He made 26 tackles, placing second in the Utah secondary. His role expanded in the pandemic-altered 2020 season, starting all five games and capping the year with Pac-12 All-Conference Honorable Mention. The Utes reached the Pac-12 Championship Game for a second straight year and later played in the Alamo Bowl. He appeared in all 14 games his true freshman season, mostly on special teams but with some time on defense. JaTravis Broughton had made his introduction. But at the same time, they were overjoyed that a true freshman pulled it off. The upperclassmen cornerbacks shook their heads that someone else had come out on top in the contest. Broughton had a perfect read on it, and as the ball came down he sprinted forward to make his first career pick. A pass over the middle was tipped at the line of scrimmage. It was the fourth quarter and the visiting Bengals had the ball near midfield. As Broughton's first Fall camp wound to a close, a new competition had started: which corner would make the first interception of the season?įast forward to Week 3 against Idaho State. Often in the Utah cornerbacks' room, there's some type of competition going on in the spirit of good fun. It didn't take long for that work ethic to show up in Broughton. I knew I could be great, just like them." Watching their work ethic, it put something in me. It's right behind quarterback to me (in terms of difficulty). "Cornerback is not an easy position to play. "They helped me become a technician, watching how hard they worked and how determined they were," Broughton said. 4 as Broughton settled into life as a Ute-be it film study, ball skills or putting in extra work on the practice field. And each had something different to teach No. Terrell Burgess, Julian Blackmon, Tareke Lewis-all back. Jaylon Johnson was back from the 2018 Utah team that won the Pac-12 South. But Broughton had a heck of a returning secondary to mentor him when he arrived for his first Fall camp in 2019. He was cut from the right cloth."Īcclimating from high school to college football is no small feat and takes time. Shah continued, "Talking to JaTravis, learning more about him and getting to know his family, you started to see a very complete picture that JaTravis could be a guy that could blossom in our program. "That's a big jump for a young man to be mature enough to say 'this is what I like, here are the reasons why I like them, and I'm going to come.' "We don't get a lot of kids out of Tulsa or out of Oklahoma," Utah cornerbacks coach Sharrieff Shah said this week. Then, after several hours on I-80, you'll come down Parleys Canyon, get onto Foothill Drive for a few minutes and pull into Rice-Eccles Stadium.Īll told, it takes about 18 hours, over 1,200 miles and gives you roughly a 3,500-foot elevation gain. Head North again and jump on Interstate 80 when you enter Wyoming. I have all positives to say about that process."Ī drive here from Tulsa starts by trekking North into Kansas, then following Interstate 70 into Denver. "The reason I chose Utah was because it was so family-based," Broughton said. When the University of Utah came onto JT's radar, there was something that intrigued him about the Utes. And while Broughton was a state champion at Union High School in both football and track, his football recruiting process took longer than expected to gain steam. Nevertheless, there's plenty of Utes fans in Tulsa, Oklahoma-cornerback JaTravis Broughton has made sure of it in his hometown. Not unheard of, but it's also not a yearly occurrence. It's not every season that you see an Oklahoma native donning the Utah Red on the turf of Rice-Eccles Stadium.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |