These were the moments Devaughn Vele came back to Utah for.
Last November, the Ute wide receiver, 24 years old at the time, said his plan was to leave Utah at the end of the season and try to make it in the NFL.
“Yeah, that’s what it’s looking like. It’s more of an age issue than eligibility. I do have years left but I’m 24, about to turn 25, and the clock is against me,” Vele said. “I know a lot of the fans are questioning, ‘Why is he leaving?’ But it’s just a matter of the future.”
“He’s been our No. 1 receiver all season long, but we haven’t targeted him as much as we needed to in those first several ball games.” — Utah coach Kyle Whittingham on Devaughn Vele
“If I want to play at the next level, now is the best time. I obviously wish I had better stats, but with the clock against me, I just feel like this is the most opportune time for me to move on.”
Less than two months later, Vele had changed his decision, announcing his return to Utah for one more season.
Obviously, the plan was to catch passes from Cam Rising, and though that didn’t work out as the Utah quarterback missed the entire 2023 season with injury, Vele felt like he made the right decision to return to Salt Lake City.
“It was a myriad of things for my decision, but I felt like it was a good decision. Grateful to be around the guys,” Vele said. “As tough as this season has been, I mean, I think I made the right decision, been able to refine my game, get a little bit more confident and feel a lot better trying to go into the league next year. So I think it was a good decision overall.”
The 6-foot-5, 210-pound receiver was always a factor in Utah’s passing game this season, but the Utes have made it a point to get him the ball in the past three games.
Prior to Utah’s 35-6 loss to Oregon on Oct. 28, Vele’s season-high for receptions in a game was four catches, against Oregon State. Starting with that Oregon game, he’s been seeing the ball more, and it’s paid off.
He had his breakout game this season against the Ducks, hauling in seven receptions for 80 yards. Though Utah’s offense didn’t score a touchdown that day, it was a harbinger of things to come for Vele.
“He’s been our No. 1 receiver all season long, but we haven’t targeted him as much as we needed to in those first several ball games,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said.
Utah remedied the problem in a 55-3 win over Arizona State, as quarterback Bryson Barnes connected with him seven times for 56 yards and two touchdowns.
“Made a concerted effort to get him more targets in the last three or four weeks. It’s paid off in a lot of ways,” Whittingham said. “He has had his most production in the last three or four weeks, and so we just should have done a better job as coaches of getting him the ball early on.”
The quarterback situation in the first half of the season — Barnes, then Nate Johnson, then back to Barnes; will Cam Rising play or not? — did not lead to much passing success. But after Barnes won the job for good coming out of the bye week, Utah’s throw game has seen new life.
“It is good right now,” Vele said of his connection with Barnes. “The whole quarterback situation we had in the first half of the season was a little bit difficult for everybody because we’re trying to figure out who’s going to be at the helm. But having a guy that’s solidified and we know he is going to be there week in, week out, it is able to build the chemistry that’s needed so that we can flourish a lot better on offense.”
Despite the emphasis on getting him the ball the past three weeks, there was no need to force the ball Vele’s way against Arizona State. Vele did an excellent job running his routes and was absolutely wide open as Utah opened the contest with two touchdown passes to Vele on the first two drives, setting the tone for an offensive explosion.
On Utah’s first drive, from the Arizona State 11-yard line, the Sun Devils showed pressure, Barnes faked it to running back Ja’Quinden Jackson, drawing the defender who was supposed to be covering Vele, and Vele had nobody around him in the end zone for his first receiving touchdown of the season.
“They ran a middle dog pressure on the first one, so we had both the A gaps filled up with both the linebackers blitzing and the outside was open and three guys went with (Ja’Quinden Jackson) on his flat route. So it just popped open easily on the corner route,” Vele said.
“Big ... Play ... Vele” was the call from Pac-12 Network commentator JB Long.
And “Big Play Vele” would live up to that moniker again on third-and-goal, drawing a one-on-one matchup with Arizona State defensive back Ed Woods after going in motion. Vele put a move on him, and from there, it was all Vele’s speed as he streaked across the end zone, several steps ahead of Woods, for another wide-open touchdown.
“We went in motion just to see if they were in man coverage. I had a one-on-one matchup against the DB. I had favorable leverage, was able to win inside and just get the touchdown,” Vele said.
Each game, Vele has built off the previous week’s performances, and it culminated in a five-catch, 145-yard outing in the Utes’ 35-28 loss to Washington last Saturday.
With five minutes left in the first quarter, he had a 41-yard reception from Barnes on a short hitch route, aided by a bad angle by Washington cornerback Elijah Jackson, and once he got past Jackson, Vele turned on the jets for a key gain on the touchdown drive.
“Just appreciative of Bryson giving me chances. We had the matchups that we wanted, we made the right calls and it’s just a blessing that I even made the plays that I made. So just being in the right spot at the right time,” Vele said.
Another big play came at the end of the first half; with Utah running the hurry-up offense, Vele sprung open for a 68-yard pass that got the Utes into the red zone and set up a Jackson touchdown run.
“I think it doesn’t give the defense an opportunity to get their calls in, especially the pressures and the blitzes, and it lets us decide the tempo that we go at so the defense has to react to us,” Vele said of the up-tempo offense. “So I feel like the up-tempo is our strong suit. I think we should keep going on it.”
Vele’s rise has been quite the story, walking on to Utah’s team in 2019 after serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Samoa following his high school career at Rancho Bernardo High in San Diego.
After earning a scholarship in 2020, Vele developed into a dependable receiver for Rising in 2021, catching 23 balls for 389 yards and a touchdown. In 2022, he assumed an even more important role as Utah’s second-leading pass catcher behind tight end Dalton Kincaid, with 55 receptions for 695 yards and five touchdowns as Utah won back-to-back Pac-12 championships.
This season, Vele leads the team in both receiving yards and targets, racking up 482 yards and two touchdowns on 34 receptions.
With two regular-season games left, plus a bowl game, Vele is trying to end the season on a high note, both on the team side and for him personally.
“Just taking advantage of the opportunities I’m given. I know we are a run-heavy team, but when we do throw the ball, I try to make the most out of those opportunities and so far it’s been going in my favor and I hope to continue to keep it going,” Vele said.
