It’s rare to see preferred walk-on players make a lot of noise at the P5 level, but every once in a while, one comes along that ends up making an impact and earning a scholarship before his time is up. Recent examples at Utah include Paul Toala, Nick Heninger, and Drew Lisk. On Sunday night, Utah received a pledge from a preferred walk-on running back, Braedon Wissler, who could end up making his mark on offense before all is said and done.

Though Wissler had walk-on offers from Utah, Utah State, and BYU, he also held scholarship offers from several FCS schools, including Southern Utah, Dixie State, Montana State, Idaho State, and Sacramento State. Many prospects would have decided to take the sure thing, but Wissler isn’t one to shy away from competition, and in the end, he felt that going to Utah would give him the best shot at accomplishing his goals.

“I decided that Utah, being in the Pac-12 and the national exposure that they have, is great for any athlete that’s trying to get beyond college, which is ultimately my dream,” said Wissler. “So that was a big influence and I really felt like I could go out there and prove myself and earn a scholarship at the University of Utah.”

As the starting running back for Bingham High School, Wissler was poised for a big senior season, after putting up nearly 1,000 combined rushing and receiving yards as a junior, despite only playing in nine games. However, fate had other plans, when Wissler saw his senior year cut short not even one half into his first game. Still, Wissler didn’t let that setback define him, and instead did everything he could to position himself to take advantage of any opportunity that came his way. He pushed himself throughout the rehab process, and five months later, he’s back to doing what he loves.

“Really, I think it’s made me a harder worker, to be honest,” Wissler said. “Just trying to get back from it and not playing my senior season, it made me hungrier to go out there and try harder so I can get back on the field again as soon as I possibly can. The rehab has been going great, I was actually just cleared today to go out and do the things I need to do and train as hard as I can. It took about five months, so I’m ahead of schedule and feeling great.”

Now that he’s healthy again, Wissler will have a few months to train and get himself ready for the rigors of being a collegiate student athlete. Though he isn’t graduating early and won’t be participating in team activities until this summer, that won’t stop him from absorbing as much as he’s allowed to from observing practices and meeting with his future coaches, as he gets ready to learn a new role.

“I’ll be graduating in May,” Wissler said, “but I was on the phone today with Coach Whittingham, and we were talking about some things, and he said that he’d love to have me come up and watch some of their spring ball practices and sit in on meetings and try to learn the offense as soon as I can. As far as they’ve told me, I’ll be playing a mix of slot receiver and running back, getting some rushes up the middle, maybe even some special teams, punt returner and kick returner, stuff like that.”

While Wissler played primarily running back in high school, he has some experience as a receiver and has put plenty of work in to improve his route running ability. He’s spent countless hours doing all that he can to become a better player. Whenever a shorter, speedy football player comes out of Utah, there are bound to be comparisons to current Ute receiver Britain Covey, and though the two have different playing styles, Wissler readily admits that he tries to model his receiving game after Covey's.

“I’m really proud of the way I run routes and my catching ability,” Wissler said. “I compare myself a little bit to Britain Covey’s style, the way he is as a receiver, but on the other hand, as a running back, I see a little bit of Christian McCaffrey, and I try to model my game after him a little bit, too. I think my vision in the hole and when I’m running is one of my strong points, and something I’ve been trying to work on is my pass blocking.”

If there’s anyone on the current roster that knows what it’s like to be overlooked out of high school because of his size, it’s Covey, and in fact, the two have developed a relationship over the past few months, ever since Covey attended Bingham’s game at East. Since then, the two have had several conversations and exchanged texts, and Covey had some simple advice to offer to Wissler.

“He told me just to really work as hard as you possibly can and keep balling,” Wissler said. “Because someone will notice you eventually and give you an opportunity, and once you have that opportunity, take it and run with it.”

Sure enough, just as with Covey, Utah noticed Wissler and gave him an opportunity, and you can bet that he will do his best to take advantage of it. Wissler can’t wait to get up on the hill and start doing what he can to prove to the coaching staff that he deserves a scholarship. Being a Ute has always been Wissler’s dream, and for him, the chance to suit up in red and white can’t come soon enough.

“I’m just excited to be out there,” Wissler said. “I’m really at a loss for words. I’ve always wanted to be a Ute, and my dreams are coming true.”