My Greatest Concern I have For This Upcoming Season

[Tyler Henry]

We are concerningly thin at the RB position this year. Obviously, I have high hopes for Parker, but he will be given a much more significant workload here in SLC than he had in Pullman. Outside of him, we really do not have a very experienced RB room. NaQuari Rogers is seemingly the next guy up, but I am not that high on him. He only had 352 rushing yards, and half of those yards came in two games.

After those two, we have one older RB in Bryce Duke, but he has not really done anything in three years. I am really high on Raycine Guillory but asking an 18-year-old kid to instantly contribute is asking a bit much.

I hope I am proven wrong, but man.

[Rick]

I think running back is going to surprise us although I certainly see your concern given how new the room is.

My #1 worry is wide receiver position group and then depth at D’Tackle

[AZUTE]

Worries…
Depth at DT and DE. Need a #1 WR to step up. QB if DD goes down with an injury it will be ugly with a rotation of bad inexperienced QBs and another 6 win season at best. CB have potential but need game reps. Not worried about RB TE OL LB K/P & S.

[Chasqui]

I agree with AZ Ute. The D line terrifies me right now. Logan Fano is the only guy and I’m worried he is a B- at best? We will need a few guys to step up there for sure!

[Rick]

Vakalahi, Vimahi and Fano are all high level defensive lineman. It will be one of the most important battles of fall camp to determine if there is a starter at the other end or if it’s a committee. That will be telling. I like those three a lot. John Henry-Daley and Kash Dillon at end positions are hopefully ready to contribute. On paper, they look like the next great ends. Of course, performance is everything. Jonah Lea’ea is the “next up” tackle, along with the freshman Karson Kaufusi. If those two can truly be rotational tackles the D’line could move from a worry, as you say, to a strength.

In short, I like what we have starting across a line a lot; but a strong starting group is rarely enough.

[Chasqui]

I do think they are high level. If they weren’t they probably wouldn’t be on the team. They just are all unproven for an entire season. We haven’t seen them there except to fill a while for someone else who is injured for a few weeks.

[ProudUte]

I think that this is a concern. We lack depth at RB and WR on offense. But, I am most concerned by our Dline.

[Jim Vanderhoof]

The last few years it seems the injury bug has hit the D line and DEs. Depth will be crucial. Hopefully there are a couple guys in the pipeline that just need an opportunity to prove themselves. WR has been a problem for a few years. I think the complicated scheme on offense played a role. More stacked sets and motion in the spread to help get guys open. We don’t have the talent for 1 on 1 battles on the outside. Dampiers ability to run should put a lot of pressure on the safties opening up some deep passing lanes.

[chinngiskhaan]

Our RB room is not so different from last year (which isn’t great, but not terrible either). We have one mostly proven guy and several other unknowns. I would rather have this year’s RB group than last year’s. First of all, we have a person who I believe is a much better RB coach. Second, we have unproven guys behind our #1, rather than a guy who had previously proven himself to be legitimately terrible (Glover), an unproven one trick pony, and Vincent. Our RB room this year is not as proven, but it has more potential, and I don’t think that is a bad thing.

As for the D-line, I’ve been a Utah fan long enough to know that the D-line will ALWAYS be good under Kyle Whittingham. Will it be elite like it often is? I don’t know, but I’m not concerned. Guys, our DL will be fine. If Fano stays healthy, it will be very good and maybe elite. If Fano goes down, they will find a way to get the job done. DT is the last thing that any Whitt-coached team will ever have to worry about. Have a little faith. Even if there are weaknesses on the DL, our linebackers should be excellent, and that will help our DL look much better.

If our OL is as advertised and stays healthy, we are going to have a fun season.

My pipe dream: we have WRs that can actually get separation and/or a scheme that will actually help them get separation, and they don’t suck at catching footballs. I know, I know, that is a lot to ask for as a Ute fan, but let me dream.

[Jim Vanderhoof]

I got frustrated last year with our lack of passing. So I zeroed in on the receivers. Every team had 8 in the box to stop the run and pressure the QB leaving 1 on 1 battles on the outside. Arizona especially there was a lot of grabbing and holding. I saw little or no separation. Wilson would hold the ball hoping his main target would break open with no check down because they had to pick up the blitz. I couldn’t understand why our outside guys didn’t motion more or have stacked sets to give them a running start. Didn’t seem like we made any adjustments. We had talent last year just didn’t have the scheme to get them open.

[BleedsRedUte]

Somehow the Utes consistently field solid running backs and Defenses. I am most concerned that the O-line will actually perform up to the preseason hype, and Dampier and company will be able to duplicate or improve on their New Mexico performances. With a new OC and all the new offensive parts, it has yet to be proven everything will mesh and improve greatly on last year.

While I’m at it, I also worry that the right choice in backup QB will be made. Byrd Ficklin would be my choice. But yes, it is risky to throw a young inexperienced guy into the frying pan. We all saw what happened with Wilson last year.

Another thing I look for is to have very good D End play. Logan Fano may be good, but we have to have sacks and hurryups to contain the great QBs we will face in conference.

The UCLA game will probably be a very good test to see how the Utes are doing in these areas.

[Yergensen]

These generalizations of Utah dline or rb is always solid isn’t absolutely true.

RB was a problem last year. We had nobody behind MB. I don’t see how that’s any different this year. We have nobody behind Parker. We can’t have Parker go down and Rogers as a featured back. It’s a far ways off from JJ or MB being next man up.

RB is a concern this year.

[silverliningsurfer]

DD being a legit run threat at the QB position should take some pressure off of the RBs, but I agree that the position group is unproven as it stands.

The defense doesn’t have a ton of high-key names like they have in the past, but I trust the coaching staff to keep us respectable and competitive, especially considering this conference doesn’t play defense

[Jeremy]

I’m a little nervous about the running game also. Anybody hearing any buzz on Racine Guiloory? I saw his highlights on youtube and he is electric. Not to mention every blue blood in college football recruited him. Seems like he should get some playing time with how talented he is. Also I like Bird Ficklin. He’s impressed me a lot. I’m hoping he beats out Isaac for the back up. I’m still very skeptical of Isaac Wilson. I don’t want him to block other better players from playing time just cause he’s got a local name.

[HATUman]

He want here for Spring ball, so he’ll have to play some catch up. I bet we see him mid way through the season.

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