The BYU Cougars kick off the 2025 season in 43 days against Portland State. As we continue counting down the days until kickoff, today we will profile the player who wears No. 43 - redshirt freshman linebacker Naki Tuakoi - by providing three interesting, fun facts:
Fun fact No. 1 - He had SEC and Big Ten offers
Coming out of the class of 2024, Naki Tuakoi was a near four-star recruit at 247 Sports. His composite rating of .8883 make him a Top 500 recruit in the nation (No. 498) and he drew interest from a host of top schools across the country. His offer sheet included Oregon, Notre Dame, Tennessee, USC, Michigan State, and a bevvy of other impressive schools. In the end, the highly-coveted prospect chose Kalani Sitake and the BYU Cougars.
𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 @NakiTuakoi 🤙 pic.twitter.com/2VOtyFshlU
— BYU FOOTBALL (@BYUfootball) February 7, 2024
Fun fact No. 2 - He decommitted from Stanford
It was never a sure thing that Tuakoi would ultimately call Provo home. He originally committed to Stanford back in June of 2023, but then backed off his commitment four months later in October. He took a fairly secret recruiting visit to BYU before announcing his commitment to the Cougars in December. Landing the big-time talent from California was a Christmas present every BYU fan enjoyed last year.
Fun fact No. 3 - He's over his 2024 enrollment issues
Despite the excitement of the 6-foot-3, 220-pound linebacker committing to the program last year, he wasn't able to get enrolled. KSL Sports reported that Kalani Sitake referred to Tuakoi as needing to get "academics stuff in order" before he could join the team. While he didn't appear in any games during his 2024 redshirt season, he was photographed with the team after the Alamo Bowl victory and reportedly practiced with the team leading up to the blowout win over Colorado.
Niki Tuakoi should be ready to go for 2025, and he has plenty of potential for a successful career in Provo.