The Utes landed a major in-state player at linebacker with Cyrus Polu. The three-star backer from Desert Hills High School committed to Utah over the summer, choosing the Utes over 15 other programs including BYU, Washington, Stanford, Arizona, UCLA. In 2024, Polu recorded 59 tackles and four interceptions. Listed at linebacker, Polu comes into the program with experience at multiple positions lining up at safety, receiver and playing on special teams and kick returner.

Film Evaluation

Polu had a unique senior season as he played more safety and wide receiver than linebacker, but his elite athleticism and natural playmaking ability make him a high value prospect at the linebacker position. Polu plays fast, he’s twitchy and closes in the blink of an eye once he diagnoses a play. He’s learned how to play in coverage from his experience at safety, but he’s so disruptive at the line of scrimmage because of his rare twitch and speed. He’s a bit undersized at 6 feet and 210 pounds, but he’s such a phenomenal athlete that it shouldn’t be too much of an issue. He’s a good tackler that can lay the wood when he has a head of steam, and he has excellent ball skills both on offense and defense. He will need to learn to play within the system at Utah, he had a lot of free reign in high school and for good reason, he knows how to make big plays. He will have to learn how to use his hands more in pass rush situations and taking on blocks will be more challenging at the next level, but his athleticism is just too special to ignore. Not often you can sign a linebacker that returned kicks for his high school and did it effectively. Cyrus will be one to watch as he enrolls at Utah.

What this signing means

Although he’s shorter for a linebacker, Utah has excelled with the development of backers at his height. Being Polynesian, Polu very easily could arrive in the fall at sufficient weight for the position, but it’s a deep room and he’ll be afforded time to learn the system and fill out his frame.