Utes' Broughton is Ready for His Moment

As two former University of Utah defensive backs continue to shine on Sundays—both Jaylon Johnson and Julian Blackmon, who could arguably battle for Defensive Rookie of the Year—the Utes are back to square one, replacing their entire secondary. It’s a tall task to ask of any football program, but for the Utes, they’ve become a defensive back factory.

Enter JaTravis Broughton.

A late find for the Utes in their 2019 recruiting class, Broughton is a track guy with blazing speed. According to Utah cornerbacks coach Sharrieff Shah, he ran a 20.00 second 200 meter sprint when he was attending Union HS in Oklahoma. Last fall camp, Broughton was earning a ton of praise. So much so in fact, that Whittingham once peeked over Broughton’s shoulder when I was interviewing him, declaring that he was going to be special.

That’s high praise from a coach who can often be careful with his words, but after fall camp, Broughton hit a sort of a rookie wall. Luckily for him, there weren’t a lot of reps in prime time to go around and he was able to get his feet wet in lower pressure situations.

"Being able to watch Jaylon (Johnson), Julian Blackmon and all of the good players that have come before me, I was able to take from their technique and take from what they were able to tell me and use that with my own technique,’ said Broughton. “It took a long time for me to come together, but I am ready to go now."

Broughton also has grown by leaps and bounds, just being a student of the game and soaking in what Shah and Utah Defensive Coordinator Morgan Scalley have been teaching him.

"With the coaches it is a lot of mental reps as well,” explained Broughton. “You can't just be on the sideline doing your own thing, you have to be tuned in. With me being a second guy last year, I always had to know everything and I couldn't lack because they could have thrown me in there at any time. All of the starters from last year helped me every day and I was able to see how they operate and how they became that dog, and then I was able to do it myself."

Now entering the 2020 season, Whittingham has stated numerous times that Broughton is the leader of the secondary and that he’s had an outstanding camp. Shah has had similar glowing compliments to give.

“I love the way that he is starting to own his leadership role as a young player. He is doing things that I anticipated would happen, and it is happening at the time that we need it to happen. We are starting to see him being able to close on the deep ball. I want JT, and I need him to, improve on his ball skills and ball tracking ability. He will put himself with his God-given attributes and ability in the position to make plays, but the thing we have been good at is coming down with those turnovers. I want him to be able to get to intercept the ball, not just get pass breakups. So, him covering the more vertical routes has really been refreshing to watch happen, and getting to use his hands and length at the line of scrimmage has been good. Then just having him understand where he should be and where he should fit in certain zone schemes when we are working various coverages has been good. I love JT and I love the way he is working through camp right now – I just want it to be consistent."

As good as Broughton might be, the rest of the Pac-12 knows they’re young, green, and understandably considers them vulnerable—no matter Utah’s track record at the position. Because of this, they’ll be tested early and often. Shah and Scalley understand they’re basically making their guys drink from a fire hose, but in order for the Utes to defend their back-to-back Pac-12 South titles, it has to happen.

"It is difficult. We have a defense that is predicated on understanding very quickly what you have to do in a myriad of situations,” said Shah. “So, having these young guys understand what we would like them to do in various situations is difficult because we continue to implement our defense and we won't stop slowing down the pace with which we are introducing them to various concepts. They have to be able to decipher, then apply, and then execute at a very high level. So, it is tough on them, but this is just part of the process."

The young but talented Broughton will have to be the leader of the group, but there’s no question that the talent is there.

"We still have a long way to go, but we build every day. My confidence in my team is very high. I see the potential that we have, we just have to do the little things better and when that comes along, we will be great."