Its not that bad if you really look at it

[Utah5410]

I’m not that guy… But, Facts do not care about your feelings or emotions. If you look at what Utah has coming back next year (Pre- Portal) It isn’t that bad if Utah keeps doing Utah.

Offense:
QB – Healthy Cam (I find it hard to believe Cam isn’t awesome) This alone is worth something. He makes others around him better.
RB – Jackson, Bernard, Glover, Staley, our other two 4 star backs…… (Bernard was a huge loss last year. His ability to catch out of the backfield and block. He in of himself id like a slot receiver. Jackson if healthy is a beast, Glover is fine as a third option. And Staley is MM. Kid is fast and dynamic.

TE – King (Beast mode can’t be stopped) with Kuithe… and Dallin Bentley (4*) who will be used off in mICKI

WR – Lets be honest we don’t use them anyways. All we need is Parks, Mcclain, Pittman….

OL Fano (fr AA), Toigi looked great… Maea, Mokofisi, Kump….. Our line will be fine.

ST is set….

Defense:

DT/DE – ALL BACK… I expect Ellis To be Back

LB – Reid, Barton, Daimani, Fotu (This is who will play)

CB – Vaughn, Johnson, Snowden ( 2’s will be unproven, we lost a lot of depth) hopefully we can pull at least one guy from the portal.. But Blocker, Davis may just have to be our backups.

SS – (This is the one area we really need help) I thought there was a very good chance that Bishop and especially Vaki were back….

Ritchie moves and plays like Chase hansen. He is a future LB. Hall ( Who knows) everyone raves about him. But he hasn’t played. Maybe Britt allen the USC transfer gets some love ????

Summary – We are fine at corner sa long as we don’t have injuries. But could def use an experienced corner.

Safety I really hope we pull at least one experienced dude from the portal…

(TE Carsen Ryan) would be nice and one good WR would be nice….

Don’t forget CU and ASU pulling in all these dudes. Well that’s great. But it’s going to take time to gell.

I think we need 3/4 Solid portal guys thats it. The rest of the team fill in with young project guys for depth. But I think we are much better set up than people think.

[UrbanLiar]

Excellent list. Thankfully both our PK (Becker) and punter (Bouwmeester) both seem to be solid after lacking in these key positions recently. I just hope we can find a sure handed speedster for punt returns.

[Jim Vanderhoof]

Safeties are a big concern for next year. Hopefully we’ll get a glimpse in the Vegas bowl of Hall and Ritchie. Solid everywhere else. Offensively same story at receiver and TE. Kuithe would be big and Pittman is still unknown. The biggest concern next year might be depth. We were deep at every position except QB last year. That turned out to be a strength with all the injuries.

[ProudUte]

Excellent post. If we add a few solid portal guys in the defensive backfield we should be great. I would also like to get a WR and possibly a QB in the portal.

I am high on Isaac Wilson as our future QB. I talked to a HS defensive coordinator who has played Corner Canyon for years. He told me that in his opinion Isaac is a better QB than his older brother Zach. Isaac has a stronger arm at age 18 and is a much better runner.

[DUte]

@Utah5410 I agree with most of your breakdowns on each of the positions except three:

QB – Cam, if healthy, will probably be close to what he was before the injury. However my concern is at the backup position. Cam has never played an entire season without injury. If Rose was so good why did he not take over as a starter at any point? My contention is that Barnes/Johnson were better options and they are gonzo. Need someone good in the wings to take over. Who would want to come to be second fiddle from the word go?

RB – Zach Moss was a Beast JJ is not. I really like JJ, to me he is not a 20-25 carry a game back who does it all with speed, power, vision, receiving and blocking capability. Would like to see us upgrade this position. If you combined JJ with Bernard now you have a Beast. Are there guys in the portal?

DT/DE – Elliss should move on and I for one hope that he does for his sake. I have never been impressed with Fillinger he does not hold the edge well and his speed is lacking. O’Toole was injured for a good majority of the season and when he came back I do not think he lived up to the hype that Whitt portrayed. This is a position that we seem to always fill eventually so I am not as concerned here.

