2023 Hawaii IOL Iapani Laloulu Locks In Oregon Official Visit This Summer

Oregon is the only planned official visit for the highest-rated player in Hawaii, but he wants to make sure it's his last.

Polynesian culture is woven into the fabric of Oregon football. It's embedded in the past, present, and future of the program.

Hawaii in particular has played a big role in Oregon's history, with legendary players like Marcus Mariota, DeForest Buckner, and Max Unger coming from the islands to Eugene.

Mario Cristobal and his staff prioritized elevating the Polynesian culture at Oregon, and despite the coaching change, that priority hasn't changed.

Iapani Laloulu is the latest recruit from Hawaii that's on Oregon's radar. The 2023 interior offensive lineman from Saint Louis School in Honolulu is already quite familiar with the Oregon program, as his older brother Faaope Laloulu signed with the Ducks in 2020. Cristobal and Alex Mirabal even offered Iapani when he was in eighth grade and have since extended an offer to him at Miami.

While the previous Oregon staff made their mark on him, the new staff has left an impression on Laloulu and his family as well.

"They keep in touch with me real good," Laloulu told Ducks Digest of the new staff, who re-offered him on March 1. "They wished my dad a happy birthday. It means a lot that Oregon knows my dad's birthday. I don't think any of the other schools knew."

Laloulu has gotten the chance to talk with his brother, who is home in Hawaii for spring break, about the new coaching staff and his firsthand experience with them.

"He said that Coach [Dan] Lanning and Coach [Adrian] Klemm are really good. They're hard-working coaches that make sure that the players are good players on the field and also off the field, in the classroom and in life."

Laloulu, the top-rated recruit in Hawaii (0.9291 per 247 Sports Composite), has especially bonded with Klemm, who played his college football at the University of Hawaii.

"Coach Klemm's a really good guy," Laloulu said. "He told me he's familiar with Hawaii but he's a grad from UH, and he's really familiar with the area that I'm from over here."

Klemm has already made an impact as a recruiter for the Ducks in Hawaii, helping to bring 2022 offensive lineman Kawika Rogers to Eugene from Kapaa High School. Oregon representing the Polynesian culture not just in the players it recruits, but in the coaches it hires is something that Laloulu doesn't take for granted.

"It really means a lot that they do a lot for the Polynesian kids," he said. "Because especially where I come from on the islands of Hawaii, there's a lot of Polynesian kids over here. I know they've built a lot of big relationships with the Polynesian kids out there at Oregon through the years."

Despite his brother playing at Oregon for the past two seasons, Laloulu has never been to Eugene. But that will change this summer, as he'll take an official visit to Oregon. Of his five allotted official visits, Oregon is the only one he's certain he will take.

He told Ducks Digest that he wants Oregon to be his final stop before the fall season starts, which nearly aligns with when he wants to make his decision.

"I'll make my decision right before the fall season starts or probably a little bit after."

Laloulu wants to play for a program in which the coaching staff has a firm investment in him on and off the field, and the team has a strong brotherhood. The schools recruiting him the hardest are Oregon, Tennessee, Arizona, Cal, and Miami — the latter of which, he said, is in communication with him daily.

Oregon is in a great spot with the 6-foot-3, 350-pound interior lineman ahead of his official visit to Eugene this summer.

*WATCH IAPANI LALOULU HIGHLIGHTS HERE*

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