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SALT LAKE CITY — Junior Miki Suguturaga has put in the work the last four seasons to become a force on the defensive side of the ball as an edge rusher.
And for much of the 2022 season, Suguturaga did his job and earned nine starts to help Utah to back-to-back Pac-12 championships and second straight Rose Bowl berth. But after four years of focusing solely on defense, Suguturaga is making a switch to the offensive side of the ball.
The 6-foot-4 Suguturaga is now a tight end.
"It's new," Suguturaga said. "It's definitely new scenery for me, but I'm enjoying it."
At the end of the 2022 season, the coaching staff approached the former defensive end and brought up the idea of a position change. There was a need after Logan Kendall, who mostly played on the line and was a vital player to Utah's success, left the program to pursue an NFL career.
Given Suguturaga's talent on the line, as well as the logjam of talent at the defensive end position where he'd be fighting for a starting position, it was a change that seemed to benefit everybody. But that didn't mean it was an easy decision to switch, especially since Suguturaga had never played the position before — outside of a brief stint in Pop Warner.
"That's not like any organized football," Suguturaga joked. "That's just run and get open."
Suguturaga said it took him "a little bit of time to think about it," but as spring camp drew near, it was a decision he was fully on board with, especially as he looked to his future at what could await him as a potential tight end in the NFL. Once he came around to the idea, it felt like a "perfect" fit.
"It was actually kind of perfect, because I wanted to drop a little bit of weight, just because I felt a little bit heavier at D-end at 265, so I dropped about 10-15 pounds-ish," Suguturaga said. "And then just overall athleticism, I think, comes with losing weight and being more fast and physical."
He knows it won't be an easy transition, but he's gotten a lot of feedback from experienced tight ends Brant Kuithe and Thomas Yassmin, as well as from backup tight ends like Taniela Pututau, Hayden Erickson and newly converted tight end and walk-on Noah Bennee.
To Suguturaga, it's a group effort to help him get to where he needs to be before the team kicks off on Aug. 31 against Florida at Rice-Eccles Stadium. And for offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig, the position change is going to mean big things for the Utes.
"The size and athleticism, and then plus as we watched his ball skills yesterday and some of our offseason work, we were able to evaluate some of his ball skills — it's real natural," Ludwig said. "But his physicality, his size, we're looking for that line of scrimmage type to replace Logan Kendall, Cole Fotheringham, that type of player. And I really feel like we're going to hit a home run on that one."
"I think when the pads come on, when we're going full contact, you're really going to see his physicality show up," tight end coach Freddie Whittingham added.
Though Suguturaga is already pegged to be a natural fit to replace Kendall on the line — a vital role in Utah's offense — he said he wants to do more than just be a blocking tight end. Suguturaga is hoping to be another weapon in the passing game, too.
"A little bit of both," he said. 'I mean, I love Logan; that guy's great, he's awesome. Being on the opposite side of the ball of him was horrible, obviously; he's a great guy and I'd love to be a great blocker like him, but I'd also like to catch my passes, too."
It appears to be a mutual fit because his coaches believe there's potential there, too.
"Oh yeah, absolutely," Ludwig said of Suguturaga being used in the passing game. "I know Cole was featured more in the passing game than Logan, and I think that Miki would be a little bit more of a threat than Logan was in the pass game — very similar in terms of short to intermediate passes that we used Cole Fotheringham quite a bit on."
It's still new to Suguturaga, but there's hope he can be another key player in Utah's tight end room that will help the offense in pursuit of another championship-contending season.
