All-Decade Utes (2014-2023): UPDATED

[krindor]

Just saw an offseason post on Reddit asking to put together the top team of the last decade (so 2014-2023 seasons) from your program

QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 5 OL
2 DT, 2 DE/EDGE, 3 LB, 3 CB, 2 S…(I cheated slightly here)
K, P

Here’s my (very quick, rough) take with a few corrections from the group

QB: Tyler Huntley
RB: Zach Moss
RB: Devontae Booker
WR: Britain Covey
WR: Darren Carrington
WR: Tim Patrick
TE: Dalton Kincaid
LT: Garrett Bolles
LG: Braeden Daniels
C: JJ Dielman
RG: Jeremiah Poutasi
RT: Jackson Barton

DT: Leki Fotu
DT: Junior Tafuna
EDGE: Nate Orchard
EDGE: Bradlee Anae
LB: Devin Lloyd
LB: Cody Barton
LB: Jared Norris
CB: Jaylon Johnson
CB: Clark Phillips III
CB: Julian Blackmon
S: Marcus Williams
S: Terrell Burgess

K: Matt Gay
P: Mitch Wishnowsky

Second Team
QB: Cam Rising
RB: Tavion Thomas
RB: Joe Williams
WR: Devaughn Vele
WR: Kaelin Clay
WR: Jaylen Dixon?
TE: Brant Kuithe
LT: Sam Tevi
LG: Sataoa Laumea
C: Nick Ford
RG: Isaac Asiata
RT: Bamidele Olaseni

DT: John Penisini
DT: Lowell Lotulelei
EDGE: Jonah Elliss
EDGE: Hunter Dimick
LB: Chase Hansen
LB: Nephi Sewell
LB: Pita Taumoepenu
CB: Eric Rowe
CB: Brian Allen
S: Marquise Blair
S: Sione Vaki
S: Cole Bishop

K: Andy Phillips
P: Tom Hackett

Even with two teams, there’s guys it hurts to leave off and I’m sure there’s more than a few obvious players I overlooked putting this together in a hurry

[Extra Medium]

I loved TJ as much as the next dude but you can’t take 5-6 games of 2020 over what Tavion Thomas did in 2022.

[2008 National Champ]

A lot of recency bias in a last decade team?

Norris, Dimick, Mokofisi, Gionni, Lowell.

Jackson Barton excelled at both tackle spots. BAM was a turnstile at RT and had half of a good season at LT.

Vaki over Blechen?

[krindor]

Lowell Lotulelei was a miss, absolutely. I’ve added him in.

Blechen I didn’t realize went through 2014, thought he was further back and not eligible. Still though, I have 3 safeties there so I want more coverage if possible.

Norris I came very close on. I reordered him onto the 2nd team about 5 times and wouldn’t argue at all with him on there. Gionni also gets caught in the sheer number of quality LB and gets dinged for less track record at Utah. One incredible season puts him behind guys who were multi-year high-end guys.

Dimick and Mokofisi frankly just get caught in the thrash of the number of good DE/DT that Utah has had. Dimick was an absolute stud, but so was every one listed…and all of those guys were (or will be) drafted. Putting Dimick on would mean taking someone else off who should be there.

There’s honestly some positions that are just impossible to get everyone who should be there. RB, DT, DE, LB, S

[2008 National Champ]

it’s all opinion so I’m disagreeing without really disagreeing.

If the criteria was that being good for only one season gets you downgraded, Ellis shouldn’t be on the list over Dimick.

Lander is a head scratcher on 1st team over both Norris and Gionni who each played roughly the same number of games. That feels more like anticipating his final stats than what he’s done to this point.

Chase had to be the toughest to slot. He probably didn’t do enough to be on the safety list but was so dominant as an LB that it made me wish they’d moved him there sooner.

By the end of the season, Vaki was a detriment on D. I believe that other teams deliberately ran at him when he had edge responsibility because he was either incapable or unwilling to set the edge.

WR is tough. If you had to go with 3, maybe Thompson over Dixon? Or just give in and put two TE’s on the 2nd team and go with Fotheringham as the in-line and Kuithe as the wing.

Were there position requirements? Having to list 21 personnel when the team almost exclusively runs 12 hurts two position groups. Same with 4-3 v 4-2 on D.

[krindor]

Most teams use at least two RB in rotation, which is why. Honestly, if we were just listing 1 RB it would also hurt since we’d then be leaving off Tavion, Joe Williams, Ty Jordan and JaQuinden.

You’ve made good points and I’ve made some updates. Dimick should be there – he was overlooked since he didn’t go to the NFL, but that’s irrelevant here. Same story with Norris. Was putting too much emphasis on that.

As to Vaki, I would ideally like to replace him on the list with a CB (since most teams play 3 CB and 2 S), but wasn’t sure who to put there. If you haev any ideas, I’d appreciate it

[2008 National Champ]

If just talking nickel, I’d put Guidry over Vaki’s 4-5 games there.

Blackmon was so much better at Free than Corner that I might move him there. Or put Chase at Safety since he played multiple years there and there really isn’t a shortage of excellent LB’s.

I think if looked in combination, I’d rather have Blackmon (FS)/ Hanson (SS) / Bernard (LB) than Blackmon (CB)/ Hanson (LB)/ Vaki (safety).

The value Vaki brought to the offense for a couple of games can’t be discounted but he just didn’t have a great defensive season. Part of the problem was scheme as they tried to make him and Bishop interchangeable. Instead of being a force multiplier it almost felt like Scalley got too cute and by the end of the season, OC’s were picking on their weaknesses instead of being overwhelmed by their strengths.

[krindor]

Yeah, there were a bunch of really strong safeties so I tried to list them elsewhere if possible. In particular, cornerback wasn’t stellar which is why Blackmon was a clear choice for that CB/S /nickel role on the first team.

Pulling Blackmon away from there would mean putting another CB on there. I already cheated a bit by putting Vaki in there but figured he or Bishop could play a nickel role (more than Blechen or Hansen for example)…but Guidry ia a good suggestion

[krindor]

Fair – I agree with you. That was sentimentality getting the better of me

[UteNamedOg]

Well researched list! Only critique is I think it needs more Kenneth Scott and Gionni Paul. I am heavily biased with the latter, but that dude was a fire hydrant on legs who was ALL OVER the field. Also very tempted to put in Ty. Very, very small sample size but I just remember being blown away watching him against CU and WSU. I can’t bring myself to watch any highlights of those games, but watching him get better each time he played was amazing.

[Rick]

Huntley over Rising is odd. Fitts over Dimick is criminal. I get sad when I look at those WRs. The 2008 team had more talent at WR than this all decade team does!

[ryynoo]

I’m a little surprised no one mentioned Dres Anderson for receiver. 247 puts him at 10th all-time and the only one from this era on their list:

Utah Football’s 10 All Time Best: The Wide Receivers

[2008 National Champ]

2014 would have been the only season that counted and Dres only played 6 games. If the range included 2013, he would absolutely be on the list

[ryynoo]

I don’t think I remembered that he only played 6 that year.

[chinngiskhaan]

Its sad that we can hardly come up with 6 wide receivers in the last 10 years that have had an impact on this team. May as well go ahead and put Singer in there as he will almost certainly be a top 6 receiver of the last decade.