20 years at Utah produced some mixed results for Kyle Whittingham as a recruiter. He had as close to an identical record as Michigan football did during that time period. Six of Whittingham's players were selected in the first round over the course of those 20 years. None of them has been elected to the Hall of Fame, but a handful of them were voted to the Pro Bowl.
Evaluating Some of Whittingham's best and worst recruits
Perhaps Whittingham's "star" recruit was 2013 first rounder Star Lotulelei. He was the highest drafted Ute since Alex Smith, not counting Spencer Fano. Lotulelei came from humble beginnings, but worked his way up the ladder under Whittingham. Another former Ute who panned out nicely was Eric Weddle. Weddle was apart of the undefeated team that Whittingham was the defensive coordinator on.
Once he hired Jim Harding to the offensive line, 10 Utes were taken in the draft over a 10-year period. 16 defensive backs were chosen, which is the most of any position that Whittingham has coached. The one spot where Whittingham has never groomed a player to be handpicked is at quarterback. Sure, he's had Cam Rising, Tyler Huntley, and Brian Johnson, but none of them were drafted. Bryce Underwood could be the first quarterback to break that cycle.
One quarterback who went to Utah, but didn't develop was Jack Tuttle. His best years were at Indiana, before transferring to Michigan. Recruiting rankings placed a high grade on Travis Wilson, who signed with Utah in the 2012 class. He went on to have a respectable career with Whittingham, but did nothing in the pros.
In 2021 Whittingham inked Ethan Calvert on the dotted line. After some injury-plagued seasons, he transferred to Cal-Poly. Unfortunately Calvert did not live up to his inflated recruiting status. One linebacker that thrived for Whittingham though, was Devin Lloyd. His talents just got him a huge payday with the Carolina Panthers.
Other randoms who have played for Whittingham and went on to become names that people will remember include Garett Bolles, DeVontae Booker, Matt Gay, Jaylon Johnson, Zack Moss, and Mitch Wishnowsky.
Depending on which recruiting service it is, Kelvin Obot is considered the only five-star recruit that Utah has ever gotten in its history. Whittingham should be expected to land about two or three in every Michigan class he coaches.
Tallying it all up there's not really one guy who stands out as his biggest miss for him. Losing Penei Sewell to Oregon may have been his biggest blunder, but you can't really blame him for that. For the most part his recruiting abilities have gotten better over the years and that is currently on display.
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