New Utah cornerback Elijah Reed could be exactly what position coach Sharrieff Shah was looking for in the transfer portal during the offseason.
Cornerback was one of the positions Utah invested in heavily in the portal, as it picked up four players to help restock the room. Scooby Davis is the lone returning full-time starter at cornerback, though nickel Rock Caldwell played 106 snaps, the majority at safety, in 2025 due to need before moving back into the cornerback room full-time this spring.
While Davis and Caldwell are projected to start, the competition for the starting outside cornerback spot has been fierce this offseason.
Enter Reed, who transferred to Utah after spending the last two seasons at Akron. Prior to his time with the Zips, he was at Kentucky in the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
“I feel like every single guy, whether safeties, corners, linebackers, we’re all just bringing a different type of competitiveness to this year and I can feel it in every single guy we have,” Reed said.
At Akron, Reed blossomed, finding consistent starting time. Last year, Reed started all 12 games and totaled 47 tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack, a forced fumble, four pass breakups and two interceptions. His Pro Football Focus grade of 77.3 was the fifth-highest on the Zips’ defense.
Utah and Shah recruited Reed out of high school, but the Louisville, Kentucky, native chose to stay home. This time around, the timing and fit was right for Shah to finally get his man.
“I came down here and seen everything and I got to really see how the culture was and how coach Shah was in person. It made it way easier to make my decision,” Reed said.
Shah prioritized height and length in the portal, and Reed fits the bill at 6-foot-3, 200 pounds.
“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 this spring.
A longer corner, Reed says, also poses more of a threat at the line of scrimmage. Shah has always coached his cornerbacks to be physical, and that’s a challenge Reed has gladly accepted.
“I take pride in being the best I can be for the guys in my room, I would say. Just showing some experience and just bringing that physicality and showing the guys that we can bring this every day,” Reed said.
While Reed, Davis and Caldwell are names to watch in the room, Shah has been able to build depth, and the level of competition means that no one’s job is set in stone until the opener — or even after.
USF transfer James Chenault is another cornerback to keep an eye on this season, either for a starting job or a spot in the rotation. Chenault transferred to Utah after two seasons with USF, and in 2025, logged 32 tackles, two interceptions and four pass breakups.
He showed up in big moments, too, intercepting passes in games versus Miami and Florida.
Senior JC Hart, who played 88 snaps at cornerback last season, is another candidate to see the field at times this year.
Shah gave a brief overview of a number of players he has available to use in 2026.
“Eli Reed who showed his physicality and length. James Chenault, we call Bobo, incredibly savvy. JC Hart, who’s been with us, now is comfortable in the defense and starting to make some plays,” Shah said this fall.
“Earl Parker, young man we got out of Juco. Brandon Holmes, another young man who would probably be vying for a nickel spot. The person I’m probably most excited for is Jeremiah Caldwell, we call Rock.
“Rock played safety, played outside corner, played nickel. His versatility and command of the room just gives us such, I think, a benefit, especially it helps to be 6-2-and-a-half and playing nickel as well as corner.”
Utah will have to replace starting nickel Smith Snowden and starting outside cornerback Blake Cotton this season, but Shah feels like he has the players to continue Utah’s cornerback tradition.
“So I can at least confidently say, man, I have a good room,” he said. “I feel like I have good pieces to assemble to make us really, really competitive, if not absolutely elite, I believe.”