Utah football: Like his brothers before him, 2017 Cottonwood ATH Taniela Pututau commits to Utes

Some families just have football running in their blood. And few have been kinder to Utah than the Pututaus.

The program has one brother, Howard, already enrolled. Another, Fu'a, committed on Signing Day last year and is serving a mission. And now, the Utes add a third brother to the 2017 class.

The latest, Taniela Pututau, is a 6-foot-3, 210-pound three-star athlete from Cottonwood High. He said he gave his pledge to Kyle Whittingham on Saturday night, and decided to announce Sunday.

"All the love that was shown, I wanted to repay it," he said. "They have a family atmosphere, and I really buy into that."

Pututau last played receiver and defensive back in high school. The Utes are anticipating that his body will change when he serves a two-year LDS Church mission (as his brothers before him) before starting his career, and project him as a defensive end. But if he doesn't gain weight between now and 2019, he could play on offense as a receiving target.

Pututau's final two schools were Utah and Oregon State, which pitched him as a tight end. But he said the allure of playing close to home was hard to resist.

It wasn't always that way: Pututau said he was being recruited by Washington and Stanford early in his process, and he really liked both schools. But they backed off after he suffered a season-ending injury before his senior season with the Colts.

"It was really hard, and I lost some opportunities that I wish I had," he said. "But it all worked out, and I was able to realize that I wanted to stay home and play at Utah."

As one might expect, both of his brothers played a role in him coming to Utah. Taniela said the opportunity to join Howard and Fu'a was a big sell for the Utes.

They were among the first to know: Howard, who redshirted last year with the Utes, learned from their parents. Taniela sent Fu'a, serving in Honduras, an e-mail, and said he was excited to hear the news.

Utah was able to close strong with an official visit in the final recruiting weekend, ending a process they had kept up since defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley first started recruiting him in his freshman year. Pututau is the first of the weekend visitors to commit, among a slate of players that Utah hope it will land including Bingham tackle Jay Tufele.

Pututau said he knows it will be a long wait to play at Utah: "But I'm just going to trust the process, and know that my skills will translate at the next level."

The Tribune has a preview of Utah's Signing Day class that appears in Monday's paper. Here's a list of the other prospects Utah has signed or received commitments from:

2017
Signed
• Pima College OT Jordan Agasiva
• Blinn College S Corrion Ballard
• Texas WR Tyquez Hampton

Committed
• Dodge City College S Marquise Blair
• Texas WR Jaylen Dixon
• Arizona RB T.J. Green
• California CB Javelin Guidry
• California DB Jaylon Johnson
• Riverside City College CB Tareke Lewis
• California ATH Devin Lloyd
• Snow College DT John Penisini
• American Fork OL Michael Richardson
• California OL Orlando Umana
• Texas QB Jason Shelley

2018

Committed
• Highland DT Hunter Lotulelei
• California QB Jack Tuttle

kgoon@sltrib.com
Twitter: @kylegoon