WATCH: Utah TE and former Australian rugby player Thomas Yassmin scores Rose Bowl touchdown
Utah tight end Thomas Yassmin made a huge impact on the Rose Bowl and made Australian rugby and football fans proud on Monday. The 6-foot-5 tight end from Sydney scored the Utes’ first touchdown of the Rose Bowl as he caught a pass in the corner of the end zone — showing off his pass catching ability that he’s built upon his rugby foundation.
Former Australian rugby player Thomas Yassmin scores for Utah
A fourth-year junior this season, Yassmin got his first ever experience playing American football in 2018 as a redshirt freshman. In 2022, Yassmin saw his role on the Utah offense develop into a reliable one, playing in 12 games and starting in five of them — while catching 12 passes for 300 yards and five touchdowns.
While celebrating the unusual path to college football success that Yassmin has had, the ESPN broadcast of the game was quick to share a story from his first days on a college team where he couldn’t even figure out how to put on his pads for practice. Luckily, with some familiarity with the game Yassmin has paired his physical toughness and size into a huge part of the Utah offensive attack.
In addition to his rugby roots, Yassmin played basketball prior to his career change as well as throwing the shot put.
The matchup this year is a chance for Utah to right the tough ending to last year’s Rose Bowl for them, where they fell to Ohio State in an amazing game. Utah came into the game last season with a Pac-12 title as well, although this time they face Penn State as the Big Ten’s representative.
Now they’re back in Pasadena, trying to win the first Rose Bowl in program history. Cameron Rising and the Utes were able to knock USC out of the College Football Playoff in the Pac-12 title game. The only thing left to check off on the list is bringing home a Rose Bowl title.
On3’s Pete Nakos contributed to this article.