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SALT LAKE CITY — As future declarations on local talent for next year's NFL draft remain undecided, one former Salt Lake standout has opted for the 2021 draft over one last year in the Pac-12.
Brighton High alum Simi Fehoko, who played three seasons at wide receiver at Stanford, has opted out of his senior season and will enter the 2021 NFL draft, the lengthy wide out announced Monday morning on Twitter.
"These past three years, I have made memories that I will never forget," Fehoko said. "I am grateful for the opportunity I had to attend Stanford and be surrounded by all of you. You are all teammates, you are all brothers, WE will always be family.
"That being said, it has always been a dream and goal of mine to play at the next level. I have decided to forego my senior year and enter my name into the 2021 NFL Draft. Thank you to everyone who has been here for my journey."
I knew this moment would come, now it's my time. pic.twitter.com/ika0Xo2XVV
— Simi Fehoko (@Simi_Fehoko) December 28, 2020
An All-Pac-12 first team selection during the truncated conference-only season of 2020, Fehoko was a bright spot on a team that went 4-2 that included a 31-26 win over then-No. 23 Washington on Dec. 5.
Fehoko earned Pac-12 offensive player of the week honors for Dec. 21, after catching an eye-popping 16 passes for 230 yards and three touchdowns to pace a 48-47 overtime win over UCLA in the season finale.
A consensus four-star recruit, Fehoko signed with the Cardinal over offers from BYU, Utah and others, and had a state record-setting career that included 3,571 yards and 41 receiving touchdowns. The 2016 U.S. Army All-American and Gatorade Utah Player of the Year joined Stanford in 2018 following a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Seoul, Korea, and made an immediate impact with his redshirt-eligible four games as a freshman.
"I've always been a fan of BYU, and I'll always be a fan of BYU," Fehoko told KSL.com when he signed in 2016. "I think that I'll be the biggest BYU fan on Stanford's team. But I think Stanford is the place."
In three seasons at Stanford, the 6-foot-4, 227-pound Fehoko caught 62 passes for 1,146 yards and nine touchdowns, averaging 18.5 yards per catch and 52.1 yards per game.
As a junior in 2020, Fehoko became a go-to target for the Cardinal, averaging 6.2 catches for 95.7 yards per game, including three scores.
Fehoko could become the second Utah product to enter the NFL in four years, joining Dalton Schultz, the former Bingham High tight end who was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in 2018.
Fehoko will enter the draft alongside a pair of Utah products from the Pac-12 in USC defensive lineman Jay Tufele and Deseret Hills product Penei Sewell, the reigning Outland Trophy winner who played at Oregon and opted out of the 2020 season to prepare for next April's draft. Sewell is expected to be selected in the first round.
