Chandler LB Zach Bowers commits to Hawaii

Chandler 2019 inside linebacker Zach Bowers, impressed by a visit to Hawaii, has given the Rainbow Warriors a commitment to play football.

Bowers, 6-foot-1, 215 pounds, a three-star recruit by 247Sports, had 12 scholarship offers, including Syracuse and Oregon State.

He said he chose Hawaii for the "family environment they created."

"Everyone is ohana (Hawaiian word for family) and they really made me feel like I was a part of their family,"  Bowers said. "I loved the scheme that the defense runs and I feel that is a perfect for my style of play.

"I fell in love with everything about the visit. The community support on the island is amazing. Hawaii does not have a pro team, so the university is their pro team."

RECRUITING:List of 2019 high school football player commitments

Last season, during the Wolves' 6A championship season, Bowers had 69 tackles, 5.5 for losses, two caused fumbles and two sacks. Against national powerhouse IMG Academy of Florida, he had 15 tackles.

Bowers announced his commitment on Wednesday via Twitter. He is the 19th known commitment from an Arizona high schooler so far this cycle.

Syracuse offers Bowers

Nov. 1, 2017

Chandler junior linebacker Zach Bowers, who has one Pac-12 offer, picked up his first ACC offer on Wednesday.

It came from Syracuse. He announced it on Twitter.

"I'm very excited about the Syracuse offer," said Bowers, 6-foot-1, 215 pounds, who missed two games with an injury but still had 45 tackles and two caused fumbles to go with four quarterback hurries. "It is a great school academically with a long tradition of winning."

RELATED:Hamilton RB Jawhar Jordan commits to play at Syracuse

"Coach (Dino) Babers has his team playing hard and flying around. I started communicating with them back in September and they pulled the trigger today. I'll hopefully get a chance to visit their campus in the spring or summer. I'm very appreciative for any offer I receive and I'm sure I'll have a tough decision to make whenever I decide to commit."

Bowers, who started at inside linebacker on last year's state championship team as a sophomore, came of age in the IMG Academy game in August, when he had 15 tackles, going up against some of the best players in the country.

He said he owes a lot of his development to linebackers coach Roger Murdock, saying, "I love playing for him."

"Chandler is known for our stars on offense, but we have really good players past and present on defense, too, so it's always nice when our defense gets noticed," Bowers said. "I've always wanted to play in college and I chose to come to Chandler because I wanted to compete at the highest level and play against the best teams in the country.

"Everyone has to earn playing time at Chandler, no matter what grade you are in. I'm very thankful for Coach (Shaun) Aguano and all the great coaches we have. They invest a lot of time and effort in all of us."

Bowers' other offers are from Pac-12 Oregon State, Nevada and South Dakota State, according to 247 Sports.

Arizona State is showing interest and Bowers has been communicating with ASU's coaches.

“I have been talking to coach (Steve) Patterson on the phone the past few weeks. Him, (Todd) Graham and (Phil) Bennett should hopefully pull the trigger soon.”

MORE RECRUITING:Arizona's top 2018 high school football prospects

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