Timote "Junior" Maile Tafuna (born February 27, 2001) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that typically lines up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the Guard (American football), offensive guards; however, he may also line up opposite one of the offensive Tackle (gridir ...

for the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Utah Utes The Utah Utes are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Utah, located in Salt Lake City. The athletic department is named after the Ute tribe of Native Americans in the Unite ...

Early life and high school

Tafuna attended

Bingham High School Bingham High School is a public high school located in South Jordan, Utah, United States. It is one of eight high schools in the Jordan School District. Teacher/pupil ratios are budgeted at 1 to 27.3, with actual class sizes varying. The school's ...

South Jordan, Utah South Jordan is a city in south central Salt Lake County, Utah, United States, south of Salt Lake City. Part of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, the city lies in the Salt Lake Valley along the banks of the Jordan River between the Oquirrh ...

. He was rated as a three-star recruit and committed to play

for the

College career

Tafuna did not appear in any games for the Utes in 2020. In week 11 of the 2021 season, he notched a career-high nine tackles in a win over

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

. In 2021, Tafuna totaled 33 tackles with five and a half being for a loss, four and a half sacks, a fumble recovery, and a pass deflection. He was named the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level for all sports, and its Co ...

defensive freshman of the year and was named second-team all-Pac-12. In 2022, Tafuna started all 14 games, notching 27 tackles with three and a half being for a loss, a sack, an interception, and a pass deflection, while once again being named second-team all-Pac-12. In week 10 of the 2023 season, he recorded his first career forced fumble, which he also recovered against

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. Tafuna finished the year with 17 tackles with three being for a loss, a sack and a half, two pass deflections, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery.

Professional career

Tafuna was signed by the

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

on May 9, 2025.

References

External links

Houston Texans bioUtah Utes bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tafuna, Junior 2001 births Living people People from Taylorsville, Utah Players of American football from Utah American football defensive tackles Utah Utes football players Pacific Islander American players of American football Houston Texans players