Cal Football

Bear Insider Video: Cal OLB Commit Patrick Hisatake

By Jim McGill

November 25, 2020

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6-4/240 Westview (Clackamas, OR) High School OLB Patrick Hisatake‍ joined the talented Cal 2021 class with his commitment on August 2 and has continued to build friendships with his tuture teammates since his commitment nearly four months ago.

Hisatake will be an early enrollee at Cal so it’s just seven weeks till he’ll be in Berkeley as a student athlete, getting ready to compete in spring practice.

Hisatake will be rooming with talented 4 star Liberty-Brentwood defensive end Akili Calhoun at Cal. He’s also gotten to know quite a few of his classmates through group chats, though he’s never been on campus yet.

“Kaleb (Elarms-Orr), Derek (Wilkins) are two of the guys I talk to the most besides Akili,” said Hisatake. “It’s just been jokes. Bastian (Swinney), Ryan (Lang), Dylan (Jemtegaard) -it’s been great talking with all those guys and just bonding with them before we all get there, either early (spring) or normal graduation (summer) and move in there.”

With a plethora of strong offers, what made Cal the right place for the talented OLB?

“I just felt the coaches are the biggest thing for me,” said Hisatake. “Getting to talk with them every day, learning the scheme. I really believe I can go in there and make an impact early so that’s what made me really feel like Cal was the school for me.

“I’ll be playing outside linebacker, boundary on the rush. It will be fun.”

A noted workout warrior, Hisatake takes pride in his quickness and agility for his size and hopes to be able to maximize his talents at Cal.

“I love talking with Coach DeRuyter,” said Hisatake. “He’s really fond of my athleticism, being able to do a lot. He’s excited for me to be able to go down there and make an impact early. Being able to rush the QB, drop back in coverage, set the edge. I can’t wait.”

A native of Hawaii, Hisatake will be reunited with friends, brothers and former Mililani classmates Mo and Eric Iosefa at Cal in 2021, a factor that played a role in Hisatake’s decision.

“I was one of Eric’s first friends when he transferred to Mililani,” said Hisatake. “He was in one of my math classes and we really clicked over football. We worked out together the whole offseason before football. Unfortunately I ended up moving to Oregon before the season started but we really built that close bond before I moved out here.

“They’re really humble, hardworking. They’re not really the guys who go and post a lot on social media. They just stick their head down in silence and work hard and it all shows out on the field.

”We called Mo the Silent Assassin.”

The Bears beat out Michigan, Nebraska, Yale, UCLA, Utah, ASU, Arizona, WSU and more for Hisatake’s commitment. He is scheduled to play in the 2021 Polynesian Bowl in Honolulu in January.