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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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911 recordings detail hours leading up to discovery of Utah girl, mother dead in Las Vegas

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911 recordings detail hours leading up to discovery of Utah girl, mother dead in Las Vegas


CONTENT WARNING: This report discusses suicide and includes descriptions of audio from 911 calls that some viewers may find disturbing.

LAS VEGAS — Exclusively obtained 911 recordings detail the hours leading up to the discovery of an 11-year-old Utah girl and her mother dead inside a Las Vegas hotel room in an apparent murder-suicide.

Addi Smith and her mother, Tawnia McGeehan, lived in West Jordan and had traveled to Nevada for the JAMZ cheerleading competition.

The calls show a growing sense of urgency from family members and coaches, and several hours passing before relatives learned what happened.

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MORE | Murder-Suicide

Below is a timeline of the key moments, according to dispatch records. All times are Pacific Time.

10:33 a.m. — Call 1

After Addi and her mother failed to appear at the cheerleading competition, Addi’s father and stepmother called dispatch for a welfare check.

Addi and her mother were staying at the Rio hotel. The father told dispatch that hotel security had already attempted contact.

“Security went up and knocked on the door. There’s no answer or response it doesn’t look like they checked out or anything…”

11:18 a.m. and 11:27 a.m. — Calls 2 and 3

As concern grew, Addi’s coach contacted the police two times within minutes.

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“We think the child possibly is in imminent danger…”

11:26 a.m. — Call 4

Addi’s stepmother placed another call to dispatch, expressing escalating concern.

“We are extremely concerned we believe that something might have seriously happened.”

She said that Tawnia’s car was still at the hotel.

Police indicated officers were on the way.

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2:26 p.m. — Call 5

Nearly three hours after the initial welfare check request, fire personnel were en route to the scene. It appeared they had been in contact with hotel security.

Fire told police that they were responding to a possible suicide.

“They found a note on the door.”

2:35 p.m. — Call 6

Emergency medical personnel at the scene told police they had located two victims.

“It’s going to be gunshot wound to the head for both patients with notes”

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A dispatcher responded:

“Oh my goodness that’s not okay.”

2:36 p.m. — Call 7

Moments later, fire personnel relayed their assessment to law enforcement:

“It’s going to be a murder suicide, a juvenile and a mother.”

2:39 p.m. — Call 8

Unaware of what had been discovered, Addi’s father called dispatch again.

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“I’m trying to file a missing persons report for my daughter.”

He repeats the details he knows for the second time.

3:13 p.m. — Call 9

Father and stepmother call again seeking information and continue to press for answers.

“We just need some information. There was a room check done around 3:00 we really don’t know where to start with all of this Can we have them call us back immediately?”

Dispatch responded:

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“As soon as there’s a free officer, we’ll have them reach out to you.”

4:05 p.m. — Call 10

More than an hour later, Addi’s father was put in contact with the police on the scene. He pleaded for immediate action.

“I need someone there I need someone there looking in that room”

The officer confirmed that they had officers currently in the room.

Addi’s father asks again what they found, if Addi and her mother are there, and if their things were missing.

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The officer, who was not on scene, said he had received limited information.

5:23 p.m. — Call 11

Nearly seven hours after the first welfare check request, Addi’s grandmother contacted police, describing conflicting information circulating within the family.

“Some people are telling us that they were able to get in, and they were not in the hotel room, and other people saying they were not able to get in the hotel room, and we need to know”

She repeated the details of the case. Dispatch said officers will call her back once they have more information.

Around 8:00 p.m. — Press Conference

Later that evening, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police held a news conference confirming that Addi and her mother, Tawnia McGeehan, were found dead inside the hotel room.

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The investigation remains ongoing.

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Ban on AI glasses in Utah classrooms inches closer to passing

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Ban on AI glasses in Utah classrooms inches closer to passing


AI glasses could allow you to get answers, snap photos, access audio and take phone calls—and now a proposal moving through the legislature would ban the glasses from Utah school classrooms.

