Usage / Role
42%
Rotational defensive role
lowfeatured
Player Dossier
2017-2021USC
Isaiah Pola-Mao
S • 6'4" • 205 lbs • Phoenix, AZ, USA
Ball-hunting defenderSplash play profile
Isaiah Pola-Mao shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 23.4 disruption score.
Impact Production
43
Developing production for a safety
lowelite
Reliability
43
Sporadic game-to-game production
lowhigh
Star Power
53
Limited ceiling signals so far
limitedstar
Career Arc
Value trend by season
Best season by Season Value: 2019 Postseason · USC
171819192021
Snapshot
- Career Teams
- 1
- Unique Seasons
- 5
- Program Path
- USC
- Peak Game
- Peak game by takeover score: Arizona State
Player Story
Isaiah Pola-Mao built his college career from 2017 through 2021 as a safety from Phoenix, AZ wearing No. 21, spending time with USC. The clearest part of Isaiah Pola-Mao's career was his defensive production: 173...
Read the story4★
- Committed To
- USC
- Commit Date
- Jan 1, 2017
Isaiah Pola-Mao, S. Best season Best season by Season Value: 2019 Postseason · USC. Isaiah Pola-Mao shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 23.4 disruption score.
Stat Footprint
Career production snapshot
- Tackles
- 173
- TFL
- 9
- Sacks
- 1.5
- Passes defended
- 7
- Touchdowns
- 1
Quick Answers
Isaiah Pola-Mao quick answers
- Latest team and position
- USC · S
- Career Tackles
- 173
- Tracked sample
- 5 unique seasons · 6 entries · 33 games
- Best season
- 2019 Postseason · USC
- Top game
- Arizona State
- Recruit profile
- 4-star · Mountain Pointe · USC
- High school pipeline
- Mountain Pointe · 23 FBS recruits · 0 drafted players
- Latest roster
- No. 21 · Junior
- 2021 Tackles rank
- 57 tackles · S 77th (top 15%) · Pac-12 44th (top 8%) · National 466th (top 8%)
Season Ledger
Crawlable season-by-season stats
| Season | Team | Games | Tackles | TFL | Sacks | QB Hur | PD | TD | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 Regular Season | USC | 1 | 1 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | 37.2 |
| 2018 Regular Season | USC | 3 | 8 | - | 0 | - | - | 1 | 42.6 |
| 2019 Postseason | USC | 13 | 5 | 1 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 67.8 |
| 2019 Regular Season | USC | 13 | 68 | 4.5 | 1.5 | - | 2 | 0 | 67.8 |
| 2020 Regular Season | USC | 5 | 34 | 2.5 | 0 | - | 4 | 0 | 60.9 |
| 2021 Regular Season | USC | 11 | 57 | 1 | 0 | - | 1 | 0 | 22.8 |
Related Context
Keep exploring Isaiah Pola-Mao
Isaiah Pola-Mao played S for USC. Across 5 tracked seasons, Isaiah Pola-Mao recorded 173 tackles and 1 touchdowns. His top tracked season came in 2019 with USC.
Player insights
Lead takeaway
Best season by value score: 2019 Postseason
USC paired 13 primary output with 33.4 efficiency.
Supporting note
2021 Regular Season role shape
impact-led usage with 23.4 efficiency.
Supporting note
Career value cooled off
2021 Regular Season fell back from the prior stop by season value score.
Supporting note
Peak game by takeover score: UCLA
Loss with 1 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet. It landed in the 100th percentile of the selected season.
Analysis workspace
Season Workbench
Filter the strongest season sample, inspect game-level shape, and then drop into the full log without losing the story of the year.
Season Explorer
Understand the selected season before dropping into the full game log.
2021 Regular Season · USC
Games
11
Havoc Plays / G
0.2
Efficiency
23.4
Usage
5.6
Consistency
6.1
Best Game by takeover score
UCLA
Hover a point or expand a game row to keep the active game context visible here.
Active game
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Game-by-Game Trend
Follow how the selected stat changes from one game to the next. Spikes mark standout outings, while dips show quieter weeks.
Chronological game order.
Game by game trend chart. Stanford: 0. Washington State: 0. Oregon State: 0. Colorado: 1. Utah: 0. Notre Dame: 0. Arizona: 0. Arizona State: 0. UCLA: 1. BYU: 0. California: 0
Volume vs Efficiency
Each dot is a game. Farther right means the player carried more of the workload, and higher means they were more efficient with those chances.
Low volumeHigh quality
High volumeHigh quality
Low volumeLower quality
High volumeLower quality
Volume on the x-axis, quality on the y-axis.
