As Logan Fano took the field during Utah’s season-opening victory over Florida last year, his father, Bingham, was overcome with emotion.
A four-star prospect and one of the most heralded players from the state of Utah in the class of 2021, Logan Fano signed with BYU out of Timpview High, going with Kalani Sitake and the Cougars over offers from Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Washington, and, yes, Utah.
But Logan never played a snap in royal blue.
After serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Logan returned to Provo and looked to potentially be in line for some serious playing time as a true freshman. During spring practice, however, Logan tore his ACL — the second time suffering the injury in his career, including high school — and had to watch the Cougars’ 2022 season from the sidelines.
On Dec. 6, a couple weeks after BYU defeated Stanford to finish the regular season with a 7-5 record, Logan entered his name into the transfer portal.
“I met a lot of good people, man. A lot of awesome people. There’s a lot of friends that I made over there that I still keep in touch with today,” Logan said. “Things just didn’t work out with me over there. And I feel like I fit better into the environment up here in Utah. And so that’s why I made that choice to transfer.”
That same day, Logan’s younger brother, Spencer, a four-star offensive tackle and the top-ranked player from the state of Utah, was making his final decision about where to attend school and further his football career.
That week, it had been an all-out blitz for the younger Fano’s pledge. Kyle Whittingham and Utah, of course, made the trip down to the Fanos’ house. Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh played cards with Spencer and his family, while Oregon’s Dan Lanning flew in for a game of Monopoly.
In the end, Spencer put on the Utah hat at his commitment ceremony, choosing the Utes over a final four that included Oregon, Michigan and Clemson, becoming the standout piece in Kyle Whittingham’s 2023 recruiting class.
“I’m a very religious person and I prayed about it really hard. I feel like there might’ve been other schools at the time that, I don’t know, might’ve piqued my interest a lot, but at the end of the day when I prayed about it, I felt like I got my answer was Utah,” Spencer said.
A day later, capping off a whirlwind week for the family, Logan announced his transfer to Utah, making the two brothers teammates again for the first time since playing at Timpview High.
“In the end, it was always (Spencer’s) and Logan’s goal to play college ball together. And Utah provided the best opportunity for them to do that,” Bingham Fano said.
Eight months later, the pair ran out of the tunnel together as a sold-out Rice-Eccles Stadium crowd roared.
“There’s nothing like playing with your younger brother, running out at Rice-Eccles Stadium, and you got your little brother running right next to you,” Logan said.
“It’s crazy. It’s something that I feel like all siblings in sports kind of dream of and it’s been a really big blessing to be able to live that out with my brother,” Spencer added.
Utah’s defense took the field first, and as Logan sprinted onto the Rice-Eccles Stadium turf for his first snaps in a college game, Bingham’s mind drifted back to everything that had led up to this moment, from Little League football to countless hours of training to trips to football camps to years of high school football, to two recoveries from ACL tears.
It had all cumulated in this moment.
“To see him finally realize his dream of playing college football and starting as a freshman was very emotional for me,” Bingham said.. “… Tears of gratitude, really. He’s realized a dream. He’s overcome so much. To see him out there, it just came full circle. It was one of the proudest moments ever.”
After the defense forced a punt on the Gators’ first drive, Bingham thought he might be able to relax a little bit when the offense came onto the field.
“After the defense came off, I’m like, OK, I thought maybe I could just emotionally take a little timeout and break,” he said.
“And then Spencer comes in.”
Spencer Fano jogged onto the field with Utah’s offense, having secured the starting left tackle job — one of the most vital along the offensive line — becoming one of just two freshmen in Division I football to start the season at the position.
On his first collegiate snap, Spencer helped create a clean pocket for quarterback Bryson Barnes, who threw a 70-yard pass to Money Parks to open the scoring in the 24-11 win.
“And so it was nonstop because from the offense was in, we were obviously watching Spencer. Defense goes in, obviously watching Logan. I would say it’s one of the most proudest moments I’ve ever had as a father, is to see both of my boys playing together for the same team,” Bingham said.
For the first time as college players, Logan Fano, Spencer Fano and Karene Reid, who are all related, were on the field as teammates. It’s a journey that began in American Samoa, where two families formed an unbreakable bond.
Ties that bind
Bingham Fano and Spencer Reid grew up together in American Samoa, and while they’re officially cousins, they were practically brothers. Growing up, the Fanos and Reids all lived close to each other on one side of the island, but just as Bingham was getting ready to attend high school, his dad built a house on the opposite side.
“So in order for me and my brother to go to high school where we grew up, my dad reached out to his sister, who was Gabe Reid and Spencer Reid’s mom, and pretty much asked if we can stay with them through high school so that we can go to school, play football together, things of that nature,” Bingham said.
“And so all through high school, me and my younger brother lived with Karene’s grandparents and his dad, his siblings.”
That relationship made such an impact on Bingham that later he named his son, Spencer, after his cousin.
Soon, Spencer Reid — Karene’s dad — started attracting attention from college coaches — notably LaVell Edwards of BYU — and committed to the Cougars. Some of his seven brothers also received college offers, starting a long chain of Reids that played college football in Utah.
Spencer Reid starred at linebacker for the Cougars from 1994 to 1997 and went on to play two seasons in the NFL for the Carolina Panthers and Indianapolis Colts, while end Gabriel Reid suited up for BYU from 1999 to 2002, playing three seasons in the NFL with the Chicago Bears while also having stints with the New York Jets and Tennessee Titans. Both Spencer and Gabriel were teammates of Sitake’s — now BYU’s head coach — when he played in Provo. These days, Gabriel serves as the second counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Jared Reid (Utah State), Adney Reid (BYU) and Gordon Reid (Southern Utah) all played college football in Utah in the early 2000s.
