Arizona Football: Bishop Gorman recruit OL Jacob Isaia has Wildcats on his radar

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 12:52 p.m. ET

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Fansided, Shereen Rayan/FanSided via Zona Zealots

Jacob Isaia, a class of 2018 Offensive Guard out of Nevada’s powerhouse Bishop Gorman High School, has Arizona on his radar.

Zona Zealots caught up with Arizona Football recruit Jacob Isaia after his winning the Nevada State Championship playing for national powerhouse Bishop Gorman High School. Bishop Gorman’s locker room looks more like a college locker room than a football locker room, and we mean posh.

Bishop Gorman is ranked No. 1 in the Nation by both MAXPREPS Xcellent 25 and MAXPREPS Freeman Rankings.

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Isaia is predicted by two experts to eventually commit to Michigan State University on 247Sports. So far, only two experts, Gabe Encinas of Arizona Desert Swarm, and Sean Scherer a Michigan State Insider have made their early predictions.

There reasoning probably due to Jacob’s grandfather because his grandfather played for Michigan State. His connection to Arizona, other than to the coaches, is to his cousin Michael Eletise. A red shirt sophomore, Eletise also plays offensive guard. Thus the two could potentially play side by side on the Wildcats O-Line.

As far as Arizona, what attracts him to the school is two-fold; his cuz loves it and the facilities. “Arizona I think is a great school. My cousin Michael Eletise goes there, and he says it’s a blast, and it’s also a very friendly community too. I’ve seen the football facilities, and they look awesome and very modern and up to date.”

Isaias’ promises us that he will not be announcing his top five until after next season. He told us he just, “Really wants to educate himself on all possible opportunities, the more visits, the better!” And he has a lot of official visits on his list along with Arizona, Michigan State, Washington, Wazzu, Nebraska, Colorado as well.

If you check his Twitter feed, you’ll see he has already been to a lot of unofficial visits to schools to meet the coaches and take in football and basketball games including Arizona on October 29th for the game against Stanford.

If you haven’t guessed already, Isaia is from Hawaii, “Hawaii is great, weather, food, family, I’m just finishing up my trip today, wish I could stay longer.” It’s a stark difference between lush Hawaii and Nevada, but it’s cooler in Tucson, so heat wouldn’t be an issue for him we suppose.

We asked Jacob who inspires him. “There are two people who inspire me. My dad and my grandpa inspire me,” he explained, “They both came from poor backgrounds and had achieved at the highest level in football. My dad played for the Patriots, Ravens, and Browns. His name is Sale Isaia. My grandpa was a two-time all-American at Michigan State. His name is Bob Apisa.”

Nov 19, 2012; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona  football Wildcats mascot Wilbur the Wildcat interacts with fans during the first half against the Long Beach State 49ers at McKale Center. The Wildcats beat the 49ers 94-72. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

When we asked Jacob what athlete he wants to emulated, it was a no-brainer, “Micheal Eletise. He’s great with his eye-hand coördination, amazing footwork, and is very strong. I used to train with him in Hawaii.” His pregame ritual includes his father, “I call my dad and we go over what needs to be improved and who the person is I’m going up against. I don’t have a ritual or listen to music; I just focus on my assignments and the game itself.”

Jacob is a very special to Eletise, “Jacob is like my little brother,” said Michael, “He has all the physical attributes that a Lineman should have plus that boy works hard. He is a really hard worker, always trying to get better. Always trying to be the best. I am proud of him. I know that he has a big future ahead of him.”

We reached out to Michael and Jacobs trainer in Hawaii Chad Ikei who had this to say:

“I’ve been training him since the 7th grade,” said coach Ikei, “Such an awesome young man and going to develop into quite a D1 prospect.”

Here’s more on his tight family, “I currently live with my mom, step dad, and cousin. I have three step-sisters all older than me, and that’s all my siblings. We all like to go eat out together and talk story.”

Jacob was a two-sport athlete but is not totally focused on football. “I used to be really good at volleyball,” he told us, “Two years ago I made the US Junior National volleyball team with 42 other kids across the country to play internationally. My cousin, Kalei Mau plays for the girls Arizona volleyball team.”

We were curious how his workouts helped him be so successful playing football. “I work on getting bigger physically, but I also try and maintain a good endurance and speed to go with gaining so much weight.” He can play on both the offensive and defensive lines, “I’m not sure which position I like better. I’ve been with OL for so long that I haven’t had the time to play DL. But at the same time, OL doesn’t get old, and I learn new things about how to counterattack different moves, footwork, etc.”

An area Arizona desperately needs to strengthen is their O-Line. Just saying.

ZonaZealots were able to make it out to an early season game to watch this phenom and his star quarterback Tate Martel who is heading to Ohio State play California’s Championship team St. John Bosco.

“I love playing for Gorman,” said Isaia, “Everyone works as a unit especially the offensive line. Tate [Martel] is an incredible leader that helps the whole offensive.” Jacob’s highlight during his high school career so far is, “Being able to start on a great team, playing against great competition, and meeting great athletes such as Tate, Haskell, Ie, and much more.”

Here are Jacob’s latest highlights from his Junior season to enjoy and salivate over:

We thank Jacob for all of his time and sharing himself with Wildcats fans. Have fun going through the recruiting process, good luck and BearDown!

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