Senior defensive lineman on Colorado State's 2024 roster.
6′0″ · 305 lb · Euless, TX
Recruiting
DT recruit
No. 1331 nationally · Signed with Utah State
No college snaps yet.
His career numbers, season by seasonThe story
4 defensive lineman on Colorado State's roster.
Poukesi Vakauta
Wins his gap play after play. Poukesi Vakauta has played for two head coaches in four seasons at Colorado State. The receipt: 1 tackles against Nevada — Week 11, 2023.
Low coverage — composed from the verified record.
How it ended
Four seasons at Utah State, 2 sacks — his college career is complete.
His career
He was on the field for 4 seasons. That is rarer than it sounds.
Career arc
Coaching lineage · 2020–2023
2 coachesCoaching transition mid-career: Steve Addazio → Jay Norvell. Worth noting in scheme + development context.
Season context · Team result + system
Where this defender ranks vs the field
Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort
Concern: tackles (0th percentile).
Percentiles are versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score production. There are no play-by-play efficiency bars here: CFBD's play-value model credits offensive players only, so no defensive EPA exists to rank.
Splits · Per-game
2023 season · 4 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home2g | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Road2g | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-72g | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Weeks 8+2g | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Jim Mora
Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.
Player standing · 2022
Tackle volume for the position at the early end of the ladder.
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Utah State | 4 | -- | 0.5 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2022 | Utah State | 11 | 4 | 2.5 | 1.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2021 | Utah State | 10 | 5 | 2.0 | 0.5 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2020 | Utah State | 1 | -- | 0.5 | 0.0 | -- | -- | -- |
| Career | 26 | 9 | 5.5 | 1.5 | -- | -- | -- |
Game log · Week-by-week
2023 season · 4 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 2 | W 78-28vs Idaho State | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 1 tackles |
| Wk 3 | L 21-39@ Air Force | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 8 | L 21-42@ San José State | 1 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Wk 11 | W 41-24vs Nevada | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | |
| Total | 4 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | — | 0 |
Play style
Stout at the point of attack — steady tackle-for-loss production without a standout pass-rush number.
CFB Index positional classification
Player DNA
Stout at the point of attack — steady tackle-for-loss production without a standout pass-rush number.
His 2022 production profile sits closest to Caleb Thomas’s 2021 season.
Matches Caleb on
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Cole Daniels's junior season at Old Dominion (2025).
Matches Cole on
Player DNA