Arizona strikes again in SoCal adding 2023 lineman Rhino Tapaatoutai
Arizona is looking to address the trenches in the 2023 recruiting cycle, and Monday night the program added its first piece up front. Three-star lineman Rhino Tapaatoutai committed to the Wildcats over offers from Colorado, San Diego State and Hawaii after taking a visit to see the team in person over the weekend.
The two-way lineman, who is likely to play along the offensive line in college, has had plenty of interest in Arizona since being offered earlier in the year. In that time he has been able to build a strong relationship with the program plus he has a couple former teammates on the roster that helped connect the Alemany High School (Mission Hills, California) lineman to the program.
"Arizona is big,” he previously said. “Pac-12 and everything. Especially with their new defensive coordinator, their program is a good program I see."
New UA defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen helped open the relationship between Tapaatoutai and the Wildcats soon after he arrived in Tucson, and there has been a boost in Polynesian recruiting since Nansen joined the staff.
Seeing the Polynesian influence growing at Arizona was immediately intriguing for the three-star lineman.
“That’s actually big," he said. "... [Nansen] was just explaining the whole process of them building the program trying to bring back the Poly pipeline, and I see it. They’re doing good because they’re getting some dudes. It’s pretty good and it’s nice."
Tapaatoutai knows UA freshmen Kevin Green Jr. and Ephesians Prysock, both of whom played at Alemany last season and graduated in December to begin their careers with the Wildcats. He also knows UCLA transfer Tiaoalii Savea, who followed Nansen from Los Angeles to join the Wildcats this offseason.
Connections like those and the opportunity to step into a role early in his career have been important factors throughout the process for Tapaatoutai.
“Playing time and relationships,” Tapaatoutai said about what is important to him as a recruit. “I want to go somewhere that will help me get to where my goal is, I want to go pro. I gotta be wise and aware on that decision.”
Tapaatoutai is the fourth member of Arizona's 2023 class, which now has two commits on each side of the ball. Four-star quarterback Brayden Dorman leads the way while UA has also added commitments from Texas safety Canyon Moses and Southern California defensive back Justin Johnson.
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