He played college football for the Washington State Cougars, earning first-team All-American honors in 1988.

[5] Utley was an offensive lineman with the Detroit Lions, picked in the third round of the 1989 NFL draft, 59th overall.

[9][10][11] Although he would later learn he was largely paralyzed from the chest down,[12] Utley flashed the crowd a "thumbs up" as he was being taken off the field.

Utley began rehabilitation at Craig Hospital, which specializes in spinal cord injuries.

[13] While the location of his injury defines him as having quadriplegia by the standard medical definition, he has essentially complete use of his upper extremities, making him functionally someone with paraplegia.