2013 BYU Football Newcomers: Tuni Kanuch

Tuni Kanuch

South Jordan, Ut Bingham High School

6-1 | 285 | Defensive Tackle

Class: Freshman

Before BYU: Tuni was a standout at Bingham High School, starting all four years primarily as an offensive guard. He was voted first-team all-state as a sophomore, junior and senior. He was also named the Deseret News 2009 Mr. Football, he was ranked No. 6 recruit out of Utah by Scout.com and named first-team All-American by MaxPreps. Tuni is returning to BYU after serving a 2 year mission to San Diego, Ca.

 The first thing that stands out to me in this highlight film is the fact that Kanuch is an amazing offensive lineman but he will be lining up on the other side of the ball in Provo this season. After studying the film a bit more i see a large man-child that moves extremely well, his footwork is fantastic and first step is very explosive. All qualities that make for a very good lineman. 

Expectations in 2013: Tuni should see a good amount of playing time, he is currently sharing 2nd string honors with Marques Johnson behind Eathyn Manumaleuna. There is a chance Eathyn could move back over to right end and if that happens Kanuch could be the starter by seasons end. With such an unsure situation with the offensive line and a having a backlogged nose tackle position it would not surprise to me if we saw Tuni switching over to his natural position on the offensive side of the ball. This is not very likely but if Coach Anae isn’t happy with what he is seeing from the O-line anything could happen.

Potential at BYU: I see Kanuch having a very successful 4 years at BYU, he is a big physical presence who completely dominated the line of scrimmage in the high school ranks. Even if Tuni isn’t starting by seasons end I still see him being a solid 3 year starter and getting back his dominance of the line of scrimmage, keep and eye on this guy cougar fans, he will be a beast all the way through 2016.