In an announcement that seemed like a foregone conclusion, Utah’s top receiver Devaughn Vele has declared for the NFL Draft. Despite graduating high school in 2016, Vele still had one year of eligibility left, as he served an LDS mission, redshirted in 2019, then had the COVID year in 2020.

Last season, Vele was close to declaring for the 2023 NFL Draft, but decided against it for a run at a Pac-12 three-peat and the CFP. Unfortunately, a massive amount of injuries to his teammates derailed those hopes and Vele wasn’t targeted much until the seventh game of the season. During that closing stretch — despite missing the final home game — Vele had 28 receptions for 392 yards and three touchdowns in his final four games. He tallied 43 receptions for 593 yards and three touchdowns in 10 games total.

This season, Vele recorded a career-high nine receptions against Arizona and a career-high of 145 yards against CFP bound Washington. He had a career high of 16.9 yards per reception during Utah’s first Rose Bowl run during 2021.

For his career Vele had 123 catches on 213 targets (57.7%) for 1.689 yards (13.7 ypc) with nine TD and 11 drops. His PFF grades from 2021 to 2023 were 58.9, 70.2, 66.5 respectively.

Vele didn’t state if he would play in the upcoming SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl on December 23rd, with there not being much at stake in the game, it would be no surprise to see him sit to avoid injury risk.

A one-time walkon, Vele impressed immediately once he set foot on campus — quickly earning a scholarship. The 6-foot-5 and 210 pound receiver is a dependable target. He has a knack for getting open and has an impressive catch radius. That alone will get him a long look at the NFL, but he’ll want to show improvement to his 40 time leading up to the NFL Draft.

Despite having a year of eligibility remaining, Vele is making the wise choice of declaring early as he’ll still be one of the oldest players eligible for the upcoming Draft.