Slade-Matautia talks stateside tour

Isaac Slade-Matautia sat out his sophomore season due to transfer rules in Hawaii but that hasn't necessarily hindered his recruitment this summer.

The four-star inside linebacker from Honolulu St. Louis already holds scholarship offers from Arizona, Nebraska and Washington, which he camped with earlier this month. Slade-Matautia also worked out for Utah at its camp in Salt Lake City, and stopped by USC and UCLA last week before returning home.

"It was great at USC seeing all the guys you're competing with," Slade-Matautia said. "Seeing all the competition actually helped me out, knowing what I have to do to get to the next level. All the coaches were great and they told me some things I need to work on.

"At UCLA, I actually had a great talk with the linebackers coach (Scott White). He told me I have a lot of time to develop and he's actually looking at me. In talking to him, I really liked his style and even picked up something that I'll take back with me knowing it will help me improve."

The 6-foot-1, 225-pound prospect is done for the summer as he eyes his return to the gridiron. Sitting out a season has limited the amount of game film he can provide to college coaches, but Slade-Matautia made up for that by impressing at the Maximum Exposure Camp a few weeks ago.

The recruiting process, for now, might be a bit slow but he expects it to pick up again during the fall.

"I still have to check up on Arizona and Nebraska because they have offered," Slade-Matautia said. "After doing my visit to Washington earlier this month, it's actually one of my top choices. I've always wanted to go there and it was tremendous to see everything in person. At their camp everything felt like it was working for me."

Slade-Matautia transferred from Honolulu Kaiser to Las Vegas Bishop Gorman following his freshman season before returning to the island and enrolling at St. Louis.