Utah Lands 3-Star defensive end Taniela Pututau

Another missionary is back. Here’s the initial response to him joining the program back when he initially signed with the Utes. He was a wide out and safety back in the day, but now they’re looking at him as a defensive end. It just shows how this staff can project players into the future.

Three-star Salt Lake City (Utah) Cottonwood wide receiver/safety Taniela Pututau has committed to Utah. Pututau is the younger brother of Howard and Fua Pututau. Howard served an LDS Mission and will join the Utes this season. Fua committed to Utah as part of their 2016 recruiting class before heading on an LDS Mission. Taniela, like his two older brothers, will serve an LDS Mission before joining Utah. Pututau is Nike+ verified 6’ 3”, 203 pounds with 4.69 40-time and 33.7 inch vertical. Taniela was deciding between Oregon State and Utah. He took an official visit to Utah over the weekend, and it clearly went well with him choosing the hometown Utes. He also held offers from BYU, Colorado, and Utah State among others.

While he can play wide receiver or safety, I believe the plan is for him to play on defense for the Utes. Defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley is getting a great one. He has a great frame. Having that kind of size in the secondary is great. He can go up and get the football and has great hands with his background as a wide receiver.

There are a lot of reasons to like this pickup for Utah. Best of all, Pututau is a very good player who I think is a sneaky good pickup. He was hurt and missed his senior year, so it caused him to be ranked lower and have less interest from out-of-state programs (like UCLA, USC or Washington for example) than if he would have played as a senior. It continues the Pututau to Utah tradition started by his older brothers.