By the time their special guests arrived, Michael Eletise’s family had been cooking all day.
They made pisupo: corned beef with taro leaves, coconut milk, salt and onion. There was Samoan Koko, a rich drink made from cocoa beans. Their guests brought covered dishes and pots, too, enough to feed a football team.
It’s “part of our culture,” Eletise’s father, Nofo, said. “You say don’t bring food, but they still bring food.”
Everyone wanted to make their guests feel welcome and full.
UA coach Rich Rodriguez and assistant Charlie Ragle left that day feeling both. Along the way, both coaches became part of the expansive Eletise clan.
“My family isn’t just the people I’m related to,” Michael Eletise said. “It’s everybody that helps me in my daily life. People who are always there. I wanted them to see that.”
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Eletise, an offensive lineman from Honolulu’s Kaiser High School, verbally committed to the UA last July. He has stuck to his word, which is rare in an age of decommitments and last-second switches. Some players say they made a decision too soon, had a change of heart, or — and this is common — simply want to explore their options. Free recruiting trips and the VIP treatment that comes along with it can be tempting.
Arizona knows the drill.
When Eletise committed to the Wildcats, he became the fourth four-star recruit in the team’s 2016 class, joining quarterbacks Khalil Tate and Devon Modster and defensive lineman Josh Allen. In the months since, both Modster and Allen re-opened their recruitment, and Tate has been tempted by overtures from USC.
Two years ago, five-star cornerback Jalen Tabor picked Arizona over Alabama, only to change his mind a week later and commit to Florida.
Recruiting can be stressful, on both sides.
Last week, Eletise played in the Under Armour All-American game in Florida and watched as many of his friends and teammates announced, or struggled with, their college decisions.
Not him. The Wildcats can breathe easy.
“I have a feeling of peace now, because I’m so solid in my commitment to Arizona,” he said. “I don’t really worry about anything that comes up anymore about it.”
Don’t think it hasn’t come up, either. This is the No. 1-ranked guard on the West Coast, a four-star player who picked Arizona over offers from Washington, Arizona State, Ole Miss and Nebraska. The 6-foot-4, 313-pound offensive lineman also held offers from Alabama, LSU, Michigan State, Texas, TCU and Wisconsin.
Eletise very easily could’ve taken official visits elsewhere, though they could’ve jeopardized his standing at the UA. But that’s not how Nofo, a pastor, raised his son.
“When we talked to Michael about this, we said, ‘You want to make sure you pick the right school for you, the right fit for you,’” Nofo said. “It’s up to you. We’ll be there to support you, but once you commit, you can’t decommit.”
Nofo had one exception. The Eletises would’ve let Michael decommit if Rodriguez left for South Carolina, as was rumored last month.
But Rodriguez is sticking around, and so is Eletise.
“You know, I just feel so comfortable there,” Eletise said. “I feel like out of all the schools, that’s the school, and that’s the program I would fit in the most, and the best. The place, and the school, and the surrounding city, and all the people there. I just feel like that’s the place where I’m supposed to go.”
In December, Eletise took an official visit to campus. Upon arrival, Matt Dudek, Arizona’s director of on-campus recruiting and player personnel, greeted him with a poster that said “Team Aloha.” Now Eletise was the guest of honor. He went to practice, met Anu Solomon — one of only a few players on Arizona’s roster from Hawaii — checked out the campus, toured Arizona’s facilities and was reunited with an old friend, linebacker Kahi Neves, who played with Eletise at Kaiser when they were sophomores.
Neves said it’s “crazy how much” Eletise has evolved.
“When we were sophomores, he was still one of the biggest guys on the team, but now he’s put on more muscle,” he said. “He’s still that same goofy kid.”
The trip to Tucson was a resounding success.
“I just enjoyed everything,” Eletise said. “I felt like a kid in a candy shop.”
“When I first picked Arizona, I felt comfortable. Over the time of my official visit and when coach came to my home visit, it got reaffirmed, it got stronger. That feeling of comfort and ‘yeah, this is the place.’”
One week after the Eletise family threw the party for Ragle and Rodriguez, Ragle returned to Honolulu, this time with Eletise’s future position coach, UA assistant Jim Michalczik.
It was a quick trip — the coaches arrived on a Sunday at about 3:45 p.m., called Nofo and said they’d be at the Eletise house by 5. This time, Michael, Nofo and the coaches had just a casual dinner.
“We were eating, and I said, ‘What’s your plan tomorrow? You going to see some other recruits?’” Nofo said. “They said, ‘No. We’re leaving tonight.’”
With so much interest in Eletise around the country, it was more of a reaffirmation mission, to make sure the biggest recruit in Arizona’s class stuck around.
“They came all the way out to make sure Michael would stay committed,” Nofo said. “We said, ‘Coach, you don’t have to do that. Michael is committed to Arizona, you have my word, my son’s word. He’s going to Arizona.’”
So Ragle and Michalczik were on their way, back to Arizona. No need to worry.
“I just feel like,” Eletise said, “that’s the place where I’m supposed to go to school.”
