Inside The Huskies

Top Utah OL Pursues Title, Deals with Loss of Dad, Set to Choose College

Esun Tafa had had to deal with a lot of stuff as a junior in high school.

Dan Raley

Esun Tafa, recruit from Utah, checks out the UW trophy case on a summer visit.
Esun Tafa, recruit from Utah, checks out the UW trophy case on a summer visit. / UW

Esun Tafa, considered the top offensive-line prospect across Utah, won't forget what happened to him in 2024 any time soon.

When the year is complete, it will have been exhilarating on multiple fronts and extremely sad, all in one.

On Thursday, Tafa's top-seeded Corner Canyon High School team (12-1) and third-seeded Lone Peak (11-2) will meet in the 6A state championship game at Rice-Eccles Stadium on the University of Utah campus, with his Chargers facing the only team that has beaten them this year.

On Monday, the 6-foot-4, 305-pound guard and tackle from the Class of 2026 and Draper, Utah, which is 20 miles south of Salt Lake City, will reveal his college destination, choosing from among Oregon, Utah and Washington at 11 a.m. PT on the 247Sports YouTube channel.

And since July, Tafa has been mourning the death of his dad, Romney, to leukemia. For five months, his father aggressively combatted his cancer, undergoing a bone marrow transplant.

That's a lot of emotional stuff for a teenage kid, for anyone that matter, to handle all at once.

On the previous Thursday, Tafa and his teammates probably felt the 6A semifinals took a little bit of their soul. They beat Lehi 35-34 in overtime when a tying conversion kick hit the left upright and bounced off, leaving everyone stunned and making Corner Canyon an instant winner.

Getting into the playoffs proved to be a challenge for the Chargers, who lost starting quarterback Helaman Casuga to a foot injury in week 6, not long before he revealed his college football choice by picking Texas A&M over USC and Washington.

Lucky for Corner Canyon, the Tafa-led offensive line has been so good it has given all of their quarterbacks, with back-up Bronson Evans replacing Casuga as the starter, plenty of time to throw the football.

Tafa, who's still just a junior, initially pared his list of football suitors to five before eliminating BYU and Miami from contention.

Recruiting analyst Greg Biggins of 247Sports, after watching Tafa go through the paces of last summer's Under Armour Next Camp in Utah, offered the following report:

"He worked out at right tackle and has a prototype frame with a strong 6-4, 295-pound body and could slide inside and play guard in college if needed. He has plenty of length with close to an 80-inch wingspan, shows off heavy hands and plays with plenty of physicality. He has a strong lower body, moves well laterally and plays with advanced technique. He’s already a national recruit and we like where his game is trending."

Tafa's Corner Canyon football program is seeking its fifth 6A state championship since 2018 and making its seventh consecutive title game appearance. The Chargers and Lone Peak played for the championshp in 2021, with the other side winning. Corner Canyon, under coach Eric Kjar, has won 96 of 104 games over the past seven years.

Whoever gets Tafa's college services, regardless of how the state finale plays out, will add someone who has shown he can deal with a lot of pressure.

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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