What Utah cornerbacks coach Sharrieff Shah prioritized when targeting players in transfer portal

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Just like last season, there’s been a lot of change in the cornerback room for Utah ahead of the 2026 campaign.

Prior to the 2025 season, the Utes had to replace Cam Calhoun and Zemaiah Vaughn, doing so by elevating Scooby Davis to full-time starter alongside nickel Smith Snowden and bringing in Blake Cotton from the transfer portal.

As a whole, Utah’s pass defense was among the best in the country, allowing just 177.8 passing yards per game. There were shaky moments throughout the season for Utah’s cornerbacks — especially early on — but the group rounded into form by the middle of the season.

There was room for improvement — Snowden had a PFF grade of 69.3, Cotton 64.8 and Davis 58.2 — but by and large, the cornerback position was not a glaring issue on Utah’s defense, especially with the run game deficiencies that dominated the last two regular-season games.

“We did lose quite a few guys. Some we expected, others came out of left field. And I say that, but NIL and the transfer portal, I’m starting to appreciate more than ever.”

Utah cornerbacks coach Sharrieff Shah

This year, there’s another overhaul in the cornerbacks room. Cotton graduated, while Snowden joined Kyle Whittingham at Michigan. Don Saunders, another contributor, also transferred, along with four others that rarely saw playing time.

With Davis the only major full-time cornerback contributor back at Utah, cornerbacks coach Sharrieff Shah essentially had a blank slate to work with heading into the transfer portal.

His vision for his room? More height.

Davis measures 6-foot, but Akron transfer Elijah Reed (6-3), Hutchinson Community College transfer Earl Parker (6-2) and freshman Major Hinchen (6-2) all fit the mold of a lengthy cornerback. So does senior Rock Caldwell (6-3), who played more snaps at safety last season but is back in the cornerback room in 2026.

Utah also brought in USF transfer James Chenault (6-foot) and Lamar transfer Nick Brown (6-foot).

All in all, it’s quite the transformation, but it’s something that is happening more often in the transfer portal era.

“We did lose quite a few guys. Some we expected, others came out of left field. And I say that, but NIL and the transfer portal, I’m starting to appreciate more than ever,” Shah said. “I might have only six, eight, 10 months with somebody. And that’s just the truth. … They closed the other portal windows so now maybe I can say 10 months with a kid.”

With the amount of players transferring out of Utah, the cornerback room was one of the main areas of focus for the Utes when they started to make additions.

“We were fortunate to really make some good moves in the portal to acquire some experience from some kids from different universities, to bring in young guys and still waiting on one kid from Fresno City (Brandon Holmes), who will be with us in June,” Shah said. “I feel like for the guys that are here right now, good acquisitions to help with the departures that were unexpected and some that we knew were coming.

“So people are at least showing me that, ‘Coach, you can put me in a position and you can begin to trust me.’”

With the amount of man coverage that Utah plays, having lengthy corners helps tighten the windows that opposing quarterbacks have to throw into.

“If I have a corner that’s 6-2, that ball has to be perfect. Most of the time it won’t be. Success to the defense. Having a long corner gives you a better chance to get an incompletion or something that’s really awesome, like a pick or maybe a pick-six,” Shah said.

Shah says there are some tradeoffs in a taller corner — namely not being as fluid in changing directions as a smaller corner — but through the work Utah is doing in spring and fall camp, he expects to see progress in that aspect.

“With a little bit of flexibility and some stretch classes that they hate to go to, they become a little bit better, a little bit more fluid,” he said. “So you start to see things that you see all the time in a smaller corner show up in your taller corners.”

Kentucky linebacker Jacquez Jones (10) and cornerback Elijah Reed (24) tackle Mississippi wide receiver Malik Heath (8) during the first half of an NCAA college football game in Oxford, Miss., Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. | Thomas Graning

Davis, who started at cornerback last season and finished with 34 tackles, two interceptions and two pass breakups, returns as CB1, but the competition has been fierce for the other starting spots.

Reed had 47 tackles, two interceptions, a sack and four pass breakups last season for Akron and ended the season with a Pro Football Focus grade of 77.6. He’s played at the Power Four level before for Kentucky and, after two seasons at Akron, is back playing power football.

“Next step, I would say just bringing what I can bring to the team and being a leader,” Reed said. “Since I’m a senior, I have some experience just bringing some leadership, I would say, and just all the skills and assets I can bring.”

With Snowden’s departure, Utah is looking to Caldwell to step up at nickel. The senior ended 2025 with the Utes’ second-highest Pro Football Focus grade on defense (82.7) and helped stabilize the safety position after season-ending injuries to Rabbit Evans and Nate Ritchie.

Back in the corner position, Utah coach Morgan Scalley is seeing good things from him this spring.

Utah’s coach also mentioned Chenault, who had 32 tackles, two interceptions and four pass breakups for USF while earning a 66.2 PFF grade, as performing well.

In the second week of fall camp, Scalley stressed that the cornerback room was one of the position groups that needed to step up.

On Tuesday, Scalley said he has seen the group progress.

“I’m actually pretty pleased. Because we lost Smith (Snowden), so you’re looking at the nickel position and Rock Caldwell and Nick Brown, that’s a guy that’s really stepped up,” Scalley said. “He’s got to have a heck of a summer, though, because he’s just a little bit too light. But speed-wise, really good.

“Caldwell, smart, heady football player. His length is an issue and he’s gotten faster. So I really like the nickel position.

“Eli Reed on the outside, Scooby leading, Bobo Chenault. So we’ve definitely got the guys there and Sharrieff’s doing a great job coaching them up. So yeah, I know I mentioned that early on and the progress has been great.”