UteNation Countdown to Kickoff: No. 51 Karson Kaufusi

We are nearly at the halfway point in the UteNation Countdown to Kickoff series and today we discuss no. 51, Karson Kaufusi. The latest member of the Kaufusi family tree – and son of Doug – arrived on campus early as an early enrollee freshman and participated in spring ball.

UteNation Take

The Skyline HS graduate was listed at 6-foot-4 and 252 pounds in the On3 Rivals database, but he is already listed at 6-foot-6 and 282 on the roster. Regardless, he has done a good job of starting to fill out his frame. Behind Aliki Vimahi and Dallas Vakalahi, the defensive tackle depth is relatively unknown, so Kaufusi has a great opportunity to earn his reps in the rotation this fall. The Kaufusi name is football royalty in the State of Utah. Karson will look to carry on that legacy, and if his spring ball performance is any indication, he could see valuable reps in the defensive tackle rotation in 2025.

One thing to pay attention to is that despite being a four-star recruit out of high school, he got injured during the first game of his senior year. He was healed up enough to participate as an early-enrollee in spring ball, but Utah could choose to bring him along slowly at first because of that high school injury.

Remembering Kaufusi’s Recruitment

Kaufusi was one of the top recruits coming out of the state of Utah in the 2025 class. Karson held a few offers coming out, including Utah, Arizona, BYU, Colorado State, Oregon State, Washington, and Washington State. The legacy-recruit was far and away the best defensive lineman at Utah’s Elite Camp last summer, and he immediately became a priority recruit. In the end, there really was no competition for Utah, as Kaufusi seemed destined to be a Ute.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Sean Davenport contributed to this article.