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Isaiah Kaufusi made it official on signing day Wednesday by choosing to play football for Brigham Young University over Utah, Utah State, and Hawaii. The 6-2 175 pound outside linebacker from Brighton High School in Salt Lake City officially announced his commitment on Sunday morning by posting to his twitter followers that he was heading to Provo.
Officially committed 🏈 go Cougs. #riseandshout
— Isaiah Kaufusi #⃣9⃣ (@isaiah_kaufusi) February 2, 2014
BYU coaches offered Kaufusi nearly two years ago after his sophomore year, but it wasn't until this week that the decision was made for sure.
Kaufusi is rated as a three-star prospect by 247sports and is one of the top prep players in Utah. 247sports also rates him as the 133 outside linebacker in the country and the 15th ranked OLB from Utah. Although he played on both sides of the ball in high school, he wants to play outside linebacker for the Cougars. This position has been a focus of the Cougar defense the last few years and allows athletic players to make a lot of big plays. With his athleticism he will be a good addition to a strong Mendenhall defense. Though he lacks some size, he has some of the intangibles such as instinct and pursuit to the ball. With his kind of play, the ball carriers may never be safe from a hit, and will open up plays for the rest of the defense.
Isaiah's father went to the University of Utah, but in an interview with Brandon Gurney of the Deseret News, Isaiah said that, "Everything (he) heard about BYU made it seem like the place (he) needed to be." After paint balling and snowmobiling during his official visit Kaufusi felt that BYU was indeed the place that he felt he could contribute. He noted that he is very excited to play for Coach Mendenhall and the Cougar defense. Isaiah's cousin, Bronson Kaufusi, recently made the switch to outside linebacker, and has to be thrilled that his cousin will be joining the Cougars. Unfortunately the cousins will not get to play together as Isaiah plans to serve a LDS mission right out of high school. When Isaiah returns he'll compete for a spot on the outside of Mendenhall's 3-4 scheme and look to continue the tradition of great BYU linebackers.
Here are some highlights from Isaiah's junior year of high school.