Let’s do the math on the 2024 football team

[ProudUte]

From the 2023 roster we have:
– 6 players with no more eligibility left
– 5 underclassmen declaring for the NFL draft
– 16 players who entered the portal
This means we have at least 27 scholarship players who will not be on the 2024 roster.

Who do we have coming in:
– So far 7 players are coming to Utah via the portal
– We have 15 kids who have signed LoIs. Some will be mission kids and we have some missionaries coming back. I assume that the number of kids coming back will be similar to the number going, but I don’t know.
We will have about 22 new players on the 2024 roster.

It appears to me that we have at least 5 scholarship slots still open. There will be a few more who will leave after spring ball. I know we made a big push this weekend to get some portal kids in here. As far as I know, two kids agreed to come to Utah. They are included in the 7 transfers listed above.

[Utah]

Yeah, people are buying into the BYU pushed narrative that the sky is falling in SLC. It’s not. Let’s compare positions:

QB: Better in 2024. Rising/Rose/Wilson vs Barnes and Johnson. Way better in 2024.
RB: Wash. Maybe better. Jackson was hurt most of the year. Bernard was hurt. Curry was hurt. We will be better in 2024 just due to the fact that we will have consistency and health.
WR: Wash. The WR position is always the same.
TE: Better. We return everyone, hopefully add Kuithe. The players returning will get better over the summer.
OL: Wash, at worst.
DT: We return everyone.
DE: slightly worse. We lose Elliss which is a big loss. But we always lose top tier DE and we replace them with top tier DE’s. Fano will be back and he is a star in the making. And O’Toole will be even better. O’Toole was a WR two years ago.
LB’s: Better.
CB: This seems like a weird thing to say, because we are losing two starters, but better. Snowden will be a very, very, very good NB. We literally can’t get any worse than Broughton.
S: Worse. You can’t lose Vaki and Bishop and think you will be the same. But we won’t be bad. Hall balled out in the bowl game. He is our next great one. Everyone always talks up Ritchie. I don’t know if I buy the hype, but if you do, he will be good. Tao Johnson will be above average, whether at CB or S. We won’t be as good as we were in 2023, but we will still have a very, very good S unit.

So, right this second, we are better at 5 positions. We are a wash at 3 positions. We are worse at two: DE and S. And not drastically worse.

We need some more depth from the transfer portal. But we are in no way in “the sky is falling” mode. We have the bones of a top 15 PAC-12 team and a top 10, maybe top 5 Big 12 team.

[stbone]

I really like what I see from Tao. He has better speed and physicality than Blackmon did. Tao has the physical tools to be a star at FS.

[UofU Fanatic]

But we are also comparing to a underwhelming 8-4 season…

We want to be in a better position to have a chance at conference championship etc

[PNW Ute]

I agree with you. But, it says a lot about where we’ve come as a program that 8-4 is an “underwhelming season.”

With the new conference, and the expanded playoffs, we should reasonably be in the hunt for a conference championship and the playoffs nearly every season.

[Charlie]

If you apply a weighted average thing for impact the QB position will drive more impact by far than any other position, maybe as much as the bottom two combined. QB improvement alone can grab 2 more wins.

[ProudUte]

I love your optimism. Safety is the biggest concern for sure because of who we lost. But, I would not be surpised to see one or two of these guys step up. Going into 2021, no one thought Bishop was going to be anything. I doubt there were many who expected Vaki to have become what he became. Going way back – who would have thought that Weddle was going to become the best Dback in Utah history? He was a lightly recruited kid who became an All-American and a likely Hall-of-Famer. Also, Blackmon and Williams are fantastic NFL safeties. Whitt and Scalley know how to develop safeties.

[Rick]

I don’t think Fano will be ready to go at the beginning of the season but I do agree that we’ll still be strong at defensive end. The starters – O’Toole and Filinger, will be strong if they can stay healthy. Both struggled to stay healthy this season. John-Henry Daley has all kinds of potential and their are three or four other players vying for time including the UTEP kid from the portal. I do think we are a little undersized at DE after the two-deep.

I think safety will be strong – perhaps not as strong as this year but close. I agree with those who are high on Tao Johnson. Given the recent moves at the cornerback position, I’ll be surprised if Tao isn’t part of the safety group.

[tanute3]

No no, I have it on good authority (a doctor in California) that ACLs take <6 months to heal

[NarfUte]

We just got Alaka’i Gilman to help on the safety front – great depth piece

[The Miami Ute]

The Stanford safety? He was a senior last season so I guess he’ll be like Battle and Diabate…a one season rental.

[DataUte]

I think more than depth. He likely will start. He did so for Stanford and was honorable mention PAC12. He’s coming to Utah to get our top-notch development at these positions and polish off his resume to get drafted.

[DUte]

We do not return everyone at TE as Yassmin is not coming back. Although he did not pan out this year as a lead TE, there were many that thought he would. We were spoiled in 2022 with DK doing his thing so this season felt like a let down.

[Utah]

Honestly…Yassmin is irrelevant. He never really did anything for us. We have Kuithe and King and Suguturaga coming back. Also on the roster we have Bentley, a 90 rated TE from Snow College. An .87 rated TE who redshirted last year. The guy from UCLA.

I’m not too worried about TE. We have talent, we have bodies. We will be just fine there.

[Utegator]

I think the biggest issue with Yassmin this year was the disaster rotational situation at QB and then the season ending injury. Maybe if the injury didn’t happen Barnes might’ve gone to him more after “settling” into the QB1 spot.

[Charlie]

I agree. The loss of a TE that was physical to block and a receiver threat was a blow to the Offense. King became the receiver threat but is light to be effective running behind.

[Eggers]

There’s quite a bit of roster turnover for the 2024 football team and some promising additions. With 22 new players coming in and potentially more to follow, there’s still room to fill those scholarship slots. Still, according to the https://sportscore.io insight platform, the team is full of potential and can achieve great things in the upcoming year. I am excited to see what happens.

[MDUte]

As of right now, the roster looks as good as it ever has. Given this year’s schedule, Utah’s in the best position in program history to secure one of the top 4 spots to the CFP.

With Cam back and assuming he stays healthy, Utah will win the B12. Here’s to a “special season” seeing Utah take another step forward as a program…Go Utes!!