The BYU Cougars kick off the 2025 season in 53 days against Portland State. As we continue counting down the days until kickoff, today we will profile the player who wears No. 53 - redshirt defensive end Orion Maile-Kaufusi - by providing three interesting, fun facts:
Fun fact No. 1 - He was a three-star talent from East
Orion prepped at East High School in Salt Lake City and was a three-star prospect with an 83 rating in the class of 2021. Coming out of high school he had offers from Oregon State, Utah State, and Air Force and originally committed to Oregon State. However, after serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints he decided instead to walk on at BYU
BYU defensive end Orion Maile-Kaufusi with a tackle in space.
— Casey Lundquist (@casey_lundquist) March 18, 2025
Maile-Kaufusi signed with Oregon State in high school and enrolled at BYU after his mission. pic.twitter.com/e0xQRL4meT
Fun fact No. 2 - He's the latest Cougar in the beloved Kaufusi clan
Those of us who bleed BYU blue love the name "Kaufusi". I asked Grok AI to provide me with a list of BYU football players with the last name Kaufusi and it immediately returned eight names, including two - Ace and Maika - who are currently on BYU's roster. If the past teaches us anything about the future, then let's be prepared for Orion to make a name for himself in Provo despite joining the team as a walk-on.
Fun fact No. 3 - He's an early-stage CEO!
According to his LinkedIn profile, Orion Maile-Kaufusi is the co-founder and CEO of D1 Buddies, a service that provides mentorship to young athletes. While the site looks like it is still in the start-up phase (many of the links contain 404 errors), Rome wasn't built in a day. The fact that a busy student-athlete is already dipping his toes into the entrepreneurial world is more than impressive.