Khalil Laufau holds the DT · Starter spot in Houston Cougars’s defensive tackle room. Where he sits among the room’s front-line roles:

Khalil Laufau is a defensive tackle from Salt Lake City, Utah, who attended Herriman High School as a three-star prospect. He spent two seasons at Washington State (2023–24), appearing in 19 career games with three starts and recording 28 tackles, 5.0 tackles for loss, and 4.0 sacks. During 2024, Laufau played in 10 games including three starts, accumulating 16 tackles, 5.0 TFLs, and 4.0 sacks while posting an 80.0 run-defense grade that ranked 19th among Group of Five interior linemen. At Houston in 2025, he started all 12 games in which he appeared, posting 34 total tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, and 2 quarterback hurries across 12 contests.

Washington State2023 – 2024

Houston2025 — present