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SALT LAKE CITY — As former Utes cornerback Jaylon Johnson receives high praise on HBO's "Hard Knocks" this season for his lockdown play again top wide receiver Keenan Allen (and his overall effectiveness on the field), Utah continues to churn out high-level players in the secondary.
The question for the 2024 season, though, is who is next for the Utes?
Utah has become a tried and true path for players to see an NFL future, especially in the defensive secondary. From Marcus Williams to most recently Cole Bishop being drafted in the second round to the Buffalo Bills, Utah continues to develop pro-level talent.
It starts with coaches — namely defensive coordinator and safeties coach Morgan Scalley and cornerback coach Sharrieff Shah — identifying talent and holding each player accountable to the level of play each coach believes they can achieve.
It's not an easy path, no doubt.
It's a coaching staff that demands a lot of its players; and even when things are going right, there's even more critiques and more to learn. It's a refinement process that has developed high-level athletes ready to compete in an NFL-style defense.
"Now, it's no more hand-holding, go out," Shah said of the process. "And can you deal with me, who I, who never shuts up and will just be in your ear. Can you deal with that? 'Coach, you never said I did anything good.' Because you haven't, so do something good so I can tell you you did something good, and I'll tell you you did something good.
"You get a lot of good kids and all that they've received is accolades — 'Oh, you're awesome' — Well, you're awful right now, so do something awesome, so I can tell you you did something awesome."
Shah, like many other position coaches within the team, expect the highest level of focus and commitment from his players. In return, he'll remain on the field as long as it takes to help a player get to where he needs to be.
He's tough, but fair.
Shah is almost always the last coach off the field as players continue to ask for help developing their technique. And those who take advantage of that time often see the most growth — and eventually the tried and true accolades that will eventually come.
"We are so incredibly hard on these kids — we are — and we don't let anything slide," Shah said.
Once a player has gone through that refinement period and becomes a consistent defender on a weekly basis in games — one that embodies everything the coaching staff preaches — there's no better advocate than Scalley and Shah for the players.
"Man, I love it, and that's 100% what I need," safety Tao Johnson said. "I'm a guy who's — I'm hard on myself from the get go. I wouldn't want anybody to be easy on me, anybody to take it easy on me. I want to know where I need to grow at, what I'm doing wrong, and what I need to do to be great, and so I 100% love it. I think the whole program is kind of built off tough love. It creates strong-minded individuals and physical individuals, and so I live it and I try to embrace it every day."
"It's great," added veteran corner Zemaiah Vaughn. "That's the coach you want. Like, you don't want nobody that's just gonna let you just BS your reps. I'd rather a coach that's gonna stay on you for doing something right but you messed up a little bit rather than clap you up for it, because the little things matter at the end of the day."
Vaughn, of all people, understands that refinement process the most. As a quarterback in high school, Utah was his only collegiate offer, and it was to play defensive back. The coaches identified early that he could be an impactful player on defense, but he had to put in the work.
Years of refinement and frustration — and Vaughn putting in the extra work — have made him one of Utah's best defenders in coverage, and one the coaches speak highly of repeatedly as the player they trust most in the secondary.
For another season, Vaughn will lead a cornerback room that added a veteran playmaker from Georgia Tech in Kenan Johnson, who saw Utah from afar as a destination to help him get to the NFL. He saw the talent output and wanted to be a part of it.
"Sharrieff Shah was a big part of my recruiting process, just talking on the phone with him, him having a vision of me, like him being on the same page, and where I want to go and how I can be used," Johnson said. "Just seeing him make all conference corners year in and year out was a big part of me wanting to come and try to be a part of a defense that could help produce those type of players, those kind of players."
Johnson now enters the season as the leading candidate to line up opposite of Vaughn. The two lead a cornerback room that is relatively light on playing experience but deep on talent.
"Zemaiah, that's my guy, man," Johnson said. "I think that me and Zemaiah, we push each other every day. He's competing to be the best, I'm competing to be the best corner, so just having the talent, having a guy like that on the other side of me is definitely allowing me to continue to grow and become a better corner myself."
Their work ethic hasn't gone unnoticed, either.
"I think this unit's gonna be special, man," nickelback Smith Snowden said. "We have a lot of — Kenan Johnson and Zemaiah Vaughn, those two are vets, so they kind of take charge of the room, and everyone just kind of listens to them, and they do a great job just leading the room."
Snowden is the latest player to start earning Shah's trust. After seeing the field more last season, the redshirt sophomore is projected to have a breakout season at nickel — a position that put him through even more refinement and one that Shah says is the "hardest."
And just like every player before him who played at nickel, it was a difficult learning process.
"I definitely embrace the role," Snowden said. "Nickel's a funny position, it's a lot different than corner. So when I first got moved there I was kind of frustrated, because I wasn't picking it up as fast as I wanted to, but now that I've picked it up, it's a really fun position. It's a really fun position for sure.
"I just I think about last season just kind of getting my feet wet a little bit. I made some plays, but kind of trying to come on a whole 'nother level. ... I'm more confident than ever."
It's a rite of passage in Utah's defense, and one the players recognize and don't take lightly. They know who has come through the program and they hold themselves to a high level — for themselves and to carry on the legacy.
"That's the cool thing, it doesn't change," starting safety Nate Ritchie said. "We still have that culture on the defense, especially in the safety room, of just family, loving each other and going to work with each other."
Added Tao Johnson: "Pressure? No. I don't look at it as pressure, I look at it as an opportunity. Just some shoes to fill to really just carry on this legacy. And I look at it as an opportunity, for sure."
Nothing will ever be perfect — in practice or on the field — but seeing a player break through and finally get to a point where they can do what's needed on the field is one of Shah's most prized memories, he said.
"Those accomplishments are the ones that flood my heart and my memory of all the players that I've coached," Shah said. "Those are the things that make you so grateful and say, my God, thank you for allowing me to be here with these babies. Because those are the memories that turned into the foundation of the good feelings that keep you right here."
And turn everyday football players into NFL-caliber talent.
