Scouting Profile: Jonah Savaiinaea - IOL - Arizona
Sales Pitch: Dense lineman with powerful hands and solid first step burst. College tackle who’s best fit long-term is likely inside at guard.
*Gold Numbers Indicate NCAA T-25 for 2024*
Scouting Report
Jonah Savaiinaea is a former 3-Star recruit from the state of Hawaii. He was a three year starter at Arizona splitting time at LT, RT and RG across 36 straight starts. Savaiinaea was a consistent producer for the Wildcats with All-Conference honors in all three seasons.
Savaiinaea is a densely built lineman with a barrel chest and plus arm length for an interior lineman. An experienced player, he has a good feel for block angles and when to attach and finish, or go look for more work. Savaiinaea combines solid burst and heavy hands to get good initial pop out of his stance. His wide frame is difficult to run through, and he uses it well to seal off defenders at the point of attack. While he is not the most agile player, Savaiinaea’s first step allows him to get out of the blocks and cut off 2nd level defenders. His strong upper half creates knockback on move blocks and allows ball carriers to get friendly angles to the outside. Savaiinaea was a good pass blocker in college, using his burst to beat rushers to their landmarks. He has patient independent hands that fire with speed and accuracy. He does an excellent job using a strong right hook to stop speed rushers attacking upfield and a snatch-trap to counter power.
Savaiinaea primarily played tackle in college, but below average athletic ability means a long term home at guard is most likely. While he has a good first step, his foot speed slows the longer a play goes on. He lacks the agility or quickness to mirror speedier players when blocking out in space. Savaiinaea lacks the body control to live on an island as a tackle. As a run blocker he dips his head at the point of contact which creates imbalance. When combine with average hand placement - he typically finds his strikes landing too wide - he struggles to lock out and control defenders. In pass protection Savaiinaea has a bad habit of oversetting, creating a soft inside shoulder, and he lacks the redirect ability to recover. Despite his heavy frame he struggles to anchor versus power, because limited knee bend creates a slow transition to dropping his weight. Speed to power rushers are able to get first contact due to slow counters from Savaiinaea and push the pocket far too often.
Savaiinaea profiles best as a starting guard that can play tackle in a pinch. His frame screams quality run blocker with some more refinement and his athletic limitations become closer to solid as opposed to below average with a move to the inside. Savaiinaea projects as a Day-2 pick for a team looking for an early starter on the interior.