Voi Tunuufi is a Husky!

Washington just boosted their pass rush as they have officially added Utah defensive lineman Voi Tunuufi!

Tunuufi committed to the Huskies back in late April almost exactly a year from when UW first extended an offer. Washington won out over offers from schools such as Michigan, Utah, Arizona State, Wisconsin, and BYU. He is currently ranked as the #25 defensive tackle in the country by the 247 Sports Composite and a 0.8858 overall rating. A 0.89 mark is the cutoff for 4-star so Tunuufi is right on the cusp and still has a chance to move over that barrier in the final rankings.

The 6’2, 280 pound Tunuufi is one of the few Husky prospects to have actually completed a senior season by virtue of living in Utah. He was dominant for a team that ultimately lost in the state semifinals putting up 120 tackles and 16.5 sacks for East high school in Salt Lake City.

Watching Tunuufi play in high school his game is reminiscent to that of what Zion Tupuola-Fetui has been able to do this year at the college level. The difference of course is that ZTF was about 30 pounds lighter coming out of high school and bulked up in a college weight room to Tunuufi’s current size. A similar development for Tunuufi would put him closer to 300 pounds and likely move him inside. In that regard a better comparison may be Levi Onwuzurike or senior year Benning Potoa’e as an interior pass rusher who will be at his best on 3rd down possibly flanked on either side by guys like Laiatu Latu or Sav’ell Smalls.

Washington is still young across the defensive line and we don’t know exactly what is going to happen with the eligibility conundrums caused by this year. But if Ryan Bowman were to decide to move on and ZTF declared for the draft it would open up plenty of playing time at the outside linebacker spot. If Tunuufi is ready for primetime right away it wouldn’t be surprising to see the staff keep him close to his current weight, play him as one of the backup OLBs until there’s a little bit more depth there then move him inside as an upperclassman like we saw from Potoa’e.

Tunuufi is one of my favorite prospects in this class and I can’t wait to see him on Montlake. You can go to his HUDL page to find his individual game highlights from his whole senior year but since there isn’t an overall season compilation yet, here’s his junior year film.