Michael Pepe Tanuvasa: DL #45, Class of 2015

Pepe Tanuvasa is a 6-foot-1 245-pound defensive lineman for Brigham Young University, recruited as part of the Class of 2015. He started his college career at Navy but transferred after his sophomore season.

BYU summary: In two seasons at BYU (roster years 2020-2021), Tanuvasa has played in 25 games with 10 starts, and has 66 tackles (35 solo), eight tackles for loss, four sacks, one interception, six quarterback hurries, and three pass breakups (BYUcougars.com).

  • 2022 (Senior).
  • 2021 (Junior). Played in 13 games with nine starts and recorded 42 tackles (23 solo), with seven tackles for loss, three quarterback hurries, one interception, and three sacks.
  • 2020 (COVID Junior). Played in 12 games with one start and recorded 24 tackles (12 solo) with one tackle for loss, three quarterback hurries, three pass breakups, and one sack.
  • 2019 (Sophomore). Member of scout team (sat out due to NCAA transfer rules)
  • 2018 (Freshman at Navy). Played in 13 games as a freshman for Navy
  • 2016-2017 (LDS mission). Florida

High School. Tanuvasa prepped at Tigard High School (Tigard, Oregon), where as a senior linebacker he had 107 tackles, and 16 tackles for loss. He also played fullback and had two touchdown receptions (MaxPreps). Tanuvasa was named to the 6A All-State second-team as a senior and was also on the rugby team.

Recruitment. Tanuvasa was rated 2-stars by 247Sports (0.7667), who rated him the no. 16 overall prospect from Oregon for the Class of 2015.

Personal. Father Michael played football at Hawaii.

Social Media. Follow and support Tanuvasa on Twitter at @pepetanuvasa20 and on Instagram at @pepetanuvasa, and on LinkedIn.

Resources: BYU Player Profile, 247 Recruiting Profile, MaxPreps Stats

About Tyler Christensen 784 Articles
Tyler Christensen is a teacher, sports writer, speaker, and ultra-marathon runner. He is the founder of BYU Insider, D1 Recruiting, Virtual School Assembly, and After the Run. When he's not writing or speaking, he's spending time at home in southern Utah with his amazing wife and four children.