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BYU football recruiting: Snow DT Handsome Tanielu signs with the Cougars

By Jake Welch

Handsome Tanielu, a highly-touted defensive end out of Waianae High School in Waianae, Hawaii and more recently Snow College, has signed a National Letter of Intent to play for BYU. Tanielu becomes the first official signee of the BYU 2016 recruiting class and for new BYU head coach, Kalani Sitake.

According to 247 Sports, the four-star defensive tackle was a hard commit to the Utes while still holding offers from a slew of other schools. BYU appeared to still be in the mix as Handsome made his official visit to Provo back on November 25th, but there was no indication that he was going to change his stance.

Here is the scouting report on Handsome according to ESPN.com.

STRENGTHS: Thickly built with very good bulk as well as playing strength. Does good job of shooting hands with upper body strength to press blockers and hold ground when he stays low. Flashes adequate lateral mobility to be active between the tackles. Displays good bull rush ability...

AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT: May not be quite as tall as listed. Can give ground when doesn't win with quickness and leverage. Active with hands as pass rusher, but needs to continue to refine usage... BOTTOM LINE: Tanielu is an active and strong interior DL. Not a real dynamic, quick penetrating presence, but can be stout versus run and work as an interior pass rusher. Could be a good starter for lower Power-5, Group-of-5 program or quickly add quality depth to a higher tier Power-5 program.

The addition of Tanielu will shore up a position that desperately needed some depth. With the departure of Bronson Kaufusi, BYU needs all the defensive line help they can get. Logan Taele has been granted another year of eligibility and Travis Tuiloma will return but beyond that the Cougars will be relatively inexperienced up front.

Here's a look at Tanielu's highlights at Snow College:

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