Inside The Huskies

Former Husky Tafai Leaves Minnesota Looking For New Team

The one-time UW left tackle started four games for Jedd Fisch's staff during the 2024 season.
Dan Raley|
Kahlee Tafai pass protects in the Huskies' 49-21 loss at Oregon.
Kahlee Tafai pass protects in the Huskies' 49-21 loss at Oregon. | Skylar Lin Visuals

Kahlee Tafai was part of the three-headed monster at left tackle for the University of Washington football team in 2024.

He was one of a trio of relatively inexperienced offensive linemen, following Soane Faasolo and Max McCree in that position procession, as guys thrust into starting assignments for the first time in that key role as the Huskies went about rebuilding their offensive line.

Naturally, there were issues for each of them. Faasolo and Tafai took over as redshirt freshmen who hadn't played before and McCree was someone who hadn't pulled on a college football uniform for almost two full seasons.

While the other two returned to Montlake this past season, the 6-foot-5, 340-pound Tafai transferred to Minnesota, where he appeared in just three games for the Gophers, and this week he announced he is back in the transfer portal looking for another place to land.

As he shares his resume around, Tafai can show that he played in eight games for the 2024 Huskies and started four times against a fairly challenging succession of teams in USC, Penn State, UCLA and Oregon.

The first game-opening assignment of his college career came against the Trojans and it went fairly well for the Los Angeles product as he shared in a 26-21 victory at Husky Stadium.

His final start against the Ducks wasn't so memorable. He was part of a UW offensive line that basically surrendered during a 49-21 loss in Eugene, a group that collectively gave up 10 sacks in quarterback Demond Williams Jr.'s first start.

Tafai headed for the portal after McCree came off an injury and replaced him as the starting left tackle against Louisville in the Sun Bowl.

He also no doubt heard from the coaching staff that it would be looking for left tackle help in the portal and the Huskies signed Kansas State's Carver Willis, who came in and played admirably this past season.

Kahlee Tafai started four of eight games at LT for the UW in 2024.
Kahlee Tafai started four of eight games at LT for the UW in 2024. | Skylar Lin Visuals

Tafai spent two seasons in Montlake and, while he's always possessed great size, this big guy never has seemed to be in ideal shape.

Some Husky fans likely won't soonn forget how the offensive tackle lumbered to the sideline in great distress during a 2024 spring football practice and vomited violently at their feet in a cordoned-off area.

Tafai, who hails from the L.A. suburb of Lawndale, has two seasons of eligibility remaining as he reaches a crucial point of his college career.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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