Volume versus efficiency scatter chart. Stanford: 4 by 16.7. Washington State: 4 by 16.7. Oregon State: 11 by 45.8. Colorado: 5 by 30.8. Utah: 4 by 16.7. Notre Dame: 5 by 20.8. Arizona: 2 by 8.3. Arizona State: 3 by 12.5. UCLA: 5 by 30.8. BYU: 4 by 16.7. California: 10 by 41.7
Split Comparison
Compare how this player performed across different situations. "Games" shows how many matchups are included in each split.
Wins0.3 · Games = 3 · +0.2 vs Losses
Losses0.1 · Games = 8 · -0.2 vs Wins
Game Log
Dense stat lines with inline explanations and season-linked highlights.
11 games
Featured metric
Havoc Plays
Top game by takeover score
UCLA
Best efficiency game
45.8 vs Oregon State
| Result | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun 12/5 | @ California10+ tackles | L 14-24 | 10 | 9 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sun 11/28 | vs BYU | L 31-35 | 4 | 3 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 11/20 | vs UCLA | L 33-62 | 5 | 3 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sun 11/7 | @ Arizona State | L 16-31 | 3 | 3 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 10/30 | vs Arizona | W 41-34 | 2 | 2 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 10/23 | @ Notre Dame | L 16-31 | 5 | 3 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sun 10/10 | vs Utah | L 26-42 | 4 | 3 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 10/2 | @ Colorado | W 37-14 | 5 | 3 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | — | — |
| Sun 9/26 | vs Oregon State10+ tackles | L 27-45 | 11 | 6 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 9/18 | @ Washington State | W 45-14 | 4 | 2 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sun 9/12 | vs Stanford | L 28-42 | 4 | 4 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
Player Story
Isaiah Pola-Mao story
Isaiah Pola-Mao built his college career from 2017 through 2021 as a safety from Phoenix, AZ wearing No. 21, spending time with USC. The clearest part of Isaiah Pola-Mao's career was his defensive production: 173 tackles, 9 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, and 5 interceptions across 33 career games in the available record. His largest box-score season came in 2019 with USC. Those numbers show where he fit, how often the ball or action found him, and how his role developed over time.
Defensive careers can be hard to read from one number, but Isaiah Pola-Mao's production has multiple signals. His career also includes 82 return yards, giving the story more than a single-category snapshot. With 33 career games in the available record, his career has enough shape to show both opportunity and production across USC.
The arc is straightforward: Isaiah Pola-Mao moved through the depth chart, found a larger role, and turned that opportunity into production that can be understood through standard football numbers.
Career Arc
Track team changes, role shifts, and season-to-season movement.
- 1
USC
2017-2021
Opening stop
Season Value Progression
201720182019201920202021
| Season | Team | Primary | Efficiency | Usage | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 Regular Season | USC | 0 | 4.2 | 0.9 | — |
| 2018 Regular Season | USC | 0 | 11.1 | 2 | 0 |
| 2019 Postseason | USC | 13 | 33.4 | 9.3 | 13 |
| 2019 Regular Season | USC | 13 | 33.4 | 9.3 | 0 |
| 2020 Regular Season | USC | 7.5 | 43.3 | 9.4 | -5.5 |
| 2021 Regular Season | USC | 2 | 23.4 | 5.6 | -5.5 |
Signature Performances
Top Games
#1 Featured game
vs Arizona State
Week 10 · W 28-27 · Conference game
Win with 3 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
3
Havoc Plays
86.4 takeover
3 disruption/tackle impact with 86.4 takeover score.
#2
vs Fresno State
Week 1 · W 31-23
3
Havoc Plays
83.6 takeover
Win with 3 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
3 disruption/tackle impact with 83.6 takeover score.
#3
vs UCLA
Week 12 · L 33-62 · Conference game
1
Havoc Plays
72.5 takeover
Loss with 1 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
1 disruption/tackle impact with 72.5 takeover score.
#4
vs Oregon
Week 16 · L 24-31 · Conference game
1.5
Havoc Plays
68.9 takeover
Loss with 1.5 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
1.5 disruption/tackle impact with 68.9 takeover score.
#5
@ UCLA
Week 15 · W 43-38 · Conference game
2
Havoc Plays
66.7 takeover
Win with 2 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
2 disruption/tackle impact with 66.7 takeover score.
Top Seasons
#1 Season by Season Value
2019 Postseason · USC
13 primary output · 33.4 efficiency · 9.3 usage
67.8
#2
2019 Regular Season · USC
67.8
13 primary · 33.4 efficiency · 9.3 usage
#3
2020 Regular Season · USC
60.9
7.5 primary · 43.3 efficiency · 9.4 usage
Milestones
6
Impact games
5
Splash games
4
10+ tackle games
Next best actions
Keep exploring Isaiah Pola-Mao
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