PlainsUte

This Space Intentionally Left Bank

#73 Tanoa Togiai, RS Freshman DT, 6-6, 310
Tanoa (TAH-noah tong-EE-eye) is from Rigby, Idaho, home of Philo Farnsworth, who created important elements of the television tube.  Utah Coach Lewis Powell’s job is to create NFL defensive tackles from raw HS players.   Powell found Tanoa at Rigby HS, a team that won the 2019 Idaho 5A State…[Read more]

#74 Ridge Harrell, Freshman OL, 6-4, 300
Ridge appears to be a walk-on from Skyridge HS in Lehi, but also had played at Lone Peak HS in American Fork, UT.  He was on the Southern Utah football roster last season but did not play.   He also played basketball.  He has a good frame for OL, so Coach Harding seems willing to sculpt these raw erstwhile…[Read more]

#75 Tyler Knaak, Freshman OL, 6-7, 319
Tyler Knaak comes to the Utes from Brighton HS in Cottonwood Heights.  Tyler is a true freshman but he’s been with the Utes since January so he participated in 2022 Spring camp.  At Brighton he played on the defensive line for 3 years before switching to the ohfense (right tackle).  He was also a heavyweight…[Read more]

#76 Zereoue Williams, RS Freshman OL, 6-8, 292
Zereoue Williams comes to Utah from Phoenix, Arizona, Mountain Pointe HS.  Zereoue played just one year of HS football, focusing on basketball prior to that.  Despite that he is rated a 3-star recruit and landed several P5 offers.  So far he played in just 2 games in 2021 on special teams while…[Read more]

#77 Simote Pepa, RS Freshman DT, 6-3, 354
Simote (see-mo-tay peppa) is a product of Bingham High (State Champs 2016 & 2017) and signed with Utah in 2019 before serving a mission in Lansing, Michigan.  After returning to Utah in 2021, he saw action in four games, including the Rose Bowl.  Look for more impact from Simote over the next few…[Read more]

#78 Sataoa Laumea, RS Junior Right Guard, 6-4, 312
Sataoa (Sah-tau-ah) will be one of the experienced anchors of the OL.  Already has earned two All-Pac-12 honors (2nd Team 2020, Hon Mention 2021).  He is originally from SoCal (Rialto, Calif, Eisenhower HS), where he play OL and DT and participated in track (shotput and discus).
Anyone know…[Read more]

This was posted to social media, sharing here…
Code is gators
Some are reporting buying up tix in Sec 22.
Florida tix pre-sale

#79 Alex Harrison, RS Soph OL, 6-4, 322
Al Harrison is a product of Viewmont HS in Bountiful.   While there he played on the line, both offense and defense, and consumed copious groceries.   Al also competed at shot put.  He graded out 97% at OL with 34 pancake blocks his senior season, mmm pancakes.   At Utah he’s trimmed out to 324 from 330 and…[Read more]

#80 Brant Kuithe, Super Senior TE, 6-2, 222
By now Brant Kuithe should be a household name in Utah, and probably more widely as the 2022 season progresses.   Kuithe is a 3-time All Pac-12 selection (second team) and at least one pub (Athlon) has him a pre-season 1st team All Pac-12 for 2022.  Should be up for national TE awards (John Mackey…[Read more]

#81 Connor O’Toole, RS Sophomore DE, 6-4, 210
Contrary to expection, Connor O’Toole is not an Irish pub in Trolley Square.  Connor moved over to DE from WR, perhaps motivated by the 10 tackles he had on special teams in 2021.   Connor is from New Mexico where he was Albuquerque Metro Male Athlete of Year in 2018, as a junior, playing WR and DE…[Read more]

#82 Sire Woods, RS Senior TE, 6-2, 236
Sire comes to Utah from Penn where he played for four years and earned a marketing degree at the Ivy League school.  He had a chance to move closer to his Long Beach, CA home and play his COVID bonus year for “TE University”, hence the transfer to Utah.   He sat out 2021 at Utah.  From 2017-2020 he saw…[Read more]

A Double Feature today…
#83 Jonah Elliss, Sophomore DE, 6-2, 240
Jonah came to Utah from Moscow, Idaho along with his father Luther Ellis (Utah 1991-94, Detroit Lions 1995-2003, Denver Broncos 2004), who is a Utah DL coach.  He played backup LB and on special teams in 2021.  Recorded 15 tackles and had 2 fumble recoveries, including versus…[Read more]

#84 Taniela Pututau, RS Freshman TE, 6-3 247
Another of the Pututau clan, but Taniela is not a DT; from Cottonwood High where he was a WR and OLB.  Brother (Utah DT) signed a free agent deal with the Green Bay Packers.  Taniela has yet to see action for the Utes.  Someone give me odds that some day he plays defense for the Utes.
#84 Taniela…[Read more]

#85 Masaki Kudo, RS Freshman WR, 5-10, 182
Kudo is a walk-on from Tokyo, Japan and plays mainly on scout team.  Played American football for Keio HS and Keio College in Tokyo. Must be a good story on this guy, how he got on the roster coming from Japan.  A story as yet unwritten.
#85 Masaki Kudo

#86 Dalton Kincaid, Senior TE, 6-4, 242
Dalton should be well known to any Ute fan.  He was one of the trio of TE’s that saw a lot of action in 2021.  Kincaid had 36 receptions for 510 yards (14.2 ypc) and 8 TD’s in 2021.  Kincaid and Kuithe both declined an invitation to the NFL Combine in spring in order to play for the Utes in 2022 and take…[Read more]

#87 Thomas Yassmin, RS Junior TE, 6-5 248
Thomas Yassmin came to Utah in 2018 from Sydney, Australia via Scots College in NSW, having never played American football.   He was a rugby player recruited for his size, athleticism and intellegence.  He is a student of business analytics and the tight end position.  He earned his BS in Quantitative…[Read more]

Twin bill today:
#88 Landon Morris, RS Freshman TE, 6-5, 233
Landon is originally from Indianapolis and spent time (Spring 2021-Fall 2022) at Syracuse before transferring to Utah.  In high school he had 81 catches for 1,456 yards and 13 touchdowns as a receiver and was named a  top-10 H-TE (H:primarily a receiver) prospect for 2021 class…[Read more]

#89 Jersey is open

#90 Devin Kaufusi, Senior DT, 6-7, 288
Transferred to Utah after playing for TDS for two years.  Last year started in 2 games, played in every game.  Originally from Provostan, Timpview HS.  LDS Mission in Germany.
Devin’s most famous play for the Utes was jumping up to block a field goal vs Arizona State in 2021.  Credited with 13 tackles, 1.5…[Read more]