I was out running errands and Bill Riley had a nice 20-minute interview with coach Smith. If I didn’t know anything about the state of our program and had just listened to this interview – I would think we would be competing for the PAC 12 championship. This guy does not lack enthusiasm. Here are a few tidbits from his interview.
– They still have 3 scholarships open. They are looking at a few portal guys, but he won’t fill the openings just to fill them He wants guys who fit their program and admitted that it is possible (not likely) they end up not using any of these three scholarships.
– He really likes the guys he has. He talked about each and made them all sound like potential all Americans.
– The schedule should be finalized in a few weeks. He mentioned that the University has a few contract obligations that they are legally committed to play. He says that they should be playing in a tournament. He did not say when or where, but that it was in a warm-weather destination in the continental United States.
– The staff is actively recruiting for the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
He is excited. You have to love his enthusiasm. I don’t know if this will translate into victories this season, but I think he has a long-term plan.
As excited as I am with the direction of the program and the overall talent and depth we have I’ve always believed 2022 and 2023 could be special. Open with a win against Florida either of those years and your in the mix even with a Pac12 loss.
2020 was incredibly tough for so many reasons but step away from the heartbreak and the pandemic challenges and we were able to take some serious strides forward. Our young guys got experience and are getting better everyday. We crushed the portal and the talent brought in equates to a top 20 overall class.
Is the pass rush a concern? Yep. Is WR depth an issue (today)? Of course. Do we have 80 underclassmen in the program or have we EVER won in the Coliseum? Big issues man but the positive additions along with the experience gained gives us a chance to get a little crazy a year earlier than we thought..
Here’s the thing though. The next 3 or 4 years we have a chance….a real chance to make some noise, win the conference and maybe even play in the playoff.. That’s all we have though…a chance. SC is Uber talented, UCLA and ASU are improving…Washington and Oregon aren’t going anywhere so we’re still gonna need a break or two along the way regardless of how talented or deep we are. Injuries, tough games against tough opponents in tough places to play…in the Swamp, at Washington, against Oregon or USC??!! It’s daunting!! CoVid and the portal sped up that process some from an experience standpoint but we are still very young and young kids get exposed sometimes. IMO we have a 4 year window (minimum) where we are a top 25 team and where we win 9+ games and if we see Carrington in the end zone to win the game we’re playing for some high stakes.
Can’t wait to see who wins the QB job or the RB job. Can’t wait to see the O-line improvement or which young backer or safety steps up. Can’t wait to factor in the WR additions or see how JQJ makes an impact. Can’t wait to be in the stadium come September! Gonna be a damn long Summer wait!!
And I double space on purpose. My college roommate (baseball player) who got his degree in Poly Sci …pretty sure without reading a book for 4 years, taught me that if I did that on a 5 page essay it was the equivalent of an entire paragraph!!
Agreed. I’m just worried the “win now” approach might only net us 1 or 2 more wins this year at the expense of what we could do in 2022 and 2023 had we developed Rising, Jackson, or Costelli. I could live with an 8 win season this year going with one of our talented freshman, if it positioned us for a Conf Championship run in either/both 2022/2023. I just don’t see any 1 and done QB coming in, learning our new system, and leading us all the way to a PAC 12 title. But I absolutely hope I’m wrong!
https://twitter.com/Bookie_44/status/1372023342706745347?s=20
Knew it was coming for a while. For those who don’t remember, Radley-Hiles is a DB transfer from Oklahoma. Good friends with Pledger. There was a bunch of smoke about him coming to Utah a month or so ago. Big get for Washington.
What a team that was. Unreal defense, loved watching every minute of it.
2004 was before my time, but 2008 was the best $20 I ever spent on the MUSS. And 2019 was everything I ever wanted as a Utah fan – a stingy defense, crushing rb, td’s in the red zone and strong QB play.
We will compete next year and I think we’ll be ok as long as we have decent QB play. We are built for 2022 and 2023. Let’s enjoy the hell out of these next three seasons, a lot of uncertainty after that.
Completely agree, we’re built for 2022/2023. I see 8 wins in there and if things break our way, we could get to 9 or maybe 10.
That would be awesome, but I think it will be tough and agree with dbgii77.
Single digits this year and a real shot at double digits the following 2 years. We are built for 2022 and 2023.
It sounds like Alex has been considered for some NBA head jobs and College head jobs lately. So I doubt he’d still be available in 2023. But maybe he’s really happy being on the Jazz staff for right now while he waits for the right opportunity
Where do you think Alex will be in July of 2023?
Utah @ 
UCLA 
