Illinois Football news: JUCO OL Maika Matelau announces commitment

NEWS: Illinois Football has received the commitment of the best offensive lineman in the Junior college ranks! Maika Matelau is a 6-foot-4-inch, 288-pound offensive lineman who currently plays at Mt. San Antonio College in California. He is the top-ranked interior offensive lineman out of all JUCO prospectsper the 247sports rankings. He committed to the Illini over offers from BYU, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and many more. The Illini are certainly rebuilding their offensive line via older, experienced JUCO products. In the past week, Matelau marked the third offensive line commitment for the Illini’s class of 2026. All three commitments are JUCO linemen. Those other commits are TJ Taylor and Alfred Washington.

Per Jeremy Werner of 247sports, Matelau has up to three years of eligibility. Illinois football has had some solid success with transfer/JUCO offensive linemen. A few years ago, they helped JUCO lineman Isaiah Adams get to the NFL (Arizona Cardinals). J.C. Davis and Melvin Priestly have both been anchors on the offensive line for the past two years after transferring into the program.

Maika Matelau is certainly an impressive prospect who chose the Illini over several impressive offers. I fully expect him to compete for a starting job the moment he arrives to campus.

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