Utah Football: Top 3 prospects for 2021 NFL Draft

After one of the most successful seasons in Utah football history, the Utes developed some serious NFL talent. Will the 2020 season yield the same?

Kyle Whittingham had his best season as Utah’s head coach, going 11-1 and winning the Pac-12 South title before losing to Oregon in the conference championship. His Utes then lost to Texas in the Alamo Bowl to drop to 11-3 and finish the year on a two-game losing skid.

Although the Utes just narrowly missed the playoff (a win over Oregon could have put them in), they are showing each year that they’re a program on the rise.

It’s tough to find another Pac-12 program with as much promise outside of the usual suspects than Utah. The Utes went from Urban Meyer to Whittingham and made the move from the Mountain West to the Pac-12 and still haven’t missed a beat.

Is Whittingham the most underrated coach in the country? An argument could be made for that seeing as he’s 131-64 in his time with the Utes including a claimed national title in 2008 when his team went 13-0 and beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. His move to the Pac-12 started out bumpy but he’s since found success and he’s developing more NFL talent along the way.

In fact, Whittingham sent 21 players to the NFL via the draft from 2005-2011 with the Utes in the Mountain West and after joining the Pac-12, he’s sent 31 guys to the NFL, including a program-best eight in 2017 and seven in 2020.

Which Utes will be next to join the Utah-to-the-NFL movement?