PROVO — It's often difficult to differentiate between members of the Kaufusi family. And that's generally a good thing.
At BYU's Media Day, BYU senior defensive end Corbin Kaufusi told of a time his brother, Bronson Kaufusi, had him answer a phone call from Bronson's wife Hillary. Corbin went about pretending to be his older brother until feeling guilty.
"Bronson was laughing and wanted me to keep going, but it got too serious for me," Corbin said. "I had to give the phone back to him. It was too much."
The similarities between the two brothers don't come close to ending with how each of them sounds over the phone, however. Both brothers enjoy extraordinary statures for defensive linemen, although Corbin (6-foot-9) enjoys two full inches on his older sibling. And it turns out both know how to use their superior statures and athleticism to excel on the gridiron.
Bronson played for the Cougars from 2012-2015 and enjoyed almost immediate success before being selected by the Baltimore Ravens in the third round of the NFL draft. Corbin's career wasn't as impactful, although he aims to go out in top form.
"It's been fun planning out how I'm going to get there this year," Corbin said while mentioning a so-called "vision board" he uses to set and track goals. "I feel a lot of times in the past I've made goals, but I've never (planned well) to get it...So it's like a tree chart of things I need to do every day."
Central to achieving his senior year goals is to get into top physical shape, and while Corbin won't be entering his final year with significant weight gain or weight loss, he has conditioned his body to carry what the 280-pound lineman defines as, "the right kind of weight."
"I haven't gained a ton more," he continued. "I've just kind of done where I've gained a lot of weight to cut back to the right type of body I want. So instead of having all this fat. So now I'm 280 with a lot better body fat percentage."
A big factor allowing the right weight to be added is a complete focus on football. The Timpview product is now two full years removed from attempted to play both football and basketball at BYU, which has aided considerably in pursuit of the sport the Kaufusi's are best known for.
It's been fun planning out how I'm going to get there this year. – BYU defensive end Corbin Kafusi
Starting it all for the Kaufusi family legacy was his father and longtime BYU defensive line coach Steve Kaufusi, who retired after last season.
"It's weird not having him here," Corbin said. "But he's still around a lot and helping me out a ton. He stays close and he's the man."
Corbin won't be the final Kaufusi adding his legacy to the BYU football team. His cousins Isaiah Kaufusi will be entering his sophomore season while his younger brother, Devin Kaufusi recently returned home from LDS Church mission service to Germany.
Devin stands in at 6-7 and returned home in relatively good shape, according to his older brother.
"He was bigger, and that's sort of the beauty in my family," Corbin, who himself added good weight during his mission to South Korea, said. "Everyone mans up on their mission and I feel that Devin is sort of a hybrid between myself and Bronson, a bit. He's going to be good."
While all three brothers match up favorably in a lot of areas, one area where Corbin far surpasses both Devin and Bronson is wrestling. During interviews, Corbin proudly states that Bronson has never beat him in a wrestling match and doesn't plan on allowing Devin the privilege any time soon either.
"Bronson has me in lifting weights, probably, but no way does he have me wrestling," Corbin said. "That's where I thrive and hopefully I can use that, along with my new goals, and a lot of the same things Bronson used in going out with a big senior year."