Crimson Club lunch recap

[MineralUte]

Whit didn’t say it as much, but Rising will not be ready for the Florida game (he did say 50/50, but it’s not happening. As a joke he asked everyone to pray for him to be ready). They are hoping he’s ready to roll for conference play. Said Barnes is the starter now, but Johnson has gained a lot of ground in the last few days.

Kuithe is also still recovering. I got the vibe recovery could be a while. Mentioned that Yassmin is much better, and is also impressed with Landen King at TE, a transfer from Auburn.

Kicking will be much improved. Punting will be better, and field goals will be noticeably better with Cole Becker coming in from Colorado.

Loves the O line. Said Spencer Fano will most likely start at right guard, the first true freshman that he can remember that will start on the o line. He’s high on Mikey Matthews at WR.

Said that the defense, top to bottom, is the strongest he has ever had. Believes Vaki and Bishop are the best safety tandem in the country. Very high on Logan Fano at DE, and the Damuni at LB.

Said that with the move to the BIG12 they’ll pull some resources from CA to have a larger presence in TX (but will still go after CA hard). While answering a question, he said at the begin of the spring recruiting cycle they have a list of about 1,500 prospects. That gets whittled down pretty quickly. They can then offer 80 of so official visits, and like to sign 30-35 players.

[22Ute22]

Wow, Fano starting is HUGE. Our o line was pretty good last year, and if he’s starting, it shows how talented he is. No wonder Michigan was aggressively after him. I’m assuming he’ll play Guard because it’s a little easier? I’d expect him to switch to Tackle in year 2.

[UtMtBiker]

No surprise on Rising. Conference play was always the plan regardless of what anyone was saying publicly. Bowl eligibility, conference championship, playoff, natty has always been Whitts order of priorities. Can’t accomplish the last one if you lose Rising week one but can even if you start 1-2. It’s a smart move not to rush him.

[2008 National Champ]

RG is Mokofisi’s spot. Wonder if he’s dinged up?

[mfaulk80]

Did he actually say RG? That doesn’t jive with what I’ve heard elsewhere….though I’ve heard that he was battling for a starting spot.

[2008 National Champ]

Loves the O line. Said Spencer Fano will most likely start at right guard, the first true freshman that he can remember that will start on the o line. He’s high on Mikey Matthews at WR.

[mfaulk80]

I was questioning the OP, not you.

I’ve seen a few summaries of the luncheon, and all of the other summaries mention him as starting at OT. Now, I’ve seen both RT and LT, but this is the first that I’m seeing OG.

[2008 National Champ]

It seemed odd to me also, thus my first comment. Bills & Laumea were considered locks barring injury and Mokofisi was also mentioned at the start of camp.

[EagleMountainUte]

As bullish as I have been on Barnes I still think it is a winnable game at home. Maybe a tough slugger type of defensive game. More worried about Baylor. Road conference games will be tough.

[RedRocks]

As bearish as I have been about Utah’s quarterback situation, I too feel like this game is winnable.

However, I have noticed that my feelings don’t seem to affect the outcome of football games… 😉
That is probably a good thing, because I don’t feel too confident about many of the road games this year…

[2008 National Champ]

Definitely a rough road schedule. A case could be made for losing any of Baylor, Oregon State, USC, Washington or Arizona.

[The Miami Ute]

Fully well knowing that an ACL injury has such a long recovery period, do you question Utah not going into the portal and getting an experienced QB? I get that not all change is progress, but it seems to me that Utah could have gotten someone that’s better than Barnes to run the offense while Rising is still out.

[mfaulk80]

You think a quality QB is going to transfer over to keep Cam’s seat warm?

[22Ute22]

Ole Miss got a backup 5 Star (Walker Howard) and a seasoned veteran QB (Spencer Sanders) to transfer in, despite the fact that Jaxson Dart is there and already had a year starting in the system. Looks like Dart also is gonna start this year. We probably could have gotten Spencer Sanders if we really wanted to.

[The Miami Ute]

To answer your question, yes and why not? If you get a quality guy coming in and he plays lights out, what are the chances that Rising even gets his job back? Having suffered an ACL tear playing soccer, I would go as far as to venture that Rising is never even going to be fully 100 percent this season. He might be 85-90 percent and that would be enough to play if required but not sure about 100. Also, would you really pull a guy that say is 6-0 or 7-0 for Rising? I wouldn’t, especially knowing that Rising is gone after this season and that the other guy might have some eligibility left.

[mfaulk80]

My understanding (because this question has popped up else where over the last couple of months) is that the program did look for a transfer QB but there wasn’t a lot of interest. I imagine a lot of that has to do with how they wanted to use NIL resources vs a program like Ole Miss. I also have to imagine that they were looking for the right fit: someone with room for development that wasn’t expecting to just start automatically. I think bringing in a big name that could push Rising out would also shake up the locker room in a way that would negatively impact the culture. Utah is who it is because of the family culture that they have very carefully fostered.

