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‘I love it here’: Cornerback Don Saunders knew he couldn’t rebuff Utah a second time

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‘I love it here’: Cornerback Don Saunders knew he couldn’t rebuff Utah a second time


It’s been a winding road for cornerback Don Saunders to get to Utah, but he feels like he ended up in the right place.

Saunders, who transferred to Utah from Texas A&M this offseason, didn’t begin to play football until his senior year of high school, but was quick to pick up the sport, both mentally and physically, helping Cathedral Catholic High to a state championship in his lone high school season. FCS school Cal Poly was so impressed by his one year in San Diego that it offered him a scholarship, allowing him to further his education at a good school and progress in his football development as well.

“I had great coaches … They all took a chance on me and they never gave up on me, even though there was days where I was hard on myself and they picked me up when I was down,” Saunders said.

There were definitely some growing pains, especially since Saunders was still relatively new to the sport compared to his teammates, but thanks in part to his hard work and to the development of Cal Poly’s coaches, he blossomed in San Luis Obispo.

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“It was really a family environment and I love being here. The guys embraced me, the coaches embraced me, faculty, staff, everybody.”

—  Utah cornerback Don Saunders

In his second year at Cal Poly, 2023, Saunders led the team in interceptions, picking off opposing quarterbacks three times, and also had 11 pass breakups, earning Second Team All-Big Sky honors.

“Cal Poly was great to me. I had a lot of great coaches, a lot of great teammates, and it was a place where I had to grow a lot,” Saunders said.

“I had a lot of growing to do coming out of high school, only playing my senior year of high school, so just took it with a grain of salt and got better every day for the two years that I was there. And they made me better. It made me the player who I am today.”

After his success at Cal Poly, Saunders had a number of offers when he entered the transfer portal following the 2023 season — TCU, Washington, Texas A&M, and yes, Utah.

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Saunders chose Texas A&M, setting off to Aggieland, but didn’t enjoy instant success. Sitting behind cornerbacks like Dezz Ricks, Brian Mayes and Jaydon Hill, Saunders’ playing time was limited. He played just 33 snaps across two games, in 2024, and when the time came for him to enter the transfer portal again, he remembered the impression Utah had made on him the first time.

“The first cycle was really what stood out to me. I came here, they embraced me, they loved me, and when it was the second time around, I couldn’t mess it up,” Saunders said.

There was a mutual need — Saunders needed a new team with more hopes of playing time, and Utah needed more cornerbacks after starter Zemaiah Vaughn graduated and promising freshman Cam Calhoun transferred to Alabama.

“It was really a family environment and I love being here. The guys embraced me, the coaches embraced me, faculty, staff, everybody. And I love it here,” Saunders said.

The Utes hit the transfer portal, picking up not just Saunders but UC Davis’s Blake Cotton and Garden City’s Jeremiah Caldwell, hoping to find someone that could be a starter alongside Smith Snowden and Scooby Davis at the position.

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The common thread among all of the new additions is length. Saunders is 6-foot-4, Cotton is 6-foot-2 and Caldwell is 6-foot-3.

“It’s fun to have some longer corners. Not as fast as we’ve always been, but savvy … I love the length. They create problems at the line of scrimmage and man coverage. They’re disruptive in zone, they’re dropping in the correct areas and it’s just like playing basketball,” Utah cornerbacks coach Sharrieff Shah said.

“When you have a lot of long folks on the court, it’s hard to pass the ball, take certain angles on layups to the board. Same with respect to when you have a valuable asset, having long corners.

While the competition will extend into the fall, both Saunders and Cotton have stood out as capable. The two players have both had extensive run at the position and have both made plays in practice.

“Scooby Davis seems to have a really good hold on one of the outside spots. Smith Snowden’s got the nickel spot locked in right now, and so the battle is really for that corner opposite Scooby,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. “And right now I’d say Blake Cotton is doing some good things as is Don Saunders.”

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That competition is bringing out the best in both players — and the cornerbacks room as a whole.

“We got a lot of dogs. Everybody’s hungry and we got a pack of wolves, you feel me? This is a great group. And we come out here every day, we pray for each other, we battle hard, and it’s become the brotherhood,” Saunders said.

Utah cornerbacks coach and co-special teams coordinator Sharrieff Shah, right, talks with a player prior to game against Iowa State at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News



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Utah

Nina Dobrev Wears a Bathrobe While in Utah for Sundance Film Festival

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Nina Dobrev Wears a Bathrobe While in Utah for Sundance Film Festival


Nina Dobrev‘s bathrobe photo has fans checking in from Park City, Utah, during Sundance weekend. She posted it 18 hours ago, tagged Park City, and wrote, “Final Sundance in Park City, Utah? bittersweet doesn’t begin to describe it…” Nina’s carousel from the Sundance Film Festival reads like downtime between screenings. The post shows about 480.8K likes and 888 comments.

