Name: Tanner Karafa
Position: Defensive End
Number: 48
Year: Sophomore
Height: 6’3”
Weight: 260
Hometown: Ashburn, Virginia
High School: Stone Bridge
2016 Stats: Karafa played in six games last year, recording his lone tackle in the Clemson game.
Projections: Karafa stands at the bottom of the DE depth chart, but that may primarily be due to the amount of talent above him. It is going to be hard to get snaps from Harold Landry, Zach Allen, and Wyatt Ray. It really ends up a question as to whether or not incoming freshmen like Marcus Valdez push for the 4th DE spot that Kevin Kavalec left.
Over/Under: 10 Tackles, 1 sack.
How’d He Get Here: Karafa was 3 star linebacker originally recruited by Frank Leonard, and received 9 total offers from schools like Virginia Tech, Harvard, Kentucky, and Virginia. He also drew serious interest from Auburn, Clemson, Stanford, and Tennessee. 247 sports actually had him as a 100% VTech commit, so his commitment came as a bit of a surprise.
Below you can see his senior year highlights, where his superior vision and tackling form really shines through.
Quotables from Coaches:
“Our concerns are a little bit more inside and then depth outside. We have Zach (Allen), who's played a lot. We have Harold (Landry), who's played a lot, Wyatt (Ray), who's played a lot. Tanner Karafa is working really hard, and he's a good-sized guy. Bryce Morais is a good-sized guy. We're going to need everybody we have. We're going to need every single one of those guys. It's just a matter of trying to get them to the point where we can play them." - Defensive Line Coach Paul Pasqualoni during the spring