Khalil Laufau, Herriman , Defensive Line
Khalil Laufau is a 6-3, 285-pound Defensive Line from Herriman, UT. He has 7 Offers.
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WazzuWatch - Utah DT Khalil Laufau becomes Wazzu's 13th commitment for 2023
Utah-based defensive lineman Khalil Laufau committed to Washington State on Monday night after a lengthy recruitment.
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64 tackles, 17.5 tackles for loss, 10.5 sacks, 15 QB hurries and 2 forced fumbles this season. A really strong under-the-radar pickup for the Cougs. Really surprising that more Power Five schools never got involved with him.
Looks like a solid recruit that this team needs, nice to see them get some DL line help, looks like a solid pickup. People worry about the power 5 offers, the size, speed and stats look good. Lot of Mountian West offers, Bobby Wagner played for Utah St, he turned out OK.
I am not as concerned about number of p5 offers when I also have faith in Dickert's demonstrated eye for talent and ability to coach people up on D as opposed to certain previous coaching staffs who would brag about such things.
I don't think you can use Bobby Wagner as the example of why this guy will be a really good pick up. I trust Dickert's judgment though. Need big and strong d linemen.
Me either the way I see these guys getting developed now. As long as they are picking up kids who will be physically capable of playing P5 ball and want to be at WSU so they can develop over 3-4 years, we will be good. This defense which is arguably the best in the conference has no freak athletes or superstars with the exception of Henley.
Fred Magoa, and Travion Brown ARE Superstars.
Only reason Travion Brown is not starting, etc, is because of Henly, Fred Magoa.
Travion, Magoa would be all star starters at, on every Pac 12 team.
And Brennan Jackson, Ron Stone are superstar all stars.
The rest of the defense altho rock solid, are either not superstar all stars or not YET.
I don't even think Henley is a freak athlete. We've had kids who were freak athletes (Mark Fields is the obvious example). Henley isn't in the same category. He just has good instincts and works hard on every play.
Honestly, if I had to pick between them, I'd take instincts and hard work over the freak athlete. Not that I'd ever turn down Mark Fields either.
There are times when it is hard to parse out how much is the athleticism and how much is the situational awareness/mental speed/instincts. A kid who is not a freak, but simply an outstanding P5 level athlete will elevate their game if they also have that something extra between their ears. Or, as Biggs said, if they are a true freak of nature they can get it done even without the instincts. Just my $0.02, but I think Henley is on the border of being a freak athlete; not quite there, but pretty darned close...who definitely has the extra stuff between his ears.
Henley is special. Best athlete we've had at LB since Fields. He's a day 1-2 pick in April.
Fields was the freak of all freaks. I loved watching that guy play. What an athlete.
Will Derting and James Darling may disagree.
Edit to add Raonall Smith and his 4.3 forty.
Will Derting and James Darling were not either freak or freaks of all freaks as far as athleticism.
What made Derting, and Darling so good is that they were ROCK SOLID, semi fast, semi quick, semi strong, and we're in position, had good technique, in how they were in position, took good angles, defeated, escaped from blocks, hit semi hard, wrapped up, had good tackling technique.
Derting and Darling were ROCK SOLID on the BASICS, FUNDAMENTALS.
They were smart, had a lot between the ears and knew how to read, recognize, diagnose plays.
They were like ICEMAN in Top Gun, in that they played almost perfect, didn't make mistakes, capitalized on opponent mistakes.
Now I am not saying that they were completely unathletic, etc.
But they were NOT freaks, freakishly athletic.
I gotta agree that Fields was probably our biggest freak athlete in last 4 decades. Darling was close; I saw him in high school at Kettle, and my guess is that he was the dominant WA high school kid that year...but because he late transferred from Cali to an A school, nobody but Wazzu knew who he was. I can't call Derting a freak. His whole family are good athletes, and Will is probably the best of them unless there is one in the next generation who compares. But in a Fields, Darling & Derting comparison (wow; that is elite company), he would probably tell you that he would have been 3rd. Will might be the smartest of the group, however, based on later success.
Will was headed to NFL stardom until injured. Look at the plays he made all over the field. How is anyone on the team now close?
You don't have to be a freak of all freaks, and have freakish NFL athleticism to be headed to NFL stardom.
If that was the case that you had to be a FREAK to be a NFL STAR, then Jim Zorne, Skansi, Nash, and Dave Krieg, and several non freak WSU players wouldn't have had NFL careers
You have a different definition of superstar. All mentioned are solid players that have bought into the program, developed over time, and contribute to a team defensive effort. Travion may turn into one in time but I doubt he sees anything more that hon mention for the conference and isn’t on anyone’s award watchlist. That’s not a superstar. Chau Smith-Wade is probably the next closest guy to Henley as far as talent and potential at his position.
Fred Magoa is only a Redshirt Freshman, and he is pretty damn good, and is starting, and could start on any PAC 12 team. That's pretty dam good for a REDSHIRT FRESHMAN.
Mark my words, when Henly leaves, both Fred Magoa and Travion Brown are going to be SUPER AWESOME, ALL PAC 12 TEAM, HONORABLE MENTION, ALL STAR CANDIDATES, ALL AMERICAN CANDIDATES, AWARD WATCH LIST CANDIDATES, ETC, AT LINEBACKER.
Tell me what you think Henley will run at the combine … that will tell you if he gets picked in first three rounds .
No he wasn’t. Great college linebacker didn’t have the athleticism to be a star in the NFL. Might have been a special teams/backup fringe starter for a few years but he wasn’t going to be an NFL star. College is littered with guys like Will who go crazy but aren’t great NFL prospects. Look at that backer from Cal a few years ago (Evan something). who was the DPOY I think. Did he make a roster even? Cody O’Connell another example.
Henly has Semi Quasi Semi Lawrence Taylor like LB potential, upside, athleticism.
Lawrence Taylor was NOT the fastest, but he sure as hell hit the hardest, consistently made a LOT of awesome plays at the LB position, at the NFL level
WR's, RB's were scared to death of Lawrence Taylor.
College and NFL WR's, and RB's, and 0ffensive Coordinators are scared, are going to be scared of Henly.
Henly's only weakness is he is not as good of a pass coverage LB, YET.
Mark Fields was in a class all by himself . A freak of freaks .
In 1992 we are getting waxed by usc in LA. Drew gets hot and throws three td’s between first part of fourth quarter and the four minute mark. We just score to make it 24-21 USC. Price goes to talk to drew, turns his back to the field .
The grad assistant tells Aaron price to not kick deep to Curtis Conway but kind of pooch kick it . Conway on the 4x100 state high champs… Conway catches it on the dead run . He is ahead of his blockers and past our kick off team. Mark Fields didn’t have an angle . He ran Conway down from behind. To this day the most amazing thing I have seen in terms of pure raw athletic ability .
Chris Ivory was a freak athlete. He had injury problems, coaching problems, and attitude problems that killed his WSU career, but his measurables were solid. One of the few guys who would have dominated at running back or linebacker. He ran a legit 4.4 after some tough injuries, including a knee.
Rushed for over 5K yards in 9 NFL seasons as an undrafted free agent.
Rushed for over 5K yards in 9 NFL seasons as an undrafted free agent.
His high school highlight film is the most unreal thing I have ever seen by a HS linebacker. He was literally LT.
He should never have come to WSU. Completely wrong program top to bottom.
Patrol, I forgot about Ivory, but I have to agree. He took his Idaho team to a winning record almost all by himself. Was it their only D1 winning season? Yes, he was another man child like Fields, but did not have the right coach to maybe keep him focused. I say maybe, because maybe no one could have done that.
