Paging OnlyUdolph the Red Nose Ute Reindeer

[Anfernee]

I feel like the Utah football sleigh has been steadily careening downward the last few days and we need you to take the reigns, my dude! Any positive news, guys staying or potential transfers heading to us? Cam coming back was such a great jolt but ever since the beginning of December it’s felt like a Turd Ferguson bummer.

[Tony (admin)]

I’m sure fans across the country feel the same right now as players enter the portal. The buffet is open, but they haven’t put everything out yet!

[ProudUte]

Keep in mind teams like Oklahoma and Ohio State have lost star QBs to the portal. We need to wait this thing out and see what we lose and what we get. I thought Broughton was leaving, so that’s not a huge loss IMO. Matthews leaving was an unpleasant surprise.

I am sure Whitt and the staff are working the portal as well

[OldAsDirtUte]

I wonder – does KWhitt still cut ties as soon as a player declares for the Portal, in other words might they end up adrift without a position or a scholarship?

Players need to consider this before they declare.

[Ute2]

I think he changed approaches with the NIL and free transfers.

[AZUTE]

Portal has only been open a few days. Players that have committed to schools already were most definitely tampered with(nobody cares)before entering.

Utah will sign 6+ transfers before it’s over.

I could see
1-QB
2-WR
1-TE
2-CB/FS

[2008 National Champ]

I believe that Utah was at 85 scholarships this season so they will need to sign as many recruits and transfers as they are losing to eligibility, the draft or the portal. In roughly the same position distribution

[Onlyu]

lol…waiting on a few declaration decisions but it’s been a crazy few days for sure. The inmates have been handed control of the asylum so hold on to your hats!!

The good news imo is that we’ll get our share coming in to replace what we’re gonna lose. Plenty to be had just got to piece the puzzle together.

[GameForAnyFuss]

That’s the thing. In this day of portal madness, bad news always comes first. You always get the losses before you see the gains.

We’re in the bad news phase. This is when we find out who we’re losing (just like everyone else in the country). After this come the wins.

[Onlyu]

Well said

[rbmw263]

wondering if the longer this Vaki situation draws out is a good thing or bad thing

[Charlie]

Correct. There were spots from the usual HS recruiting saved for the portal. Each departure creates another spot. Likely a couple of spots will be still available for walk ons to rewarded with due to performance or RMs around the scholarship cutoff line. On balance, Utah has been at a sweet spot with the portal where more is gained than is lost. I expect the same going into next year.

[Tednab]

Is there a hard date set for portals making decisions ?

[2008 National Champ]

There are two windows where kids can enter the portal (non-grad transfers) but once in, they can sign at any time. Anyone signing this week probably had a backchannel deal in place before putting their name in. For the bulk of the kids, I would imagine that the big push to sign would come after Early Signing day(s) since that gives staffs time to review and contact players, as well as verifying all of their HS commitments. There will be another push after Spring ball but it won’t be as drastic.