Recruiting: With a history and culture of winning and excellence, Three-star linebacker Owen Chambliss says Utah is all a recruit could want
This past weekend, the University of Utah hosted a number of recruits, including highly talented and sought after three-star linebacker Owen Chambliss from Corona, CA. While currently holding offers from a handful of Pac-12 schools among others, Chambliss liked what he saw from the reigning Pac-12 Champions.
"It means a lot. Obviously coming off the best season they've had, getting to play Ohio State in the Rose Bowl, being Pac-12 Champions, being a tier-one academic program, it means a lot. They're a great school and to have to say no to Utah would be hard," Chambliss said.
Like many other recruits, Chambliss has taken notice of Utah's recent success and the impressive seasons they've strung together over the last few years. Obviously, the Pac-12 trophy helps paint a picture of what Utah is capable of, but Chambliss also understands what Utah has had to do in order to get there.
"As a recruit you want to go to a winning program. You don't want to go to a program that's losing, and I am not saying that those programs are necessarily bad, it's just when they have a culture and history of winning, they strive for excellence and that's all they want. So thats the type of place you want to be at and thats what you get when you go to Utah," he said.
Just like Chambliss mentioned, Utah is all about striving for excellence and the evidence of that has been demonstrated in guys like Devin Lloyd. Despite being heavily under-recruited and only earning one power-five offer, Lloyd flipped the script and was a first-round selection in this years NFL Draft. With results like that, its no wonder Utah is attracting the attention of guys like Chambliss.
"Man, it's exciting to see that. What's more exciting about him getting drafted in the first round is that when he came out of high school, he was never gonna be a first round draft pick according to everybody else...it was exciting to see him come on the scene. That goes to show how good of a coach Colton Swan is," Chambliss explained.
As much as Lloyd deserves a vast majority of the credit for his success, he's also a product of what Utah is capable of doing with anybody who buys into their philosophies. While its certainly not for everyone, Chambliss appreciates the way they do things in Salt Lake City.
"When you walk into the door and talk to coach Whitt, coach Swan, coach Shah, you immediately pick up on that. There's no question. They're here to play big boy football, they're here to go the playoffs. They're not here for the fluff and all that extra stuff. I love that. They're gonna coach you hard, but the same coaches who coach you hard, love you hard, and that's all you can ask for. When you have a whole coaching staff like that, you have nothing but great things," Chambliss explained.
"One of the things thats different between Utah and other schools is priorities. Utah has a priority to win, a priority of excellence, a priority to be great and all of the good qualities you want to see in a school when you're being recruited...at Utah they're trying to be great at everything they do," he added.
After what appears to have been a mesmerizing and productive visit, the No. 43 ranked linebacker from the class of 2023 plans to announce where he'll be committing very soon. Once he makes his decision he'll graduate early and join that program in the spring of 2023.
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