Today we continue our UteNation Countdown to Kickoff with no. 58, Junior Tafuna. Tafuna is a sophomore defensive tackle from Bingham HS and was named the 2021 Pac-12 Freshman Defensive Player of the Year on his way to an AP Pac-12 All-Conference Second Team selection. Tafuna played in 13 of 14 games last season, starting in the final 11 matchups. He totaled 33 tackles (5.5 TFL) with 4.5 sacks, one fumble recovery, and one pass breakup.

With Ute-great Luther Elliss now in charge of the defensive tackles, Tafuna and everyone else in the rotation will be tasked with relentlessly attacking the opponents’ backfield. This means, there could be a fair amount of rotating lineups. The early favorite to start alongside Tafuna is sophomore Tennessee Pututau.

UteNation Take

Tafuna was a 6-foot-3 and 220 pound outside linebacker in the class of 2019, but the staff viewed him as an eventually defensive end. Jump to 2022 and Tafuna finds himself as a leader amongst one of the nation’s consistently deep and dominant defensive tackle rotations at 297 pounds.

After a great 2021 campaign under coach Pouha, Tafuna’s game should continue to evolve under new defensive tackles coach, Utah legend Luther Elliss. Junior’s athleticism should be an advantage in Elliss’ attacking philosophy for the tackles. It will be interesting to see how teams game plan for Tafuna and if double-teams open up opportunities for his teammates. His teammates expect him to be an opponent’s nightmare.

Remembering Tafuna’s Recruitment

A 3-star 2019 linebacker prospect and a member of the Bingham Three—with Simote Pepa and Lolani Langi—Tafuna was the no. 7 rated player in Utah that season. He chose the Utes over several other suitors, including Oregon, Washington State, Nebraska, Boise State and BYU. Ultimately in the end it came down to the Utes and the Cougars of Pullman, Washington.

He committed relatively early on in the process and shut down his recruitment, staying true to the Utes all the way through signing day.