Utah defensive coordinator Colton Swan had the film ready to roll as soon as three-star recruit Aiden Martin walked into the room.

The film? A cut-up of Martin’s sophomore season at William J. Brennan High School in San Antonio, Texas.

It wasn’t a hype reel. It was a showcase of everything Swan had seen from the Class of 2027 prospect — the good, the bad, even the ugly.

“We kicked it off right away because of his whole demeanor and approach,” Martin told The Salt Lake Tribune. “When I walked in, he was watching film that he had gathered on me. It was just almost kind of surreal. I was like, ‘Dang, this guy really does like know his stuff.’”

Swan laid out his vision for Martin at Utah and compared him to a former Ute now in the NFL.

“The comp that he’s been pushing is Devin Lloyd,” Martin said. “It’s almost like a hybrid linebacker and safety.”

The Utes officially offered Martin on Oct. 23, 2025. But he kept his options open for a time. Martin even went on an official visit to Houston in May. On June 8, though, he committed to Utah.

Four days later, he was on his official visit to Salt Lake City, and that trip only reinforced his decision.

“Seeing everybody together, seeing the coaches and the players interact was really cool,” Martin said.

His family — including his two little brothers — came with him on the visit. He remembers turning away from them for “two seconds” to go talk to one of the coaches.

“All of a sudden I look around, and they’re playing with all the players.”

Martin admitted that when he first started getting offers from programs across the country, he never thought that Utah would end up being a frontrunner.

“I know my parents probably didn’t expect me to commit to Utah,” Martin said, laughing. “It was kind of that outlier school — you have two schools in your top three from the state and then one out of state.

“When I had seen my offer from Utah, I said, ‘Utah, where even is that on the map?’ I’m not a geographical guy. I was trying to figure out how far it was from Texas.”

He’s figured that out now, and he’s built a deep relationship with Swan. The Utes were the second Power Four program to offer Martin early, and that made an impact when offers from Iowa State, Oklahoma State and UCLA, among others, came rolling in.

“Just that time frame, building the relationship and getting to know the program, it was just completely different,” Martin said. “That connection with Utah was just so far ahead of the other schools. It was hard to look anywhere else.”

Martin is another recruit from Utah’s growing southern pipeline. Utah has already found plenty of underrecruited gems from that part of the country.

Sophomore quarterback Byrd Ficklin was a three-star recruit out of Muskogee High School in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and senior linebacker Jonathan Hall came from Katy, Texas.

Martin hopes to add to that growing lineage when he sets foot on campus as a member of the 2027 recruiting class.

“I feel like my biggest talent is my versatility,” Martin said. “You look at their background check and what they’ve done with their linebackers, what they’ve done with their safeties, and just being in the defense like that — I trust Coach Swan put me in the best position.”