Cougs Daily

BYU Football Flips Oregon Commit, Four-Star Alai Kalaniuvalu

Casey Lundquist

Lavell Edwards Stadium
Lavell Edwards Stadium / BYU Photo
In this story:

It's been a good recruiting Saturday for Kalani Sitake and the BYU football program. Earlier on Saturday, four-star offensive lineman Austin Pay committed to BYU over Oregon and Oklahoma. Less than two hours later, four-star offensive lineman Alai Kalaniuvalu flipped his commitment from Oregon to BYU.

Kalaniuvalu started his high school career at Timpview High School. He moved to Las Vegas where he continued his high school career at powerhouse Bishop Gorman. Kalaniuvalu is the fourth best prospect in Nevada and a consensus four-star recruit. He picked up competing offers from Oregon, Michigan, USC, Utah, Alabama, Auburn, Arizona State, Colorado, Florida, Nebraska, Georgia, Miami, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Texas A&M, and Washington among others.

Alai played tackle at Timpview early in his high school career. He has played center at Bishop Gorman and that's likely where he will play at the next level.

Kalaniuvalu has a connection to the BYU football program through his brother-in-law, current BYU offensive lineman Sonny Makasini. Makasini has started for BYU at right guard this season, although he's missed a handful of games due to injury.

BYU's 2025 class had a very solid foundation, but it lacked a consensus four-star recruit at the top. Kalaniuvalu fills that void and suddenly BYU's recruiting class is climbing the Big 12 rankings. Suddenly, BYU's offensive line class is great. BYU has three coveted offensive line commits in Andrew Williams, Austin Pay, and now Alai Kalaniuvalu. New BYU offensive line coach TJ Woods deserves a lot of credit for this class. Kalaniuvalu took an official visit to BYU earlier in the cycle before he committed to Oregon. That didn't keep BYU from trying to get Alai to Provo.

BYU has had a lot of success on the field this season. That success is now translating to wins on the recruiting trail.

Kalaniuvalu is the 18th member of BYU's 2025 recruiting class. He joins fellow BYU commits Austin Pay, LaMason Waller, Ulavai Fetuli, Andrew Williams, Tyler Payne, Taani Makasini, Jackson Doman, Nolan Keeney, Blake Bryce, Cale Breslin, Kendal Wall, Kelepi Vete, Tucker Kelleher, Vincent Tautua, Kingston Keanaaina, Sale Fano, and Will Walker.

Published |Modified
Casey Lundquist
CASEY LUNDQUIST

Casey Lundquist is the publisher and lead editor of Cougs Daily. He has covered BYU athletics for the last four years. During that time, he has published over 2,000 stories that have reached more than three million people.

Home/Recruiting