The Journey for JT – University of Utah Athletics

It’s not every season that you see an Oklahoma native donning the Utah Red on the turf of Rice-Eccles Stadium. Not unheard of, but it’s also not a yearly occurrence.
 
Nevertheless, there’s plenty of Utes fans in Tulsa, Oklahoma—cornerback JaTravis Broughton has made sure of it in his hometown. And while Broughton was a state champion at Union High School in both football and track, his football recruiting process took longer than expected to gain steam.
 
When the University of Utah came onto JT’s radar, there was something that intrigued him about the Utes.
 
Family.
 
“The reason I chose Utah was because it was so family-based,” Broughton said. “I also liked the scheme they ran. I have all positives to say about that process.”
 
A drive here from Tulsa starts by trekking North into Kansas, then following Interstate 70 into Denver. Head North again and jump on Interstate 80 when you enter Wyoming. Then, after several hours on I-80, you’ll come down Parleys Canyon, get onto Foothill Drive for a few minutes and pull into Rice-Eccles Stadium.
 
All told, it takes about 18 hours, over 1,200 miles and gives you roughly a 3,500-foot elevation gain.
 
“We don’t get a lot of kids out of Tulsa or out of Oklahoma,” Utah cornerbacks coach Sharrieff Shah said this week. “That’s a big jump for a young man to be mature enough to say ‘this is what I like, here are the reasons why I like them, and I’m going to come.’
 
Shah continued, “Talking to JaTravis, learning more about him and getting to know his family, you started to see a very complete picture that JaTravis could be a guy that could blossom in our program. He was cut from the right cloth.”

Acclimating from high school to college football is no small feat and takes time. But Broughton had a heck of a returning secondary to mentor him when he arrived for his first Fall camp in 2019.

 

Jaylon Johnson was back from the 2018 Utah team that won the Pac-12 South. Terrell Burgess, Julian Blackmon, Tareke Lewis—all back. And each had something different to teach No. 4 as Broughton settled into life as a Ute—be it film study, ball skills or putting in extra work on the practice field.

 

“They helped me become a technician, watching how hard they worked and how determined they were,” Broughton said. “Cornerback is not an easy position to play. It’s…