It's been a winding road for cornerback Don Saunders to get to Utah, but he feels like he ended up in the right place.
Saunders, who transferred to Utah from Texas A&M this offseason, didn't begin to play football until his senior year of high school, but was quick to pick up the sport, both mentally and physically, helping Cathedral Catholic High to a state championship in his lone high school season. FCS school Cal Poly was so impressed by his one year in San Diego that it offered him a scholarship, allowing him to further his education at a good school and progress in his football development as well.
"I had great coaches … They all took a chance on me and they never gave up on me, even though there was days where I was hard on myself and they picked me up when I was down," Saunders said.
There were definitely some growing pains, especially since Saunders was still relatively new to the sport compared to his teammates, but thanks in part to his hard work and to the development of Cal Poly's coaches, he blossomed in San Luis Obispo.
"It was really a family environment and I love being here. The guys embraced me, the coaches embraced me, faculty, staff, everybody."
In his second year at Cal Poly, 2023, Saunders led the team in interceptions, picking off opposing quarterbacks three times, and also had 11 pass breakups, earning Second Team All-Big Sky honors.
"Cal Poly was great to me. I had a lot of great coaches, a lot of great teammates, and it was a place where I had to grow a lot," Saunders said.
"I had a lot of growing to do coming out of high school, only playing my senior year of high school, so just took it with a grain of salt and got better every day for the two years that I was there. And they made me better. It made me the player who I am today."
After his success at Cal Poly, Saunders had a number of offers when he entered the transfer portal following the 2023 season — TCU, Washington, Texas A&M, and yes, Utah.
Saunders chose Texas A&M, setting off to Aggieland, but didn't enjoy instant success. Sitting behind cornerbacks like Dezz Ricks, Brian Mayes and Jaydon Hill, Saunders' playing time was limited. He played just 33 snaps across two games, in 2024, and when the time came for him to enter the transfer portal again, he remembered the impression Utah had made on him the first time.
"The first cycle was really what stood out to me. I came here, they embraced me, they loved me, and when it was the second time around, I couldn't mess it up," Saunders said.
There was a mutual need — Saunders needed a new team with more hopes of playing time, and Utah needed more cornerbacks after starter Zemaiah Vaughn graduated and promising freshman Cam Calhoun transferred to Alabama.
"It was really a family environment and I love being here. The guys embraced me, the coaches embraced me, faculty, staff, everybody. And I love it here," Saunders said.
The Utes hit the transfer portal, picking up not just Saunders but UC Davis's Blake Cotton and Garden City's Jeremiah Caldwell , hoping to find someone that could be a starter alongside Smith Snowden and Scooby Davis at the position.
The common thread among all of the new additions is length. Saunders is 6-foot-4, Cotton is 6-foot-2 and Caldwell is 6-foot-3.
"It's fun to have some longer corners. Not as fast as we've always been, but savvy … I love the length. They create problems at the line of scrimmage and man coverage. They're disruptive in zone, they're dropping in the correct areas and it's just like playing basketball," Utah cornerbacks coach Sharrieff Shah said.
"When you have a lot of long folks on the court, it's hard to pass the ball, take certain angles on layups to the board. Same with respect to when you have a valuable asset, having long corners.
While the competition will extend into the fall, both Saunders and Cotton have stood out as capable. The two players have both had extensive run at the position and have both made plays in practice.
"Scooby Davis seems to have a really good hold on one of the outside spots. Smith Snowden's got the nickel spot locked in right now, and so the battle is really for that corner opposite Scooby," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. "And right now I'd say Blake Cotton is doing some good things as is Don Saunders."
That competition is bringing out the best in both players — and the cornerbacks room as a whole.
"We got a lot of dogs. Everybody's hungry and we got a pack of wolves, you feel me? This is a great group. And we come out here every day, we pray for each other, we battle hard, and it's become the brotherhood," Saunders said.
Utah cornerbacks coach and co-special teams coordinator Sharrieff Shah, right, talks with a player prior to game against Iowa State at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
