The countdown to kickoff is at 53 days, bringing us to Johnny Maea. The 6-foot-4 sophomore out of East HS in Salt Lake City weighs in at 310 pounds. Maea originally signed in the 2016 class before serving an LDS mission and officially seeing his first snaps in the 2019 season, where he started at right guard against BYU. After seeing action in nine games in 2019, Maea played in one game in 2020 on special teams against Washington State.

Johnny was slated at the two-deep spot at right guard coming into spring ball this year, and he will be expected to continue to push Satoa Laumea in the fall. Coming off of his mission, Maea was able to shake off the rust pretty quickly in 2019 and his performance reflected why he was a high priority for Utah during his recruitment. The fact that he only played one game in 2020 should be thrown out the window because Covid threw the entire offensive line into turmoil.

UteNation take

Maea's high school film was a joy to watch. Not only was his size and strength on clear display, but he seemed to enjoy consistently putting opponents on their backs. Now we’ll wait to see if that translates at the P5 level. He's put on weight since his initial days on campus and gives the line more good size on the inside. The expectations and potential of this offensive line are well documented, and Maea is one to keep an eye on as we fully expect him to develop into a beast at guard.

Alex remembers Maea's recruitment

Although Maea waited until December of 2015 to commit, it was never really a question that it would be the Utes. The dominant 3-star lineman who played his high school ball just down the street from Rice-Eccles Stadium also had offers from Utah State, BYU, Nevada, Washington State, and Oregon State.