Edge rusher Hunter Clegg was expecting that the best he would be able to do as a recruit early in his high school career was land at one of the in-state schools in Utah. He was hopeful that he’d be able to play at a school such as Southern Utah or Dixie State.

At the time, he was 195 pounds and playing wide receiver for the junior varsity team at American Fork High School. Clegg was actually happy with his production on offense and felt he had a chance to eventually earn a spot on a college roster as a playmaker on that side of the ball.

Then came the urging from coaches and other people around him to try his hand at moving over to defense to see if his skill set translated better, potentially giving him a better opportunity to grab attention from college coaches.

Clegg put in work both on the field and in the dining room to make sure he would be able to successfully make the move to an edge rusher role by the time his junior season began.

“After my sophomore year I tried gaining as much weight as possible and put on 35 pounds by the next season,” he said. “Just eating myself to death but still working on speed and working out as much as possible.”

He eventually did find the right balance to bulk up, and his revamped approach to the game has brought with it a ton of recruiting attention from schools across the country.

Clegg’s scope of which college he could end up playing for has had to widen because of it, and it has been a surprise to the 6-foot-4 edge defender as he continues to stack up Power Five offers.

“Most kids don’t ever get to experience the type of things that are happening to me,” he said. “I’m just super grateful, and hopefully I can help some of my teammates get recruited, too.”