Makai Cope (Sacramento State) and Kenzel Lawler (Montana) have found new homes

[WasatchRanger]

Sources:
Kenzel Lawler Instagram
Makai Cope Instagram

Hope both find good playing time at their new Big Sky schools.

[WasatchRanger]

Realized I spelled Makai wrong in the title, doesn’t seem I can edit.

[2008 National Champ]

click edit on the first post. then you can change the title. if you try editing the actual title at the top, it doesn’t work.

[pedro]

Cope just couldn’t catch the dang ball. If he could, he would be starting here.

[Ute Dub]

I’ll say it. Were these guys pushed out? So much hand-wringing on portal guys who leave but I wonder if there are some frank discussions with a few of the players, such as: Look, you’ve been here two years, and from what we’ve seen so far, there’s a very low likelihood that you will ever play more than a few snaps of football. Therefore, you can stay on the team, but we cannot promise a scholarship unless we have extras that are not being used. However, the likelihood is that all will be used by the time Fall school starts is very high.

I know I’m just making s**t up, but this seems like a reasonable conversation.

[The Miami Ute]

During my time following the Utes, the only player I’ve seen go to an arguably better situation after transferring or entering the portal is Nate Johnson going to Vanderbilt. And I say arguably because of Vandy’s academic reputation and it’s membership in the SEC. Everyone else has gone to lesser P4/5 programs, G5, or FCS.

[WasatchRanger]

Should Kamo’i Latu (Wisconsin) also be on that list?

[The Miami Ute]

Yeah, I guess you could add Latu to that list…but those Wisconsin teams he played in were pretty mediocre, going 14-12 during his two years there. He definitely got more playing time there but his stats were pretty ho-hum.

[2008 National Champ]

Xavier Carlton is a starter at CAL.

The bigger issue is that if they weren’t good enough to eventually start at Utah, and didn’t go somewhere else to be a starter, should they have been on the roster in the first place? Everyone likes to point out the recruiting successes while conveniently ignoring the failures when talking about Utah’s great development and ability to find diamonds in the rough.

[WasatchRanger]

I thought about Carlton. Cal just hasn’t had the same football success so I considered it a downgrade.

I realize Wisconsin hasn’t been awesome re: Kamo’i Latu, but I probably should have included Carlton as well.

[2008 National Champ]

If a kid wants to go pro, getting on the field is what matters. The NFL will find you if you’ve got ability and/or measurables.

Stevie Tuikolovatu (sic?) is an example of a Utah backup who transferred and became a draft pick. It was before the portal so I didn’t include him.

[belli1976]

Tuttle just got a Natty ring for riding the bench.

Better than riding the bench at Utah and not getting a Natty.

[DataUte]

He was also familiar with Penix as he was backup (or 3rd) at Indiana the same time. Boy, he seems to have been around a long time to never start anywhere. 4*? nah

[The Miami Ute]

Crazy that we’re still talking about a guy that was only in Utah for one semester plus…he couldn’t even win the starter’s job or get on the field consistently at Indiana, and that was even with Penix suffering season-ending injuries every season he was there. I will say that Tuttle is a very smart dude, book-wise, and is set for a civilian career having a BS from Indiana and Master’s from Michigan.

[UrbanLiar]

Ryan Smith transferred from the Utes to the Gators in 2006, earned 2nd or 3rd team All
American honors, started all 14 games in 2006 for the Gators and was a 6th round pick by the Titans in the 2007 NFL draft.

[concerned]

I would bet yes. At a minimum, they were told they were never going to play. Lawler had a horrible game ealry in the year, getting beat for a couple of touchdowns IIRC, and entered the portal soon afterward. He has been gone a long time.