Utes In Good Company With Six Combine Invites

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The NFL released their list of invitation to participants for the NFL Draft Combine from February 26 to March 4 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The University of Utah has six players that will take part in the combine which is in the same area with powerhouse programs in college football with the most invitations.

The two teams that played for a national championship in Clemson and Alabama had the most players invited to the Combine with 11.

Ohio State had 10 players receive invites with Georgia, Ole Miss and Washington each having 9 players invited.

Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Wisconsin had 8 invitations.

Boston College, Penn State and Stanford had 7 players invited from their programs.

Utah is tied with Auburn, LSU, Miami, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina State and West Virginia.

Utes Players Receiving Invitations

Linebacker Cody Barton will go into the combine as the leading tackler for the Utes from the 2018 season with 116. He was named Pac-12 Honorable Mention after the season. Barton had 10 and a half tackles for loss, 4 sacks, and 6 pass deflections.

Cody’s brother Jackson will head to the combine after a season where he started every game in 2018 at left tackle and was named first team All-Pac-12. Draftsite.com has Barton projected to go early in the sixth round to the Pittsburgh Steelers. In Drafttek.com’s mock draft, they have him going to the Chicago Bears in the seventh round.

Safety Marquise Blair will represent the Utes at the NFL Draft Combine after two seasons in Salt Lake City. He was named second team All-Pac-12 after both seasons. Blair had 59 tackles, two interceptions and two pass breakups in 2018. Draft Wire’s latest four-round mock draft has Blair going in the fourth round to the Cleveland Browns.

The 2017 Lou Groza award winner Matt Gay had a great three seasons with Utah. He was a consensus All-American twice, two time first team All-Pac-12 and finished his career at Utah with 56 career field goals, which is third all-time in program history.

Linebacker Chase Hansen was named an All-American and first team All-Pac-12 after the 2018 season. He collected 164 career solo tackles, which is tied for seventh in school history and 33 and a half tackles for loss. Hansen was a quarterback as a freshman, safety for two seasons and linebacker as a senior. Drafttek.com has predicted Hansen to be selected in the fourth round by the Minnesota Vikings. Draft Blaster has Hansen going to the Los Angeles Rams in the fourth round.

Punter Mitch Wishnowsky is a three time All-American and was the Ray Guy Award winner in 2016. He was a finalist for the award three times, the only punter in award history. Wishnowsky had 175 career punts, which is fourth most in school history.

The rest of the state of Utah has 5 players going to the combine.

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