Utah Football signs WR/S Taniela Pututau

The Utes have officially signed Taniela Pututau, the third Pututau to sign with the Utes, out of Cottonwood High School in SLC. The three-star rated wide out/safety, by 24/7 Sports, is expected to go on a mission, just like his brothers before him. 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.

Pututau had offers from all over the Mountain West, as well as BYU, Oregon State and Colorado.

Here’s Alex’s analysis after he initially committed a couple of weeks ago:

“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. They also have a cousin, Tennessee Pututau, who is a 2018 four-star outside linebacker recruit also out of Cottonwood. Pututau was on an official visit with multiple other local players, including South Jordan (Utah) Bingham four/five-star defensive tackle Jay Tufele and Salt Lake City (Utah) East three-star defensive end Jordan Lolohea. Tufele is Utah’s top target, and Lolohea is a top target for the Utes. Landing Pututau off the visit those two were also on speaks to it being a very good visit for at least one local prospect.”

It’s crucial for Utah to get their “Hometown Heros,” especially if they have brothers in the program. Since Utah has put a bigger emphasis on the locals a couple of years ago, they have been much more successful in pulling them into the program.