Lots of BYU players have transferred to UU for various reasons, but strangely I don't ever recall a former BYU player feeling like he needed to do an interview to defend himself because he was harassed by BYU fans for transferring to UU.

A few excerpts:

After spending months being inundated with messages from fans, each one explaining why he betrayed his Utah roots, Keanu Tanuvasa had the floor this week. This was the moment when he could tell them they had it all wrong. Instead, Tanuvasa simply preached understanding.

And of course the Thinnest-Skinned Coach in America couldn't let the UU fans have all of the fun going after his former player, and he couldn't just wish Tanuvasa well at his new school, instead he felt like he needed to help stir up the UU fan mob:

Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said in January that the “absolute overriding factor was NIL” in both Tanuvasa and former Ute DB Cam Calhoun’s decisions to transfer.

What would he [Tanuvasa] say to that? “If he believes it’s NIL, then he can believe that,” Tanuvasa said. “Again, I go back to my circle of what matters most. That’s my father in heaven, my fiancée and my family. He may not understand it, but that’s all right.

Keanu Tanuvasa understands the prevailing thought, partly fueled by Whittingham’s comments, that BYU offered an NIL package that Utah couldn’t match. But Tanuvasa said the opposite was true. “Fans would be surprised at the money that I was offered at Utah,” the defensive lineman said.

Unlike his former coach and fans, Tanuvasa has carried himself with maturity and class, and it's a shame that he feels like he needs to go public to reiterate his reasons for transferring because his former fanbase and coach are acting like jerks.

I’m making good money here, and I would be making good money there,” he said. And that’s why he doesn’t have much to say to fans anymore. The people in his life are at peace with his choice. He’s ready to lead BYU into 2025. The fans can continue to talk. That, he said, is up to them.

“I’m at a point in my life that I’m not chasing money. I’m chasing the opportunity to be the best version of me,” he said. “I’m chasing the process, and my process is better down here.”