Waimea High School senior defensive end Saui Matagiese has verbally committed to play football for Portland State University and has been invited to the National Letter of Intent Signing Day party on O‘ahu. Local TV stations as well as ESPN
Waimea High School senior defensive end Saui Matagiese has verbally committed to play football for Portland State University and has been invited to the National Letter of Intent Signing Day party on O‘ahu.
Local TV stations as well as ESPN and the CBS College Sports show are expected to attend the signing party which starts 7 a.m. on Feb. 4 at the Neil Blaisdell Center in Honolulu. Others expected to sign at that time are the nation’s top recruit, Manti Te‘o of Punahou, and Mana Rosa of Baldwin.
Matagiese will be signing his official letter of intent with Portland State then.
Matagiese has had official visits with or from Colorado, Hawai‘i, UNLV, Utah, Weber State and Idaho. Matagiese said the bigger schools he was aiming for filled their defensive slots and of those who were still looking to lure him, Portland State was the best.
The possibility of playing right away was also part of the reason for his committing to the Big Sky school.
Former Hawai‘i coach Jerry Glanville is the head coach of the Vikings’ program, which finished 4-7 overall, 3-5 in the Big Sky Conference.
Matagiese, an honor student and Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation all-star player, finished his final season with the Menehune with 13.5 tackles (11 solo, five assisted), 5.5 tackles for loss and an interception. He was invited to play in the first-ever Hawai‘i All-Star Football Classic at Aloha Stadium.
Matagiese thanked “God for his blessings and the whole community of Kaua‘i for always supporting me.”
Moses Punzal of Kapa‘a also plays for Portland State.
