57 days until Texas Football: Tausili Akana and his unique role with the Longhorns
Inside Texas is putting a new twist on long-time photographer Will Gallagher’s time-honored countdown to Texas football kickoff. In addition to Will’s great pictures, the Inside Texas staff will go through every player on the roster by jersey number and offer a season outlook on each, from five-star to walk-on.
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We’ll also look back at other greats to wear that day’s number, with special reverence to some of Texas’ best.
Today is 57 days until kickoff. No. 57 for the Longhorns this season will be worn by Christian Rizzi, a junior deep snapper. In addition, Inside Texas will look at freshman EDGE Tausili Akana.
Tausili Akana season outlook
Akana, the younger brother of Texas volleyball national champion Keonilei Akana, chose the Longhorns in a bit of a surprise (according to the RPM) over Oklahoma. That decision led to one of the strongest tweets of the 2023 cycle.
Though ranked as a linebacker and despite playing off-the-ball during the 2023 All-American Bowl in San Antonio, Akana will have a unique role for him at Texas. When recruiting Akana, Pete Kwiatkowski and Texas labeled his future position as a DPR, or designated pass rusher. That likely means Akana will be a specialty player asked to get after the quarterback on passing downs when his opportunity for playing time arrives.
“Coming off the edge, sealing the edge, and just going to get the quarterback is one thing I love,” Akana said in January. “Playing into space is another thing I like to do. A lot of O-linemen look at me and they’re like, ’oh, who is this guy? He’s kind of skinny for a D-lineman.’ But once I get out there, I tear things up.”
Akana mentioned that Steve Sarkisian was the only head coach who made the trip to Hawaii to visit his family. Plus, as Jake Langi mentioned, Kwiatkowski and Jeff Choate have strong reputations in Hawaii and among the Polynesian community on the islands and on the West Coast.
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Akana had a successful career playing for Lehi (Utah) Skyridge, winning a state championship during his senior year. He’ll need to add plenty of bulk to his light frame, but Akana has a role carved out for him whenever he’s ready for extended action.
Tausili Akana as a recruit
Akana was ranked as the No. 131 overall prospect, the No. 12 linebacker, and the No. 2 prospect in Utah according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a proprietary algorithm that compiles ratings and rankings from all four primary recruiting media services. On3 ranked Akana as the No. 33 linebacker and the No. 3 player in Utah.
Christian Rizzi season outlook
Rizzi is in line to be Lance St. Louis’ backup.
Rizzi has played in one game in 2021. He switched from offensive line to deep snapper during fall camp and did not see any game action during the 2022 season. Rizzi is a two-time member of the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll (fall 2021, fall 2022).
Recent player to wear No. 57: Cort Jaquess
Jaquess played in 30 career games in his four years at Texas and had two starts. He was awarded a scholarship in Aug. 2019 during a team meeting after joining the Longhorns prior to the 2017 season as a walk-on.
Jaquess racked up 20 total tackles in his career, 12 of them solo and 2.5 of them for a loss. He was a two-time Academic All-Big 12 First Team selection (2019-20) and also a four-time member of the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll (fall 2017, spring 2018, fall 2019, spring 2020).
All-Americans to wear No. 57
Mike Ruether, C, 1983
Steve Habel co-authored this article
