The BYU Cougars kick off the 2025 season in 3 days against Portland State. As we continue counting down the days until kickoff, today we will profile the player who wears No. 3 - junior safety Raider Damuni - by providing three interesting, fun facts:
Fun fact No. 1 - He was a big-time four-star signing for BYU back in 2021
While BYU football recruiting has taken off in the last two years, things were different back in 2021. That was the year Raider Damuni finished his prep career at Timpview High as a four-star talent with a 90 rating from 247 Sports. He was the No. 6 prospect in the state of Utah and the highest rated recruit to commit to and enroll at BYU that year.
Fun fact No. 2 - He's had two solid seasons at BYU.
BYU has a loaded safeties room but even then Raider has made an impact in both of his first two seasons with the program. As a freshman in 2023 he had 21 tackles and a forced fumble. Last year as a sophomore he registered 26 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and one sack. His sack was a memorable one as he dropped Shedeur Sanders in the Alamo Bowl in front of millions of people on national television.
This was a great play call for my son @raiderdamuni
— #IamJackDamuni 🇫🇯 (@JackDamuni) December 30, 2024
who got his first sack of his career.
Coach Hill was on fire last nite.
After watching all of his interviews leading up to the game I knew Coach aHill’s game plan was gonna cause havoc
GO COUGS!!!🤟🏾 pic.twitter.com/gOq9iItxR0
Now as a junior, Raider is going to play a key part of the defense this year. There are too many talented safeties on BYU's roster, Damuni included, for any one of them to be on the field for almost every down. There's going to be some safety by committee, and Raider Damuni is primed to have a breakout season this year.
Fun fact No. 3 - He's a returned missionary
According to his player profile at BYU's team website, Raider served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in San Francisco, California. He also speaks Tongan and has served in a Sunday School leadership position in his local church ward.