Position Group Rankings by Confidence Level

[OffensiveLineEnthusiast]

Would love some input on this. Thinking through where we stand at each position group and how confident I am in both their ceiling and their floor. I do not know enough about special teams to have that included.

1. Offensive Line: 5 veterans with depth. 2 possible first rounders at the tackle positions. Great coach, high morale. I’m guessing that we skimped in other areas to pay enough to keep this group together. I think it was worth it.

2. Linebackers: 3 clear starters in Barton, Hall, and Damuni. I feel great about all 3. Should have good depth in Reynolds and Lopes.

3. Safeties: Two guys I feel good about (Evans and Johnson) with a nice backup in Nate Ritchie. Not sure if Nate Tilmon will be ready to get in as a true freshman. But I trust Scalley enough that safeties are number 3.

4. Running Backs: Wayshawn Parker is GOOD. Rodgers and Green are both guys I’ll feel good about when Wayshawn is off the field.

5. Cornerbacks: I like Snowden and Davis. I don’t know a lot about everybody else. It seems like a big room, so I trust that somebody else will step up.

6. Quarterback: I’m pretty high on Devon Dampier, and if he was guaranteed an injury-free season the QB room would be ranked higher. But injuries happen and I’m not sure about our backups. Wilson isn’t a dual threat, so the offensive scheme would have to change if he went in. Ficklin seems like the future, but he’s a true freshman. I like how our QBs could look next year, but this year I’m worried about depth.

7. Defensive Line: As best I can tell, we’re great at DE and thin at DT. I believe only 3 of our DTs have ever played a college snap before. I feel good about the starters, though.

8. Tight Ends: From what I hear, the Beck offense isn’t tight end-heavy. That is probably good, because we’ve got some inexperienced guys.

9. Wide Receivers: On the bright side, I think we handled the spring portal well—-I don’t think it would have been worth it to march USC’s offer for Zach Williams. Of course, I would have loved to bring in proven P4 production to replace him, but that’s hard to come by and not cheap. Instead, we got one guy with high production at a lower level (Simmons) and one guy with a high ceiling who has yet to produce (Merriweather). Between those two and what we already have (I just read an article that says Zipperer is looking good) I think we’ll have a functional group. Given the focus defenses will have to give to our run game, I am optimistic that we can see some production from our WRs.

All things considered, I think our strengths complement our weaknesses nicely. The strong run game will give our WRs more breathing room. Our strong LBs and DEs can support a freshman DT if he has to come in. Most importantly, we’ve got Whitt at the helm and Scalley running the D. Beck is unproven but I’m optimistic. I’ll be at several games this year making the stadium loud. Go Utes! Football is awesome!

Anything you would switch around?

[Walkman]

I think your list is pretty spot on – I worry a little about the quality behind Parker at RB but I trust that the people filling out the roster knew what they were doing.

It seems like we are trying to bring in a higher level of talent at WR for the future. If we get a couple of the guys who are supposedly looking hard at the program perhaps we can have a few more threats in years to come. It’s been a while since we have a really dangerous vertical threat and I hope that we can sign one of the recruits that might offer that.

Great analysis

[RoboUte]

Most years this would be a perfect post for this time of year and worth some thought. This year nothing matters but our very basic preparedness to score points.

[ProudUte]

RBs too high and QBs too low IMO. Obviously, our Oline is the strength of this team. We need to take advantage of this strength. Hopefully, Dampier can have an outstanding season behind this line.

[Yergensen]

I don’t see how this year’s RB room is any different than last year’s.

MB out produced Parker last year and had a big drop off to the backups. IMO there’s a big drop off from Parker to these backups who were backups on MW teams last year. This RB room is a far cry from TT, JJ and MB where there was no drop off from RB1 to RB3. If Parker doesn’t hold up, we’ll have issues.

[AZUTE]

The only thing that has me concerned is QB and DL depth.

If Dampier goes down it’s gonna be year three of offensive struggles.

Same thing if any of the 4 man rotation at DL get hurt. Everything in Whit’s D plays off the DTs eating up blocks and letting LBs make plays. IF the interior DL suffers a bunch or injuries it will be a long season of watching teams run up and down on Utah’s D

[Author]

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