“I think it’s a great idea,” said Kizzy Guyton Murphy, a mother who accompanied her child’s class on a field trip to the state Capitol on Wednesday. “You can’t see inside what the student is looking at, and it’s just grounds for cheating.”

Mom Tristan Davies Seamons also sees trouble with AI glasses.

“I don’t think they should have any more technology in schools than they currently have,” she said.

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Her twin daughters, fourth graders Finley and Grayson, don’t have cell phones yet.

“Not until we’re like 14,” said Grayson, adding they do have Chromebooks in school.

2News sent questions to the Utah State Board of Education:

  • Does it have reports of students using AI glasses?
  • Does it see cheating and privacy as major concerns?
  • Does it support a ban from classrooms?

Matt Winters, USBE AI specialist, said the board has not received reports from school districts of students with AI glasses.

“Local Education Agencies (school districts) have local control over these decisions based on current law and code,” said Winters. “The Board has not taken a position on AI glasses.

MORE | Utah State Legislature:

Some districts across the country have reportedly put restrictions on the glasses in schools.

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“I think it should be up to the teachers,” said Briauna Later, another mother who is all for preventing cheating, but senses a ban could leave administrators with tired eyes.

“It’s one more thing for the administration to have to keep track of,” said Later.

The proposal, HB 42, passed the House and cleared a Senate committee on Wednesday.

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Kalshi sues Utah over efforts to stop prop betting in the state

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Kalshi sues Utah over efforts to stop prop betting in the state


SALT LAKE CITY — A prediction market is suing Utah over plans to regulate proposition betting that it says would run afoul of federal regulations.

Kalshi is a New York-based prediction market that allows users to place “event contracts” on future outcomes and earn a payout if they are correct. Those transactions are regulated through the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, the company said Utah has plans to prevent the company from offering contracts in the state and asked the courts to block any enforcement that “interferes with the operation and function of plaintiffs’ futures market.”

“Plaintiff KalshiEX LLC believes the governor of Utah and the Attorney General’s Office of Utah will imminently bring an enforcement action against Kalshi with the intent to prevent Kalshi from offering event contracts for trading on its federally regulated exchange,” the complaint states. “Defendants have repeatedly represented that they believe Kalshi is operating unlawfully under Utah anti-gambling laws.”

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The lawsuit points to a couple of posts from Gov. Spencer Cox and an op-ed written by Attorney General Derek Brown in the Deseret News on Sunday. After Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Mike Selig announced that his agency would “defend its exclusive jurisdiction” over prediction markets last week, Cox took to X calling the markets “gambling — pure and simple.”

“They are destroying the lives of families and countless Americans, especially young men,” he wrote. “They have no place in Utah. Let me be clear, I will use every resource within my disposal as governor of the sovereign state of Utah, and under the Constitution of the United States to beat you in court.”

He followed that up last Thursday, saying Utah is “ready to defend our laws in court and protect Utahns from companies that drive addiction, isolation and serious financial harm.”

In his op-ed, Brown argued that prediction markets are “the newest iteration of gambling” and said he didn’t see a difference between betting and trading futures.

“Although traditional sports betting apps are illegal under Utah law, these platforms argue that they merely allow users to hedge their risk,” he wrote. “But what is the real risk to hedge when you are simply predicting whether LeBron James will score more or less than another player? It’s simply a bet, dressed up in different clothing.”

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The lawsuit also comes as the state Legislature is advancing a bill that would clarify that proposition betting — or betting placed on specific players or events during games — falls under the state’s definition of gambling, which is prohibited by the Utah Constitution. HB243 has passed the House and a Senate committee and is awaiting consideration on the Senate floor.

But Kalshi says its contracts are lawful thanks to a carveout in Utah’s anti-gambling laws that allows for “lawful business.” Its lawsuit claims Kalshi’s attorneys made “multiple attempts” to contact Brown about potential action against the company but were “met with silence, even though the Utah AG had previously been willing to communicate with counsel.”

Asked about the lawsuit on Tuesday, Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, said he is “standing with the governor on this one.”

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.



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