Will the return of Rising help rejuvenate Whitt and Ludwig for 1 more run at a CFP? How good is Rose and can he fill in if needed? Why can’t we develop QBs and WRs? I don’t see any WR help in the pipeline. Parks and Pittman are not WR1 or WR2 in my opinion. Is Vele and Parks all we have to show for last 4-5 years of WR development?
Whitt has acknowledged that offense wins. All good teams throw the ball downfield. If Kuithe is being counted on as our #1 receiver we are in trouble. No good WRs want to block and run ghost routes every play. Big numbers get you a shot at the NFL. Why would any good WR want to play here? Just trying to take off my Red goggles and understand why we are in this position with such an outstanding coaching staff?
I love WRs as much as the next person, but I don’t think we need a dominant WR to be successful. In our offense, what we need are receivers that force LBs to read every play and that keep safeties from being parked in the box. If we do those two things, then our running game will be successful and we will be able to move the ball consistently and score.
If (and I know it is a big if) we get Kuithe back in his pre-injury form, he is uncoverable, even more than Dalton was. Mix some Landen King, Munir McClain, Money, and Micah, and we have a very potent passing attack.
Even without 100% healthy Kuithe, our WR and TEs are solid. The most painful part of this past season was watching our guys repeatedy get open and BB couldn’t capitalize. This is different from the past when our guys couldn’t get open. We have seen steady improvement in route running over the past couple of years, and that is making our WRs a meaningful threat.
Truthfully it depends on how far we want to go.
Yes, we don’t rely on WR as much as other teams.
Yes, Utah should have a fantastic defense.
Yes, we will likely have good non-WR pass catchers and a solid run game.
But if we want to raise another level, we need to strengthen our weaknesses instead of just hiding them. If we could get someone like Taeshuan Lyons it could help a lot. The guys we have are solid and do the job, but he would bring a different element
I agree that we should should strengthen our weaknesses and push to improve at every position. That said, we don’t need to be the greatest show on turf to be a top team. If we recreate the 2021 offense (average approximately 400 total yards per game with an even split between running and passing), we will be an incredible team. We were one concussion and a CB away from beating tOSU. We have WR talent to match what we had in that season.
Wrong sub paragraph
Now I am not saying Bernard is Christian Mcaffery. But I like how the Niners are using him in the backfield. The amount of creative play calling for him and Kittle is exciting.
McClain can be a number one guy. But I also think Bernard can be a dynamic passing threat similar to Mccaffey. Bernard is smart. He is talented and works really hard.
I wish we could get faster developing plays. It just felt sluggish this year. Which can be blamed on a lot of things but the scheme has just been slower lately.
Up tempo always seems to favor Utah offense and Rising is capable of running a Brian Johnson style of no huddle offense.
Man. Really focused on the WR. My opinion is that the highest need is a reliable featured RB. Jackson’s 5 good carry’s a game while healthy, 4-5 while hurt, then coming out of the game isn’t enough for an Utah offense that wants to control the game somewhat.
I respectfully disagree. We need balance. What keeps the defense honest is not just running around but actually completing some passes down field. You set up your passing game with the run.
If you think Parks McClain Bernard and King is a potent passing attack then we should cake walk the CFP. With the exception of Kuithe we don’t have a receiver that could break the two deep of any potential playoff team.
Our style of offense is good enough to beat lower level teams but not elite teams. Even with Rising back our offense will be mediocre without somebody that can create some big plays downfield. Our WR room is weak!! How good would OSU Georgia Alabama LSU Washington Oregon be with our WRs?
I love balance (the 2021 offense was almost perfectly balanced average 216.8 rushing yards per game and 214.3 passing yards per game). I think, without Kuithe, we have the WR talent to recreate the 2021 offense.
Who did we have in 2021 that could create a big play downfield? (Dixon?) With healthy Kuithe, we have the passing pieces to be better than 2021.
I think the bigger question is at RB. I agree with Ute Dub, we don’t have a proven RB right now who can provide TT style consistency in the backfield. Without that RB, our offense is DOA.
Agree. In 2023, Utah had 19 Rushing TD’s. In 2021, Tavion had 21 by himself.
McClain’s a playmaker, could be a weapon. Gets overlooked by fans and underutilized by the coaches. Averaged 18 yds per catch this year and we got him only 15 catches. Whit and Lud want to run first, TE second and then WR. So, it really doesn’t matter much what we have at WR, we would underutilize any talent we get there.
