Isaiah Pola-Mao: S · USC · #21.
Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.
Isaiah Pola-Mao
Plays like an extra linebacker near the line. Played for two head coaches at USC: Clay Helton and Donte Williams. One game to point at: 11 tackles against Oregon State — Week 4, 2021.
Play style
Lives near the line of scrimmage as a de facto extra linebacker.
Activity vs finishing · season enumeration
What the box score actually says
57 tackles. 1 pass defended. 0 interceptions. 1 TFL.
Counts only, never a rate — splash-event sample sizes this small (interceptions, pass breakups, TFL) are noise as a rate and signal only as a tally.
No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.
247Sports Nov 2
USA Today Nov 1
On3 Oct 21
Yahoo Sports Oct 16Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
Game log · Week-by-week
2021 season · 11 games
Swipe the table sideways for more columns.
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 2 | L 28-42vs Stanford | 4 | 4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 3 | W 45-14@ Washington State | 4 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 4 | L 27-45vs Oregon State | 11 | 6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 11 tackles |
| Wk 5 | W 37-14@ Colorado | 5 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Wk 6 | L 26-42vs Utah | 4 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | L 16-31@ No. 13 Notre Dame | 5 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 9 | W 41-34vs Arizona | 2 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 10 | L 16-31@ Arizona State | 3 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 12 | L 33-62vs UCLA | 5 | 3 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 13 | L 31-35vs No. 13 BYU | 4 | 3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 14 | L 14-24@ California | 10 | 9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 57 | 41 | 1.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 |
Where his impact shows up on the stat sheet
PD rate
2%1 pass breakupsTackle volume
57tackles this seasonTFL rate
2%1 TFL57 tackles · 1 for loss · 1 pass breakup.
Splits · Per-game
2021 season · 11 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home6g | 5.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Road5g | 5.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-75g | 5.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| Weeks 8+6g | 4.8 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Donte Williams
Pass share
51.5%
593 pass / 558 run
Plays / game
95.9
12 games
Team sack rate
3.4%
553 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Balanced, fast tempo.
Player standing · 2021
57 tackles in 11 games, about as many tackles a game as a typical FBS defensive back who plays every week.
Recognition
Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score
Former four-star. Now #285 at the position.
How it ended
Five seasons at USC, 173 tackles — the college career is complete.
Four or fewer games in the first season, then ten or more.
Coaching lineage · 2017–2021
2 coachesCoaching transition mid-career: Clay Helton → Donte Williams. Worth noting in scheme + development context.
