Just eleven days left in the UteNation Countdown to Kickoff series means we discuss No. 11, Alaka’i Gilman. The senior transfer from Stanford played in 32 games in his career for the Cardinal, starting 13 at safety.

Gilman joins a group that is filling the void left by two NFL departures in Cole Bishop and Sione Vaki. Despite losing two starters, this safety group is already deep and experienced. Tao Johnson has free safety locked down, while Nate Ritchie, Gilman and Jonathan Hall are expected to be battling for the open strong safety spot.

UteNation Take

At Stanford, he was a steady starter in the back end of the defense. He is a smart safety that tackles and reads the play well.

At 5-foot-10 (and very possibly an inch shorter), he’s smaller for the safety position, but his game is very similar to Bishop’s, something Ute fans should welcome. Gilman was a standout in fall camp and should at the very least be a solid contributor in the strong safety rotation this season and the likely starter to open the season.

Remembering Gilman’s Recruitment

Gilman was a 3-star recruit out of Hawaii with 10 offers out of high school, including Stanford, Cal, Arizona State, Oregon, Oregon State, and Washington State to name a few. He originally verbally committed to Washington State in the summer of 2019 before flipping his commitment to Stanford in the early signing period inDecember.