- Utah linebacker Devin Lloyd is set to be a first-round pick at the 2022 NFL Draft.
- Lloyd could have entered the draft last year but chose to return to Utah to try for a championship and get his degree.
Devin Lloyd is heading to the big leagues.
The reigning Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year was dominant through his senior season at Utah, finishing with 111 tackles, eight sacks, and four interceptions. A few weeks after securing a pick-six in the Pac-12 title game, leading the Utes to victory and earning MVP honors in the process, Lloyd declared for the NFL Draft.
Lloyd is now projected to be taken in the middle of the first round, but his NFL outlook might have been a lot different had he decided not to return to Utah last year. According to Lloyd, his upbringing and a confluence of events at the end of his junior year helped him make that pivotal decision, which now, one week from draft day, looks like the right one.
Raised in a military family, Lloyd learned a sense of responsibility from early age
Lloyd's father, Joe, was in the Navy for 30 years. That's where he met Lloyd's mother, Ronyta, who also spent a decade in the Navy.
"He told me the story," Lloyd told Insider. "He'd just seen her walking one day and went up to her. He said she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. And now here we are."
Lloyd partnered with USAA ahead of the draft, drawn to the company's commitment to the military. Lloyd said that his parents' military service was formative to his childhood, instilling him with a sense of ownership and responsibility from a young age.
"It's the little things," Lloyd said. "Having a sharp, pristine bed made every day, keeping your clothes folded, making sure everything is nice and clean. And then also just handling your business. Making sure you're responsible for things. My dad would expect me to be up early in the morning on a Saturday, the lawn to be mowed, my room to be cleaned, everything to be taken care of. That kind of 'you have to handle your responsibilities' mentality."
Lloyd could have entered the draft last year, but decided to return to Utah for his senior year instead
In the COVID-shortened 2020 season, Lloyd and the Utah Utes played just five games, winning three of them.
What could have been a crowning season for Lloyd was instead an abridged, confusing year. Still, Lloyd had the opportunity to leave school for the NFL Draft.
"It was definitely challenging because you want to be sure you're making the right decision," Lloyd told Insider. "It's a lot harder when neither one is the wrong decision. You could go right either way. I was torn in between what I wanted at the time."
But as it came time to make his decision, Lloyd knew he had to go back to school.
"For me, the biggest thing at the time, was I wanted a championship," he said. "I wanted an opportunity to leave college with a degree and a ring.
"Pretty much everything at the time was telling me to go back. We had just tragically lost one of our teammates. It was devastating," he remembers. "We were going to come back to a new, renovated stadium, as opposed to my last game being with no fans. There were just kind of all these signs telling me to go back."
After a dominant senior season, Lloyd got his ring and cemented himself as a first-round talent
Lloyd entered his senior season at Utah with two goals top of mind — a degree and a ring — and wound up accomplishing them both.
In the regular season, the Utes went 8-1 against their Pac-12 opponents. Lloyd was a wrecking ball, finishing the year with 111 tackles, eight sacks, and four interceptions, earning first-team All-American honors in the process.
In December, Utah dominated Oregon in a 38-10 victory in the Pac-12 title game. Lloyd recorded a pick-six and was named MVP of the game. The following spring, Lloyd got his degree. Two for two.
—Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) December 4, 2021
The decision to return to school was a bet on himself.
Had Lloyd decided to join the 2021 draft class, it's likely he would have been a Day 2 or 3 pick. But after his dominant final season with Utah, Lloyd is now comfortably in the first-round conversation. Depending on how the draft shakes out, he could even be the first linebacker off the board.
The last time he was in Las Vegas, Lloyd was leading the Utes to victory in the Pac-12 championship at Allegiant Stadium. Next week, he'll be back in Sin City for the NFL Draft, where he looks set to cash in that bet he made on himself.
To be sure, it was a winner.