Gaige Weddle has too many Utah memories to count.

He’s been at the Rose Bowl, cheering on the Utes. He can still hear the roar of The MUSS, Utah’s student section, when he thinks back to Rice-Eccles Stadium.

And he remembers being a kid, turning on highlights of his father, Eric Weddle, playing for the Utes — watching as his dad built the foundation for a five-time All-Pro NFL career.

Deep down, the four-star junior from California is a Utah fan. It’s in his blood.

That becomes clear when he takes recruiting visits. He doesn’t cheer when he’s on campus as a visitor. But when he’s at Rice-Eccles Stadium?

“I’ll cheer my head off, and I’ll cheer my heart out for those Utes,” Gaige said.

He should have a few reasons to cheer on Saturday.

He’ll be in attendance as his father is inducted into Utah football’s Ring of Honor when the No. 20 Utes take on Arkansas at 8:15 p.m. MDT.

“It’s just hard to put into words how humbled and just honored I am that the university I love so much thinks that way of me,” Eric said. “It’s a second home to us.”

And it will be special for both father and son — no matter where Gaige ends up playing college football.

“Knowing my last name will always have a place in Utah is kind of comforting,” Gaige said. “It almost feels like no matter what happens in my football career, I will always have a home there.”

‘Not scared of the moment’

You’d think the son of Eric Weddle would automatically have Utah at the top of his list.

It wasn’t that simple.

Georgia, Ohio State, Oklahoma, USC and Miami were easy sells for Gaige with their glitz and glamour, big stadiums, Heisman winners and blue-blood traditions.

At those schools, he could arrive simply as Gaige. At Utah, he’d arrive as Eric Weddle’s son.

“I was just like, ‘Well, would I want to go to Utah?’” Gaige said. “My dad went there.”

Eric added: “He’s not scared of the moment, and he doesn’t shy away from it. But it is something like: Do you want that? Do you want to be compared to your dad?”

For his part, Eric tries to stay out of Gaige’s recruitment.

Utah was where he became a star, and it’s where he became lifelong friends with head coach Morgan Scalley. In short, he has an obvious bias. And he doesn’t want that to influence his son.

“I’m just being a dad and supporting him,” Eric said. “I don’t want to get in the middle of things, especially with my alma mater. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I pressured him or if he felt that he went to Utah, and it wasn’t really what he wanted.”

Gaige, though, doesn’t shy away from asking his dad for advice. Who better to have as a sounding board than a former collegiate All-American and NFL All-Pro? Except that person also happens to be his father — and his head coach at Rancho Bernardo High School.

One of those talks is what sparked the conversation about Eric’s legacy, and what it will mean for Gaige down the road.

Eric put it to him simply.

“At the end of the day [he’s] going to be compared to his dad wherever he goes,” Eric said. “You just realize, ‘Hey, I’m gonna have to be the guy no matter what or where I’m at.’”

And it’s true. Gaige, who currently plays both quarterback and safety in high school, will likely be a defensive back wherever he goes in college.

That will immediately lead to comparisons to his father, regardless of the program he’s committed to.

“At the end of the day, that’s going to be there no matter what, and it’s been there for my whole life. It’s not something that I should be afraid of.”

At Utah — or anywhere else.

‘A huge priority’

In the offseason, long before any games started, you could catch Gaige on FaceTime with Morgan Scalley multiple times.

Sometimes they talked about football. Other times, they discussed life.

“Utah was always in conversation because of Coach Scalley — whether he was head coach or DC,” Gaige said. “Now that he’s head coach, it’s his program.”

Even before the recruiting process started, Scalley was like an “uncle or godfather” to Gaige, given his close relationship with Eric.

That connection has only deepened.

“I mean he’s busy right now, so we don’t get to talk much,” Gaige said. “But if I called or texted him, he’d text right back. Just kind of how I had to separate my dad from the coach is kind of what I had to do for Coach Scalley — he’s one of my uncles, but he could be my coach, so I’ve made it more professional.”

Gaige will be a priority for the Utes in the 2028 recruiting class.

Scalley has emphasized reconnecting the program with former Utes — and that includes their children.

“There’s definitely an emphasis on getting recruits whose family played here because it means more to them,” Scalley said. “Now, we don’t just offer guys to offer guys because their family played here; they have to actually be good.”

To be clear: Gaige is actually good — very good, even — playing a bit of everything for Rancho Bernardo, just like his father did back in the day at Utah.

“But that is a huge priority, particularly because I’ve seen it. I’ve seen how much it means to those kids when they come here, and they’ve got that name.”

Scalley isn’t the only connection to his father’s playing days that draws Gaige to Utah.

Utah safeties coach Derrick Odum coached Eric Weddle in college, while Utah’s new strength and conditioning coach, Steve Saunders, was with the Baltimore Ravens during Weddle’s time there.

“Coach Odum, Coach Scalley, and with Steve Saunders becoming the strength coach, it’s too good to be true,” Gaige said. “Utah has got to be in consideration just because of the people there.”

With Scalley now at the helm, Gaige’s interest in Utah has only grown as he gets closer to a decision.

“There’s just so much energy,” Gaige said. “Coach Scalley’s one of them. He lifts every day, and he’s yoked. When the head coach can do that, and he can have a relationship with each and every guy, that’s when special things can happen.”

Where does Utah stand?

So, after all that, is Gaige ready to follow his father to Utah?

Not quite.

“Utah has just as good a shot as anybody else,” Eric said. “I think it’ll come down to Ohio State, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Utah for all a lot of the same reasons and some different. Then you have BYU, UCLA, Miami and Cal that he wants to go see.”

And Gaige is in no rush to make a decision.

“He can really focus on those schools that he wants to dwindle down to [in the spring and winter], and then make a decision in the summer,” Eric said.

Utah has a unique draw for Gaige, too.

“I would say the people, and then just the feeling of people having your back,” Gaige said. “Then there’s the feeling of family, and then comfortability.

“I’ve just been there so many times, and it kind of feels like home for me.”

Home and family will continue to ring true this weekend, as Eric Weddle’s name will be revealed at Utah’s home stadium under the bright lights of a primetime matchup.

Gaige will be reminded of many things in that moment — the legacy his dad carries, what the Weddle name means to the program and, most of all, what he could potentially do to create his own place there.

“I mean it would mean everything to wear that jersey and to really just play on the field that my dad played on,” Gaige said.

His dad hopes to see just that.

“Hopefully he’s inspired, and he thinks of it as something that he can accomplish or shoot for.”