IMO QB2 is an ongoing question mark and even concern. Whit overestimated Barnes’ ability OR his own ability to win games without a QB making plays. Before you say Barnes was QB3 or QB4 and Whit only used him because of limited options, I’m not convinced. IMO Barnes was always Whit’s QB2 for 2023. Even when Rose was talked about as QB2, I believe Whit always trusted Barnes more than Rose, NJ and JJ prior to that. I think had Rose not gotten hurt, Barnes would have won another “dead heat” QB battle coming out of Fall Camp. Remember Whit did the same thing with Barnes in 2022 and prior to that in the first Rose Bowl.
If there is some accuracy to this theory, then Whit could misevaluate and mismanage future QB on a similar level.
WR isn’t the area of most need. If we cant buy the QB enough time and that QB can’t either find or hit open WRs, that’s not really a WR problem. In terms of priority, it starts with the OL. After the last couple years of improving OL play, this year was a step back. Run sets up pass in this offense, always has. Having a healthy and dominant RB is the second priority. Game breaking WRs would be great–not essential, but great.
Im with others, I think the WRs we have are good–not elite, but certainly good enough for a balanced passing attack to keep most D’s honest. Vele was very good–just never got targeted enough. Mcclain showed signs, Money has been reliable, King is promising, Kuithe will attract double teams, Bernard is a versatile weapon out of the backfield. We don’t need USC level elite WRs to make our offense click. With improved line play, a reliable QB and RB, and balanced and more creative schemes–those receivers will be fine and our offense will move a lot better next year.
I have a long history of complaining about the OL and being disappointed, BUT this year, while the OL had it’s it’s issues the biggest was Barnes holding the ball, causing them to block longer, and facing stacked boxes because of not being able to pass effectively.
Interesting that Whitt said Rose did not play because he wasn’t ready. He still doesn’t have a grasp of the offense. So if he doesn’t have a grasp by now he certainly didn’t have a grasp before. So Barnes was the QB2 all along.
Our passing attack was bad all year. Blame it on Barnes scheme or WRs. Game after game we got single coverage with no help on the outside and never tried to exploit it. Our receivers couldn’t get open and the QB couldn’t throw the deep pass. Every team that beat us threw the ball downfield for big plays. We need a deep threat and now with Matthews gone a slot receiver.
Yes our OLine needs to get better and another big running back would help. It’s tough to block and run the ball with 8 defenders in the box every down. Better WRs and scheme would help the oline and run game. Rising can’t last a season in our offense. If the passing game doesn’t improve we are looking at another Vegas Bowl.
Not in any order of importance.
Utah must effectively throw the ball when they have to beyond a balanced attack. Utah needs an outside WR threat Rising of course, if healthy changes the dynamic.
QB back-up and protecting Rising. UO did a solid job protecting Nix this season. Nix ran the ball 53 (lowest in his career) times this season compared to 89 last season. I know a lot of other variables/factors in play. Rising ran the ball 77 times in 2022. QB management issue pretty much covered on other threads. Some QB red flags: going into Spring without a QB from the TP, Barnes ends up staying, Rose continues to be “not ready”. There’s no clear QB2 coming out of Spring. Hopefully Wilson heals up quick and gets reps. If KW states, there’s no clear QB2 out of Spring, we’ve seen this play out enough to know there is a QB2 back-up problem. The QB2 reps broken up between three guys we know doesn’t work.
Oline: very inconsistent this season, QB played a role. The value of Bills and Laumea not playing in the bowl game was obvious. Not sold on the players on Utah’s Oline other than Fano playing left tackle as a true frosh. Kick-off. and punt teams.
TG, your assumption that if after spring practice there is no clear QB1 or QB2 there is a failure in coaching. I totally disagree, QB competition can and should be very close, if the recruiting results were, for example, 3 four star or 3 three star, or a mix, the coaches expect a close competition and if there are injuries the best QB may not be found during spring. We saw that happen last year. When there’s a returning starter who is injured (Cam) it makes the competition even more complicated. Rose won the spring but was injured in the fall, now the coaches look at who is the best of the rest. Do you go with the most experienced or gamble on the most athletic. Practice sometimes helps make the choice easier, however it doesn’t always work out, after all you are working with 3rd, 4th, 5th, or lower experienced QB’s because during the spring or fall practices these players don’t get a lot of snaps.
I think that from the time that Utah joined the PAC-12 until now the improvement in the team was incredible. There were people saying that the Utes would be perpetually bottom dwellers. I think and hope that this year was an aberration, I think going into the B12 the Utes will do just fine.
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