We are at 37 days until the University of Utah's football season kicks off, which brings us to freshman linebacker, Trey Reynolds. Reynolds is from Queen Creek, AZ was a two-time All-Arizona selection, as well as an Arizona Cardinals Defensive Player of the Year as a senior.

Reynolds was one of the highly touted linebackers of the 2021 recruiting class, including some of the transfers. He was a tackling machine in high school, tallying up 157 tackles in his senior year and 159 his junior year. He also played a little bit on the offense his junior year, going 27-42 passing for 358 yards with six touchdowns and 46 carries for 263 yards and eight touchdowns. He also caught nine passes for 131 yards his junior year.

Ute Nation take

Even as loaded as the linebacking crew appears to be on paper, Reynolds is one that the coaching staff is extremely high on. He plays Utah-style football—athletic, downhill, physical, and looking to punish people as he searches for contact every play. He is a solid run stopping linebacker that fills the gaps quickly on inside zones, but also takes great angles and pursuit on outside zones. He has loose hips, tackles low, and plays balanced. As he develops his footwork and grows in the Utah system, Reynolds could be one of the next great Utah linebackers. He will compete for snaps behind Devin Lloyd and Nephi Sewell with Karene Ried, Ethan Cavlert, Mason Tufaga, Jonah Elliss and others

Alex remembers Reynolds’ recruitment

The first commit of the Utes’ 2021 class, Reynolds had over 25 different schools offer him. Schools such as Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Oklahoma State. He was a three-star backer with a 5.6 rating, which in my opinion, he was definitely underrated. Reynolds’ reasoning for choosing Utah was his relationships with the staff and his ideal fit with their defensive mentality.