“Man, it’s going to be crazy,” Karene Reid said of rivalry week in his family.
“The Reids are historically a BYU family, and so we got ‘em all converted now and so we should be full bleeding red,” he said. “I do have a cousin committed to BYU, two cousins, so we’ll see. It’s interesting you got family on that side, but nevertheless, we’re going to go get after them.”
Starting soon, there’s going to be a Reid wearing blue again. Adney Reid, the son of Gabriel Reid, will suit up for the Cougars after returning from his mission.
‘If my uncles could do it, why can’t I?’
Spencer and Logan played other sports during their childhood, but it became clear that both were destined for a future in football.
“Really at an early age, they both started playing football around the third, fourth grade. I put them in these little leagues … and I noticed at a very early age that they had some potential and some abilities. And from there it was, I started training them, basically,” Bingham Fano said.
As the two set out on their path to play Division I football, and achieve their ultimate goal of playing in the NFL, their uncles played a critical role — providing inspiration, advice and training.
Growing up, both Spencer and Logan looked up to and were mentored by their uncles that made the NFL on both sides. Of course, there’s Spencer Reid and Gabe Reid, but they’re also related to Tenny Palepoi and Anton Palepoi, who also played at the next level.
Tenny Palepoi, a defensive tackle, played at Utah in 2012 and 2013 after transferring from Snow College and went on to play in 44 games for the San Diego Chargers. Defensive end Anton Palepoi played college football at UNLV before being drafted in the second round by the Seattle Seahawks. Anton appeared in 35 games in his pro career, which featured stops in Seattle, Denver and Arizona.
“It really helped them to see that it was tangible, right? They looked up to their uncles and growing up, they wanted to be like their uncles. So they had this mindset of, hey, if my uncles could do it, why can’t I?” Bingham said.
“And so that really set them on the path to where they set a goal, they wanted to do this since they started putting in the work to try to obviously accomplish what their uncles did. And earning a college scholarship was the first step. I did all I could as a dad to put them in touch with different trainers and position-specific specialists in hopes that they would gain an edge.”
Of course, the uncles were a part of that training.
“It’s been gratifying as a parent to see my boys have uncles who have played at the highest level, but also uncles who have really invested in them and teaching them, teaching them how to prepare, teaching them, ‘Hey, at the next level, this is what it’s like,’” Bingham said.
While being around those relatives paid dividends for their football careers, it went much deeper than that. When Bingham and his wife, Lori, went out of town, Logan and Spencer stayed at Gabriel Reid’s house. When Logan transferred to Utah, he stayed at Anton Palepoi’s house for the first couple of semesters.
“I was able to grow up with a lot of really, really good role models, not only just in sports, but in life. All the lessons that they learned, but the sports part just added onto it and they were able to teach me a lot of really great things, which I’m really grateful for,” Spencer said.
Hard work pays off
The years of training and dedication to football are paying off for both Fano brothers, and Karene Reid, at Utah.
Spencer arrived at Utah as one of the nation’s top offensive tackle prospects, and was able to win the starting job his freshman season. It was an up-and-down year for Spencer on the field in 2023, but those experiences were able to help him tremendously as he prepared for his sophomore season.
He spent the offseason working with trainers to help him take his game to the next level, but also spent a lot of time in the film room.
“He really became, I would say, more of a student of the game. He’s watching more film, he’s watching tendencies of the opponents, whoever that is that week. And I’m seeing that he’s really taking the next level in his development and growth as a player by understanding the importance of film study and then also putting the extra work after practices,” Bingham said.
Moving from left tackle to his high school position of right tackle this season, Spencer has been not only Utah’s most reliable offensive lineman, but grades out, per Pro Football Focus, as one of the top offensive tackles in the country.
With a grade of 90.1 (out of 100), Pro Football Focus thinks Fano is Utah’s best offensive player by a decent margin, and the eye test has backed that up.
“When you’re good on the edges, which is the most demanding offensive line spot is the edges, you’re out on that island, you got a chance to really be good. And both him and Caleb Lomu are doing an excellent job out there,” Whittingham said.
Meanwhile, after suffering a torn ACL for the third time in his career after sacking Oregon State’s Aidan Chiles in 2023, Logan Fano went through another rehab while preparing for the 2024 season.
“He’s very resilient. You would think a kid who had gone through his third ACL tear would hang ‘em up and call it good, but that’s just not Logan, he’s not a quitter,” Bingham said.
“And he knew that, hey, he had an opportunity … another try. He wasn’t going to miss out on that opportunity, and so he took the rehab process really seriously.”
Logan being available to play in every game this season has been a plus for a Utah defensive line that has seen its share of injuries this year. He has played the fifth-most snaps on the defense, totaling 21 tackles and a sack.
While Karene Reid has played in only four games this season — missing a large chunk of the year with an injury suffered in Week 2 — he’s had a stabilizing effect on the linebacker group since coming back and has totaled 23 tackles and recovered a fumble.
“It’s been crazy to be their older cousin, and then I get pushed around by Spencer Fano at practice when I was always the older cousin. So yeah, man, it’s just amazing to have this experience to play with them and I count my blessings every day,” Karene Reid said.
Utah’s program has long fostered a family culture, but for these three players, they’re literally family, and the chance for them to play together is one each player — and their relatives — are cherishing.
“It’s been great. Just from Day 1, I’ve been comfortable here, not only because I have family here, but because the people around here, my teammates, my coaches have treated me like family,” Spencer Reid said.
