of the event was Ryan Eastman of Honolulu St. Louis. The 6-foot, 250-pound defensive tackle was named most valuable player for the defensive line at combine and named outstanding defensive player for the entire event.

Eastman did well in everything he did at the combine, including putting up 185-pounds 28 times in the bench press.

It's no surprise that Eastman is getting some pretty serious attention from the college coaches.

Colorado and New Mexico State have been the most consistent people sending mail and texting him, but he's also getting stuff from Washington, Oregon, Oregon State, Cal and Washington State. He's still searching for his first offer, but being named MVP of the event definitely could help his stock out.

"I love playing defense," he said. "I can attack my opponent from various angles with different styles. I can bull rush. I love to swim, but most of all I love to juke them to get them off balance so I can rip them."

Eastman, who has a 3.3 grade point average and a 900 on the SAT, said he grew up a fan of Hawaii and both his parents went to school there. He said he's got a few things in mind for when it comes time to pick the perfect school.

"The school's academic programs will be important," he said. "So will the graduation rate for athletes. I'm also going to look at projected playing time."

Eastman plans on camping his summer at Utah, Oregon State, Stanford and UCLA. As a junior, second team all-ILH all-star and honorable mention all-state selection in 2006. He had 22 solo tackles, 75 assists, 26 tackles for a loss, six sacks and two fumble recoveries in 2006.

On the offensive side of the ball, Honolulu Punahou offensive lineman De La Torre Matteo was named most outstanding player. He also won the award for the offensive linemen.

At quarterback Kamehameha School's Michael Hoke took home the award for the best quarterback. The top receiver award went to Chase Alcott of St. Louis. The top defensive back was Joshua Chung of 'Aiea. Chung is also one of the state's top basketball prospects.

Several well known recruits also had solid outings at the event.

Kailua Kalaheo receiver Bruce Andrews had the top shuttle time of the day with a time of 4.02 seconds. He also recorded a 40-inch vertical leap. Alcott had a 4.10 shuttle time.

Honolulu St. Louis lineman Tuiatua Tuiasosopo had the top bench press results with 41 reps of 185. Kaneohe Castle defensive tackle Solomon Koehler, the top junior in the state, had 37 reps. De La Torre had 29 and Eastman had 28.