Junior Tafuna, IDL, Utah
Size:
Height: 6034
Weight: 308
Arm: 32 ½”
Hand: 10 ½”
Accomplishments:
Second-Team All-Pac-12 (2023, 2022, 2021)
“Junior Tafuna is a block-eating interior defender who can shock offensive linemen with powerful strikes to keep second-level defenders clean.”
Strengths:
Double-team take-on
Gap-sound against the run
Lateral and first-step explosion
Point of attack strength
Concerns:
Pass-rush impact
Arm length
Disengaging blocks
Film Analysis:
Junior Tafuna, a former three-star recruit from Bingham High School, was the seventh-ranked senior player in Utah in 2018. He accumulated 64 tackles, one sack, and an interception during his final season before being invited to the 2019 Polynesian Bowl. During his time at Utah, he played in 48 games with 45 starts and compiled 108 tackles (53 solo), 16 tackles for loss, seven and a half sacks, two interceptions, and eight passes defensed (six in his last two seasons). Being recognized at the conference level every year he’s been in college (honorable mention in 2024) is an impressive feat, and his experience has been an asset as he progressed as a collegiate athlete.
While he isn’t the heaviest defensive tackle at 305 pounds, Tafuna understands leverage exceptionally well and plays with the pad level and first-step explosiveness to take advantage of it. He lined up from a 4i technique to 0-tech and everywhere in between for the Utes. He gets off the ball downhill or laterally well and uses well-timed and placed hand strikes to knock offensive linemen back and find the football. While his length makes it difficult to consistently disengage blocks, he takes them on well enough to keep linebackers and filling defenders clean to the football. He plays with a good anchor and uses leverage to take on double teams, but using the kickstand technique more will help him transition to the next level. His lateral first step helps him stay gap-sound and surprise blockers, but he doesn’t live in the backfield to cause havoc and finds more tackles past the line of scrimmage.
He isn’t a poor tackler, but his length will limit his ability to consistently bring down NFL ball-carriers. In single-blocker encounters, his functional strength is impressive, and he will displace linemen backward, which can interrupt the flow of a play in the backfield.
Tafuna isn’t an impactful pass rusher as it currently stands, even with his effort, but he’s an active hand-swatter when he sees the football released. The development of his pass rush tool bag and counters must be his priority if he becomes a three-down player in his career. His strength at the point of attack and lateral quickness can be the foundation of his improvement, but his length continued to limit his ability to get off blocks and quickly beat pass protectors.
Tafuna will compete to be a two-down rotational defensive lineman early in his career and has the tools to be an impact run defender early on. However, his limited upside as a pass rusher narrows his true impact on all three downs and his overall draft stock.
Prospect Projection: Day 3 — Scheme Specific Contributor
Written By: Daniel Harms
Exposures: Colorado (2024), Oklahoma State (2024), TCU (2024), Arizona State (2024)
