Kyle Whittingham had long ago decided that his freshman cornerback had what it takes to play in the NFL. But it took him a couple weeks after Jaylon Johnson set foot on the Utah campus to figure out which player he reminded him of.
“Eric Weddle,” the head coach said. “Eric Weddle was in our program and he was all-business, just had a great focus and determination about him. There’s a lot of personality traits that Jaylon and Eric share. … They’re very, very similar in how they approach things.”
As the Utes defensive coordinator, Whittingham recruited Weddle, who became a two-time Mountain West Conference Defensive Player of the year.