It’s an action-packed day for University of Utah players wearing no. 3, and now we focus on the defensive side of the ball with defensive back Drew Rawls.

The redshirt freshman has played sparingly in his previous two seasons, playing four games and redshirting in 2019 and also two games in 2020 in which no one lost eligibility. He saw time on defense in 2019 against Idaho State and Oregon State.

Rawls is part of a loaded and young defensive backs group, albeit one of the program's best and most loaded positions.

UteNation take

Barring an injury to the two-deep, Rawls is likely to spend his time in 2021 as a key special teams contributor. There’s just too much young depth currently ahead of him with Clark Phillips, JaTravis Broughton, Faybian Marks and Zemaiah Vaughn all seeming to be entrenched on the Utes two-deep.

That’s not a knock on Rawls at all, who could shine once he gets a game opportunity. This group is just that stacked.

There could be an opportunity eventually for him at the safety position, but with two seniors on top of the depth chart, Rawls just needs to remain ready for when his number is called.

Alex remembers Rawls’ recruitment

An under the radar three-star recruit, Utah safeties coach Morgan Scalley gave Rawls a late offer and he tripped just before signing day in 2019. His commitment came the night before he put pen to paper. He had two other offers, Tulsa and Lamar. The latter being his father Donald’s alma mater.