Your point that if Utah keeps doing Utah is a good statement. If Da Utes coach/recruit to fill gaps as we have always done I agree that our future is bright. Lastly I for one wont get excited about our WR corps. Local media dudes hype it every year and every year our offense is not geared towards WR highlight reels….unless you really like to see more blocking.

[Utah]

Cam is a baller. And he wants to show the NFL he’s worth paying. And he’s had plenty of time to rehab and be healthy.

Jackson is a star. He averaged 7 yards a carry in 2022 and this year on one leg he averaged 5 yards a carry. And he had no passing game to take the heat off him. Moss was great, but Jackson is better.

Kuithe, King and McClain…are hella good. TE is stacked.

WR – like you said, we just need 1-2 guys who can catch. With Cam, Kuithe, King and Jackson and McClain…our offense will be back to 40 points a game next year.

OL is never great under Harding. But they are never terrible either. We will solid at worst.

DL. We are stacked at DT. DE is good. I hope Ellis comes back. Go for the first round!

LB – absolutely stacked.

DB – we need to get better here. The good news is, we have amazing coaches and a good scheme and a great front 7, so the job will be easier for them.

ST – back to our Gay/Wish days.

We are back to summer of 2022. Our offense will put up 35-40 a game. Can the defense hold teams to less than that?

The worst our defense has ever been was 24 points per game when we went 5-7. Even this year we only allowed 20 points per game.

Then you throw in the easier schedule…no USC. No UCLA. No UW. No Oregon.

Our toughest game next year might be Arizona…and we would smash them if healthy.

And we haven’t added anyone yet.

We will be just fine.

[Utah5410]

@DutE

I disagree on Jackson. On run leg he rushed for over 700 yds… Rising can throw and knows the scheme like the back of his hand (more important). Makes great reads, this will take the pressure off of Jackson. Remember Tavian Thomas ? Jackson is much much better than Thomas. And look at what he did with CR.

Kuithe will be back. I know he hasn’t announced. But, everything points to him being back. Reality is he will make more money this year than an undrafted TE. He hasn’t played in 2 years. now way he gets drafted.

Pittman gave for one reason CR… Now that MM is gone and CR is back Pittman can shine will also be healthy.

Corners aren’t even really my concern. Other than I hope we can bring one more in.. My Concern is Safety… I hope Hall balls out. But we need a guy to bring in.

[DUte]

@Utah5410
Tavion, although not a person I would want on my team, had some damn good numbers in 2021 with 1K+ rushing yards and 21 TDs. I am not saying that JJ cannot do better/similar what I am trying to say is he hasn’t. One wheel or two wheels does not matter JJ did not have the season he was hyped up to have this year. 700 yards and 4 TDs from our starting RB is not going to cut it. He has a few years to get better and believe me I want him to get there, but he is not a beast. I feel he just has potential to be. What he needs is to have a healthy season where he does not limp off of the field consistently. This could equate to him being a beast.

I share your optimism with Kuithe and Pittman. They both have potential but they are coming off of injuries, so expectations may not be reached. As of this date Kuithe has not announced anything. He needs to make the best decision for him and his family. Pittman……really have not seen him do much in a Ute uniform other than field a few punts. His stats show he is injury prone but talented.

For the CBs outside of Vaughn they will be young but I can see the talent in the room.
Lastly the Safety group…..I was hoping either Vaki or Bishop would return but it looks like we will need next man up to fill those gaping holes. I dont think Scalley was planning on replacing both this year.

[Yergensen]

TT was a short yardage back, rarely if ever scored from distance. Elite inside the 10, but between the 20’s he was pedestrian. Ran a 4.8 40 at the combine, slow as hell. Not a playmaker. I want a guy that gets chunk yards and scores from distance. That’s JJ in 2022. Not fair to judge him on 2023.