One 10-second clip posted by Utah football’s social media took the college football world by storm last week.
In the short video, quarterback Devon Dampier completes a short pass to 5-foot-11, 317-pound tight end Semi Taulanga, who barrels down the middle of the field, easily shrugs off a would-be tackler and barrels forward into the end zone.
The video, fittingly, is set to a song with the lyrics, “don’t touch my truck.”
“I was set for pass protection. Devon told me to pop over, safety comes to release. Safety, green dot, popped over, I got the ball,” Taulanga said. “First contact, I think it was Kash Dillon that was trying to tackle me. And then first contact, after that, just get yards after catch and get to the end zone.”
In an online world starved for college football content, Taulanga’s spring touchdown went viral.
The EA Sports College Football video game account posted, “@EASPORTS_CUT legend incoming 📈🚛.”
Popular football podcast “Bussin’ With The Boys” posted “Semi Taulanga might have the most fitting name in CFB,” while Barstool Sports wrote an article titled “HEISMAN WATCH — Utah Football Has A 5-Foot-11, 317-Pound Unit Of A Tight End Named ‘Semi.’”
As reporters gathered around the soft-spoken Taulanga last week following one of Utah’s spring practices, his teammates started teasing him about his new-found celebrity status.
“I’m still the same person,” he joked back.
At the same time, though, he’s enjoying the attention.
“It feels pretty good. It feels pretty good that my name is kind of getting out there, being as a rhino. Looking at the comments and everything, everybody’s saying, ‘Oh, he’s a fullback.’ ‘He’s a tight end,’ I mean, you could pretty much put me anywhere, but I’m just glad my name’s getting out there,” Taulanga said.
Last week’s practice clip wasn’t the first time that Utah has creatively used Taulanga in a position they’ve dubbed the “rhino.” This year’s rhino group features Taulanga and 5-foot-11, 276-pound Sione Motuapuaka.
“Nastiness, mean, aggressive football, and they’re athletic,” Utah coach Morgan Scalley said. “Just when you think they’re just going to pound your face in, they slip out on a slide route and they’ve got good hands.”
Last year, Taulanga played 124 snaps for the Utes, often being used as an extra blocker. Against BYU, though, offensive coordinator Jason Beck got creative, sending the big fella out as a receiver. With no one expecting it, Taulanga was uncovered, and as he turned upfield, he made one Cougar defender miss with an agile move and then rammed into another BYU defender to get well past the first-down marker on a 10-yard completion.
The next — and last time — Utah tried to get the ball to Taulanga, the Cougars were ready, wrapping him up for a loss of seven.
Time will tell just how much Taulanga will be utilized as a pass-catcher or a ball carrier this year, but at the very least, it’s a good card for offensive coordinator Kevin McGiven to have in his back pocket.
“I mean, we got those two rhinos in there that I’m like, ‘OK, I haven’t really played with the rhino. These guys are really cool.’ I just know that they’re in there and they’re knocking people around,” McGiven said. “… Whether you call them a tight end or fullback, how do you work with those guys to the fullest extent? It’s a good problem to have.”
Added Scalley: “You take a look at the Rhino position with Sione and Semi, and if we’re not taking advantage of those guys and running some power run game ...”
Taulanga arrived in Salt Lake City from Mater Dei High as a defensive tackle, but Utah quickly took note of his unique athleticism.
Taulanga played tight end in his freshman year of high school before focusing on defensive tackle. That experience helped, but Taulanga attributed playing rugby to developing a lot of his athleticism.
That agility is what differentiates the two “rhinos” and allows them to be light on their feet while catching the ball.
While they will be used for blocking in the majority of their snaps, there could be some fun wrinkles planned for them this season.
“I think it’s surprising to me how athletic they are and they move better in space than I thought they could early on,” said tight ends coach Luke Wells. “And so those guys, we’ve been able to do more with them than I thought we could.
“Obviously they’re really good at the point of attack. And I think that’s the obvious thing that you see. Both of them are strong kids and they both bend really well and have pretty good change in direction where they can actually block guys on the second level as well. And I’ve just been pleased with how they show up to work every day. They got a great attitude, both of them do.”
Everyone loves a big guy reception, and if things fall into place, fans could be seeing some more viral highlights this fall.
