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SALT LAKE CITY — Kaden Elliss' college football journey took him away from his hometown of Salt Lake City and to Moscow, Idaho, where he was a three-time all-conference linebacker at the University of Idaho.
Now his football journey will take him to New Orleans.
The Saints drafted Elliss in the seventh round of 2019 NFL Draft, selecting him with the 30th pick of the final round Saturday afternoon.
A former quarterback in high school, the 6-foot-3, 240-pound graduate of Judge Memorial is the son of former University of Utah defensive tackle Luther Elliss. When his father took a job as the defensive line coach at Idaho, young Kaden followed — first as a tight end, and moving to linebacker prior to his sophomore season.
Elliss started 23 games of his final two seasons, leading the Vandals in transitioning from the FBS Sun Belt Conference to the Big Sky in the Football Championship Subdivision. As a senior in 2018, he led the team with 16 tackles for loss and seven sacks, and registered 60 tackles, three pass breakups and a fumble en route to all-Big Sky first-team honors.
The All-Western Athletic Conference defensive player of the year in 1994, Luther Elliss played nine years in the NFL with the Detroit Lions and Denver Broncos that included trips to the Pro Bowl in 1999 and 2000.
Elliss joins Hawaii wide receiver John Ursua (Cedar, Westlake) Utah high school football products selected in the 2019 draft that did not play college football at an in-state institution. Brighton's Cody and Jackson Barton, who played collegiately at Utah, were the first two local prep draft picks, as well as former Orem High, Utah Valley and Utah kicking star Matt Gay.