I understand why the question was asked, but I also don’t think it’s as easy as just wanting someone and it would automatically happen. They lost a handful of NIL battles this offseason, but part of that is because they’re directing a good portion of NIL to retain the great players we have. I’ve heard there were similar pushes from other programs to what happened with Dalton last year for some of our young talent.

[2008 National Champ]

I think the schedule is plenty rough no matter who is the QB. There are only a couple of teams in country equipped to take that on with a reasonable expectation of winning all 6 and none of them are dumb enough to allow their AD to put it in writing.

As for a transfer QB, it really comes down to the poor position Rising put the team in. He’s meant so much the last two years that Utah had to stand behind him but we aren’t talking about a healthy Rising coming off a great performance in the Rose Bowl who is coming back for one more chance to lead the team to glory. Instead we are talking about an injured player who, for all the respect he commands, hasn’t allowed the team to move on.

There are 4 QB’s stacked behind him who know that they are playing to be his backup. And every rep Rising takes is one that is holding the others back. Who would transfer in to join that room? These kids can see what happens at other schools and they have a pretty good idea of what their role would be. It’s pretty much the same as why top-end receivers don’t put Utah on their list either out of HS or in the portal. You go where you think you have the best chance to get on the field early and often and that isn’t Utah for those positions.

Had Rising not come back, I think Utah would have been in a better position to take a transfer QB and I absolutely expect them to get one prior to spring ball. My very cloudy crystal ball has Johnson either changing positions or transferring since he is likely QB3 entering spring ball. Howard will content himself with running scout team this year but if it looks like he’ll be QB4 coming out of spring, he’ll probably transfer also. That leaves Rose and Barnes fighting for QB1 in 2024 along with whoever signs in the 2024 class. Utah will need a 4th QB and it will depend on how much play Rose/Barnes get this year whether it’s a Bentley/Brewer type to be a stopgap or they try to bring in a long-term guy that they can groom for the future like they did with Rising.

Ultimately, if Rising gets the bulk of the snaps this season, it will be great for Utah 2023. But it also means that Utah 2024 will be going through groundhog day trying to figure out what they should have in 2023.

60% of starting QB’s this year are transfers and potentially all 12 Pac QB’s. It’s the nature of the business these days that QB’s play or move on.

[22Ute22]

I agree. Rising put the team between a rock and a hard place. He didn’t decide to come back until after the rose bowl, and by the at point, basically every good QB in the portal had already committed. On the other hand, I’m not sure if Kuithe comes back if Rising leaves, or if we get Pittman.

[D T]

CR specifically stated he had decided to return before the RB.

[The Miami Ute]

That’s pretty decent analysis. I remember you saying that Utah would be better served if Rising had left after last season. At this point, unfortunately, he’s hanging around like a reluctant ghost.

[2008 National Champ]

College can be a pretty tough animal sometimes since all of the kids have an expiration date. As much as I’d love to see a full year with a healthy Rising – which we won’t have seen in 4 years counting 2023 – the team always has to be planning for the future. And it’s tough to do that when your pecking order is in limbo.

If they have to go with the young guys this season and lose games because of it, I can live with it. What I fear though is that so much emphasis is on Rising that they rush him back and teams tee off on him like Utah did to Williams in the conference championship. Then you’ve wasted this season at the expense of the next.

Caveat: I know next to nothing about Rising, his recovery or the true state of the rest of the QB room. Just me running my mouth.

[mfaulk80]

Agree here. I think Utah pulls a transfer this next cycle, and I think we’ll be in a position to attract some talent. It’ll be interesting to see how that shakes out…

[TxUte]

We get Isaac Wilson for 2024.

[The Miami Ute]

Hopefully…Lincoln Riley will be out there looking for a star QB once Williams leaves after this season.

[J Rocksville]

Well they got Malachi Nelson this year. Typically the number 13 recruit in the country isn’t total trash.

[2008 National Champ]

Sam Huard would like someone to hold his beer

[mfaulk80]

COVID recruiting rankings are wild to go back and look at…

[The Miami Ute]

Malachi Nelson? Heard he had a pretty mediocre Spring Camp and is slated as 3rd String behind Miller Moss. I remember that DJ Uiagalelei was also once a 5 Star recruit…

[mfaulk80]

Also a COVID recruit…

[krindor]

So I can’t help but feel nobody has addressed the most interesting part of this

Said Barnes is the starter now, but Johnson has gained a lot of ground in the last few days.

Does that mean that Johnson is still a possibility to overtake Barnes?

[2008 National Champ]

Could be coachspeak, i.e. publicly stating confidence in your backup to keep them progressing. Could be that Johnson is finally healthy from his spring hammy. Could be that his decision making has improved as he’s seen other QB’s get elevated when they don’t throw picks.

It’s hard to read too much into it since the practices are closed and we only have a couple of soundbites with no independent confirmation.