SALT LAKE CITY — Over the past decade, the state of Utah has continually garnered accolades for the products it has put into the National Football League.

From BYU’s “Tight End U” to Utah’s strong defensive additions, the state’s Division I institutions have raised the bar for football quality year after year. And now, with Utah State solidly competing for a piece of the pie that was dominated by Utah and BYU for so long, football has never been a hotter commodity in Utah than it is right now.

With this, KSL.com identifies players to watch from the state of Utah in the 2013 NFL season, and reveals five players from the state of Utah who are up-and-comers in the NFL and should be watched.

Ziggy Ansah

Ever since he burst onto the national scene, and started a statewide “Star vs. Ziggy” debate, Ezekiel “Ziggy” Ansah has captured the heart of the football world and made middle-aged football fanatics feel twitter-patted.

Forgetting the human-interest side of the story, it is impossible for a hard-core football fan to not look at Ansah and see the next potential Deacon Jones, Ed “Too-Tall” Jones or Charles Haley. From watching film and combine tests, that’s how good this guy can be.

#Bestnewcomer

Also, Ansah will be helped along in Detroit as Ndumakong Suh will command a consistent double-team, and Nick Fairley will also demand a high amount of attention. With those two in mind, who is left to block Ansah? That question will keep offensive line coaches all over the league awake on Saturday night, and is a reason why Ansah could have one of the biggest rookie impacts we’ve seen since Suh.

Whether fans like BYU or not, Ansah is an easy guy to watch because he’s super talented, super charming and super humble — all the things sports look for in a star.

Bobby Wagner

Seattle’s defense in 2012 shocked loads of NFL people. And one of the most shocking things was their leading tackler was none other than one of Utah State’s finest, Bobby Wagner. Wagner made 140 tackles — the seventh-highest number in the league — and helped Seattle make it all the way to the NFC Divisional round, where it lost a heart-breaker to the Atlanta Falcons.

Wagner plays the game with a violence that is rarely seen in today’s league, and that is meant as an ultimate compliment. Great NFL defenses are characterized by strength, speed and depth at all positions, and Seattle has that like few other teams in the league. In fact, the Seahawks are so strong, teams have to play every position and player straight-up; meaning, Seattle often has an advantage at every single position on the field.

Related:

Ziggy drafted fifth by the Lions

With the fifth pick in the 2013 NFL Draft, the Detroit Lions selected BYU DE Ezekiel "Ziggy" Ansah. Ziggy becomes the Cougars' ninth first- round draft pick, and is now tied with Jim McMahon (#5 pick in '82) as the highest NFL Draft pick out of BYU.

Seattle is one of the three best teams in the NFC (San Francisco and Atlanta are the others) and it will most definitely need another fantastic campaign from Wagner to continue its climb to the top. It will be hard for him to eclipse last season’s outstanding effort, but look for Wagner to continue to lead one of the NFL’s hardest-hitting defenses late into January.

Star Lotulelei

The other side of the “Star vs. Ziggy” debate saw his draft stock fall through the basement when a heart condition was discovered during pre-draft workouts. However, there is just too much talent under Lotulelei’s large belt to not pay attention to the opportunity he has. Carolina, in its current rendition, is largely devoid of defensive stars, so Lotulelei can literally become a Star — pun intended.

The one concern for Star is how he responds when he actually is the star of the show. Even though he routinely drew double-teams in the Pac-12, teams were forced to cheat off him because they had to stop the Kruger brothers from wreaking havoc on the line of scrimmage. This allowed Star to get one-on-one blocking, and if he gets this routinely in the NFL with the Panthers, teams will regret the decision to roll the bones.

All in all, Star was the best player at the University of Utah over the past two seasons, and it is possible he could be the best defensive player this year for an NFL team badly in need of one. If that isn’t must-see television for Ute fans, nothing else will ever be.

Will Davis

Utah State fans already know what a star Will Davis was, but for those who didn’t even know football was played in Cache Valley, a slight introduction could be needed. In his senior season in Aggie blue, Davis made 64 tackles, broke up 17 passes and had five interceptions, including a pick-six. With this, Davis was named an All-American, and a bona-fide star in the WAC.

Related:

National media impressed with Lotulelei

Star Lotulelei's body of work at Utah paid off on draft day as the Carolina Panthers drafted him with the 14th pick of the NFL draft. Nationally, the pundits are impressed with the defensive tackle, but they had a few concerns.

Miami badly needed defensive backs after a rough 2012 season, where it was the 27th passing defense in the league. Additionally, Miami had the third-fewest interceptions in the league, with only 10 on the season. Davis, alone, had half that many by himself.

Davis helps fill Miami’s biggest hole right now — a lack of speed, athleticism and depth in the secondary. He doesn’t have quite the football pedigree others have, as Davis only played one year of high school ball before heading to a junior college in California, but he also plays the cornerback position with incredible physicality.

Davis will definitely get playing time in a weak Miami secondary, but the biggest reason to watch Davis will be to see whether or not he can continue to use his hands to disrupt routes and catches. If he can, and all indications are he will, Davis could become another Aggie making noise in NFL defensive huddles.

Brad Sorensen

On film, Sorensen was easily the best pure pocket-passer in the state last year, and it is that attribute that has him in a heated battle for the second position on the San Diego Chargers’ quarterback depth chart.

Playing for Southern Utah, Sorensen posted a season of 3,139 passing yards, 23 touchdowns and 10 interceptions — part of three consecutive seasons of throwing for more than three thousand yards. He also earned the FCS Elite Quarterback award for the 2012 season.

New Chargers coach Mike McCoy has a traditional, drop-back offensive mind, so a player like Sorensen fits his style. Additionally, San Diego starter Phillip Rivers is coming off his worst year since 2007, so figure Sorensen to be a welcome pressure on Rivers.

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