BYU football recruiting: four-star Langi Tuifua brings much needed depth at defensive end

Kalani Sitake’s first full recruiting season at BYU hit a high point Saturday night as four-star defensive end Langi Tuifua committed to the Cougars during the Polynesian Bowl. Langi is an in state prospect out of Bingham and stands at 6-foot-4, 215-pounds. Tuifua tweeted after Saturday’s game reaffirming his BYU commitment:

Brigham Young is actually the third school that Tuifua has committed to throughout his long recruiting process. Back in 2014, he committed to Utah. Shortly after, he committed to Oregon only to rescind it last November. Finally, he has landed with the Cougars.

While we can’t say for sure why it has been such a wild ride, it’s pretty evident that Sitake was a big factor. He was the defensive coordinator when Langi originally committed to Utah before taking off to Oregon State shortly after. Perhaps the coaching changes at Oregon played a role in him opening his options up again and with Kalani now at BYU, it was probably an easy choice.

When asked about why he chose BYU, Tuifua replied with, "they have the greatest coaches down there... It’s close to home with all of my family."

Langi held offers from Oregon, Boise State and Michigan in addition to BYU and Utah, so this is quite the victory for BYU.

Defensive end is a position of need right now for BYU and Langi’s decision is certainly a step in the right direction. Five-star teammate Jay Tufele also has BYU in his top 5, but is expected to sign with Utah or USC.

Regardless, this was a much needed get for the Cougars and is hopefully a sign of good things to come as signing day approaches.

Tuifua will play a year before deciding on an LDS mission.

Here are Langi Tuifua’s senior year highlights, courtesy of Hudl: