6/16/2022 football Edit

Relationships play key role in Julian Savaiinaea's commitment to Arizona

Matt Moreno • GOAZCATS

Senior Editor

Matt Moreno is the senior editor at GOAZCATS.com. He joined the staff in August of 2011 and began as senior recruiting editor with the site before becoming senior editor in June of 2014.

Arizona's pipeline into Hawaii is growing. That's one reason Julian Savaiinaea decided to pull the trigger on a commitment to the Wildcats on Wednesday. The 6-foot-3 defensive end from St. Louis High School in Honolulu watched two classmates from his home state, Gavin Hunter and Kamuela Kaaihue, pick Arizona last week.

Just last year he watched his brother Jonah do the same. So, as he began to build a relationship with the new defensive coaches at UA, Savaiinaea started to realize what he wanted to do.

This week he made things official by giving the program his commitment before announcing his decision Wednesday.

“I really didn’t want to wait too long,” he said. “Especially knowing that there’s an obvious connection at Arizona, my brother. After getting that close connection with the coaches, coach [Jason] Kaufusi and coach [Johnny] Nansen, that really kind of narrowed down my decision. Ultimately, I felt comfortable letting my parents know that Arizona is where I wanted to play football at the next level.”

Savaiinaea recently visited Hawaii, his home-state school, plus he holds offers from San Jose State and San Diego State. He is not one of the prospects who has visited Arizona this summer, but he still felt a strong enough connection in his relationships with both Kaufusi and Nansen to make his decision before taking that official trip to UA.

“Really, it was just getting to know them,” he said about when he realized that Arizona would be his future home. “There wasn’t a certain conversation. It was just that family atmosphere that I felt with the coaches on the phone, texting and them informing me about the program, the athletics as well as the academic side of things. That really ultimately made me come to the decision.”

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