Utah Standouts Karene Reid, Junior Tafuna Impressing At Senior Bowl

SALT LAKE CITY—Two Utah football standouts recently accepted invitations to showcase their talents in the Reese’s Senior Bowl, where they are impressing. 

Utah’s defensive leaders, Karene Reid and Junior Tafuna, were added to the top NFL Draft showcase. Both players are on the National roster, which will compete against the American roster on Saturday.

The invitations are significant as the Senior Bowl has a high draft rate among the players in attendance. After narrowing down a watchlist of over 400 names, the Senior Bowl invites around 125 players to the event. Last year, 110 players who attended last year’s Senior Bowl were selected in the NFL Draft.

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Utah DT Junior Tafuna at the Senior Bowl

OFFICIAL! DL Junior Tafuna from @Utah_Football is heading to the 2025 Reese's Senior Bowl!!! 👏👏👏 #GoUtes #BestOfTheBest #TheDraftStartsInMOBILE™️@JimNagy_SB @PaniniAmerica #RatedRookie pic.twitter.com/6AEZTTcAw2

— Reese's Senior Bowl (@seniorbowl) January 26, 2025

Tafuna was an All-Conference selection in each of his four seasons and was named Freshman of the Year in 2021. Over the past two years, he has become the heart and soul of the defense, providing the emotional leadership it needed.

He played in 48 games and started 45 of them. He finished with 108 tackles, 15 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks, 2 interceptions, 9 pass deflections, 1 forced fumble, and 3 fumble recoveries.

Tafuna will be able to compete against some of the top offensive line prospects. Needless to say, a good showing this week will go a long way in improving his draft stock, and he’s gotten off to a strong start.

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Utah DL Junior Tafuna vs. USC OL Jonah Monheim #SeniorBowl #TheDraftStartsInMOBILE pic.twitter.com/J9n7abGNCZ

— Alex Shapiro (@AlexShapiroCHSN) January 28, 2025

Utah LB Karene Reid at the Senior Bowl

It’s OFFICIAL! LB Karene Reid @k_reid41 from @Utah_Football is heading to the 2025 Reese's Senior Bowl!!! #GoUtes #BestOfTheBest #TheDraftStartsInMOBILE™️@JimNagy_SB @PaniniAmerica #RatedRookie pic.twitter.com/Y1zYVkPNeA

— Reese's Senior Bowl (@seniorbowl) January 10, 2025

A two-time All-Pac-12 selection, Reid provided Utah with playmaking and leadership over the course of his four seasons. Reid suffered an injury that cost him multiple games, and he battled through the lingering effects for the rest of the season.

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Reid played in 43 games, starting 39, and had a knack for taking the ball away from the opponent. He finished his career with 238 tackles, 19.5 tackles for loss, 9 sacks, 3 interceptions, 9 pass deflections, 1 forced fumble, and 2 fumble recoveries.

Similarly, Reid can also do a lot to help his draft outlook, and it’s clear that simply being invited to the event has already led to additional re-evaluation.

Impossible to not love @Utah_Football LB Karene Reid, plays fast and knows his assignments and alignments, undersized sure but impossible to not see a little bit of Ivan Pace in his game@k_reid41 pic.twitter.com/hroP3UKGGB

— ColeNFL (@colep_nfl) January 24, 2025

Steve Bartle is the Utah insider for KSL Sports. He hosts The Utah Blockcast (SUBSCRIBE) and appears on KSL Sports Zone to break down the Utes. You can follow him on X for the latest Utah updates and game analysis.

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