SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Utah Utes star linebacker Devin Lloyd had the chance to go to the NFL after the 2020 season but listed a couple of reasons as to why he came back.

Devin Lloyd has been a prime example of Utah football players developing to the best at their position group and then making the jump to the NFL. Lloyd could’ve done that after a strong 2020 season where he led the Utes in tackles (48), tackles for loss (10), while adding two sacks and a forced fumble.

The returning junior spoke with the media on Wednesday ahead of day two of spring football.

“More than anything I want to win,” Lloyd stated. “I want to leave with a championship, with a nice little ring on my finger and hopefully a couple of rings. I wanted to bring guys along with me. I know this team wants to be great. I know I’m not the only one on the team who wants to be great. So I think just the collection of that, my passion for the game as well. I know the NFL isn’t going anywhere. So more than anything, I just want to submit a legacy at the university and do a lot of great things here. I knew I had an opportunity to leave but it wouldn’t have been up to my expectations as far as the draft. I feel like it was all around the best decision to come back.”

Devin Lloyd on why he decided to return for one more year:

"I want to win and put a ring (a couple of rings) on my finger before I leave."#GoUtes @kslsports

— Trevor Allen (@TrevorASports) March 17, 2021

Many players have added motivation this season to get the best possible results to honor the life of running back Ty Jordan, who passed away on Christmas night in Texas to an accidental gunshot wound to the abdomen. Lloyd said that played a factor into returning to Utah for one more season as well.

When Lloyd was making his decision, he reached out to two teammates who are now in the NFL in Cody Barton of the Seattle Seahawks and Dallas Cowboys LB Francis Bernard.

“Yeah, I definitely talked to Cody Barton and Francis (Bernard),” Lloyd said. “Their advice helped me a lot and just my inner circle, the people around me that I trust the most, my family, friends, they helped me a lot because it was definitely a stressful decision. A lot of time thinking about it, I just made sure I was making the best decision for myself and my future. But Francis and Cody definitely helped me and gave me some great advice.”

Lloyd went into detail on what Cody Barton told him.

“I can remember vividly what Cody said and the way he essentially put it was, ‘would you rather have somebody give you a million dollars right now or five million in a year from now’ and that kind of resonated with me just in terms of the investment aspect of it as far as financially because obviously money is a huge factor as well aside from just winning and so you have to play a smart and so from that aspect that definitely helped me because I was really leaning heavily into coming back,” Lloyd mentioned. “But you got to look at it from all aspects as well. So he definitely gave me some advice just seeing the whole perspective as far as on the field and off.”

Trevor Allen is a Utah Utes Insider for KSLSports.com and host of the Crimson Corner podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @TrevorASports. You can download and listen to the podcast, here.