Nina Dobrev shares a bathrobe photo from Utah during Sundance Film Festival

Have a look at Nina Dobrev in a bathrobe:

Photo Credit: Nina Dobrev Instagram

The “Vampire Diaries” alum wears a plush white hotel robe, loosely cinched at the waist. It falls open at the neckline. Her hair looks half-done, pinned up at the crown, with loose lengths down.

The warm bathroom lighting highlights marble counters and polished wood doors. The photos also landed after she discussed recovering from a dirt bike injury. Fans replied fast, with one writing, “Such a cutie,” another said, “Gorgeous,” and a third added, “THE DIVA”.

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Originally reported by Santanu Das on Reality Tea





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State officials killed three wolves in northern Utah. Here’s why.

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State officials killed three wolves in northern Utah. Here’s why.


The killings took place in a region exempt from federal gray wolf protections.

(Dawn Villella |AP) A gray wolf is pictured in 2004 in Minnesota. Utah officials recently killed three wolves after they were seen near livestock in Cache County.

In a rural stretch of southwestern Cache County, state officials killed three wolves earlier this month after the animals were spotted near livestock, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources confirmed Tuesday.

The wolves were shot Jan. 9 by the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, said DWR spokesperson Faith Jolley, a move allowed because the animals were found in a small corner of northeastern Utah exempt from federal gray wolf protections.

The region, which lies mostly east of Interstate 15 and extends roughly as far south as Ogden, is considered part of the greater Yellowstone region, where the predator is in recovery. It is the only part of Utah where the state is allowed to manage wolves.

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(Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)

Across the rest of the state, the animal is considered an endangered species. It’s illegal to hunt, harass, trap, shoot or harm them without permission from the federal government.

Jolley said state law directs DWR to prevent wolves from breeding in the delisted area. While the animals were not considered a pack, she said they were believed to be traveling together.

“Lethal removals ensure they don’t establish breeding populations in Utah,” Jolley wrote in a text message.

Caroline Hargraves, a spokesperson for the state agriculture department, said the wolves were found near Avon, a small census-designated community in Cache County of about 500 residents, surrounded mostly by farmland.

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Utah leaders have long been hostile to wolves for preying on livestock and thwarting hunters. The state has doled out millions in taxpayer dollars in an effort to get gray wolves removed from the federal endangered species list.

Most confirmed wolf sightings in Utah have involved lone wolves, Jolley said, though small groups have been documented on a few occasions since the first confirmed sighting in 2002.

During the past year, she said, a handful of lone wolves have migrated into Utah from Wyoming and Colorado.

Wolves from Wyoming and Idaho have made their way into Utah at least 21 times since 2004, according to DWR. In September, the agency said it was aware of at least one lone male wolf present in the state.



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Utah family fights to bring children home after mother reportedly arrested in Croatia

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Utah family fights to bring children home after mother reportedly arrested in Croatia


Family members of four Utah children who disappeared with their mother in November are speaking out after the children were located in Croatia.

Now, the family is working through international legal channels to bring the children back home.

The children were last seen on surveillance video at Salt Lake City International Airport boarding a flight with their mother, 35-year-old Elleshia Seymour. Authorities say Seymour took the children without the permission of their fathers after posting what family members describe as “doomsday” claims on social media.

MORE | Missing Children

Seymour was arrested in Dubrovnik on January 15 after the family says news articles alerted people she was talking to in Croatia about the accused kidnapping. She now faces four felony counts of custodial interference. Since her arrest, the four children have been placed in a government-run children’s center in Croatia.

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Jill Seymour, the children’s aunt, has been in Croatia for nine days with her brother Kendall Seymour, who is three of the children’s fathers. They are trying to secure their release.

“We’re just kind of in limbo waiting to get them out,” Seymour said. “These are our kids, and we can’t get custody of them.”

She says the family is only allowed to see the children for two hours a day. Despite providing the requested documentation, the family has not yet been given a clear timeline for when the children can return home.

“They are most definitely trapped there, and they feel trapped,” Seymour said. “We don’t have a clear-cut answer. We’ve provided all the documents we’ve been asked to provide.”

The family has hired Croatian attorneys and is working with the U.S. Embassy to navigate the legal process. Utah-based attorney Skye Lazaro, who has experience with international custody cases, says Croatia’s participation in the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction could ultimately help the family.

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“In this case, it’s a good thing and a benefit that they are part of this Hague Convention,” Lazaro said.

However, Lazaro explained that the process can be slow due to translation requirements and court procedures in the foreign country.

“It requires retaining an attorney in that country who can translate the documents into Croatian and provide all the necessary information to a court,” Lazaro said. “That stuff just takes time.”

If local legal efforts stall, the family can formally petition under the Hague Convention, which may speed up the process, though it could still take several weeks.

“To have to continually say goodbye every day is very hard,” Seymour said. “It’s an emotional rollercoaster.”

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As the legal battle continues, the family is also facing mounting expenses, including short-term housing in Croatia and international legal fees. A GoFundMe has been set up to help cover costs and pay for the children’s flight home.

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