QB Depth Roster

[The Miami Ute]

I saw that Whitt said in a recent interview that Johnson would be the starter against Cal and be backed up by Rose and Bottari. Anybody think that if Johnson fails to move the team consistently on Saturday, we’ll see one of those guys or only in case of an injury to Johnson?

[DataUte]

I’d have to think injury. I hope they totally game plan around his skill set. If I were Nate, I’d go all out with no pressure because it’d be unlikely they’ll pull you unless you are on your 4th turnover (knock on wood, please no). Didn’t Nate limp at the end of Oregon St. (maybe an ankle sprain)? I hope it was very minor. But one play away from a qb with even less experience than Nate had coming in.

I haven’t heard anything about Barnes but seems like it’s not just a little ding. I hope the kid is ok.

[Ute1990]

They want to redshirt Rose, so I wouldn’t expect to see him unless Johnson is injured.

[2008 National Champ]

You get 5 years to play 4. Entering 2023, Rose was down to 4 to play 4. He’s already burned his redshirt

[The Miami Ute]

Are you sure? Whitt said in the article that I saw that redshirting was a definite option for Rose.

[2008 National Champ]

I suppose we could be disagreeing on semantics. Rose did not play in 2022 so one of his 5 years to play 4 is gone. You can call it burning his redshirt or just call it did not play – coaches decision. His only opportunity to gain a 6th year to play 4 would be after his eligibility had expired and he received a successful medical waiver.

I think Whitt just misspoke. Both Johnson and Rose “burned their redshirts” in 2022 and are considered Redshirt Freshmen. They could have each played up to 4 regular season games and used the redshirt to keep their 4 years of eligibility intact.

The only exception to the 5 to play 4 rule was 2020 when nothing from that season counted against a player’s clock.

[The Miami Ute]

Here’s the article where Whitt says that they’re going to be trying to redshirt Rose this season. It’s towards the bottom under More Details About The Health Of The Quarterback Room:

More Details About The Health Of The Quarterback Room

Strange that he would say that unless it’s a possibility. Obviously, if he’s not available for another redshirt, it makes no sense to limit his playing time if you need him.

[2008 National Champ]

I think he just mixed up Howard and Rose. Howard can play this year and still maintain his redshirt. And should be in the mix if Johnson goes down since he’s gotten the most action in practice this year, even if it has been running the scout team.

[The Miami Ute]

You think? Neither Whitt nor the article make any mention of Howard. I’m not certain that guy will ever even see the field at Utah.

[2008 National Champ]

It’s up to interpretation. I’m pretty confident in the eligibility rules but I wouldn’t fault you checking my work.

It seems like he was rattling off the QB’s who would play if necessary, and Howard should have been named. But I’m just guessing that he got mixed up.

Edit: I’ve clicked everything I can find on that link and can’t find a video of Whitt saying Rose would redshirt this year

Here’s the Brandon Rose bio from the Utah Website and they call him a Redshirt Freshman

[The Miami Ute]

There’s no video of Whitt talking about another redshirt year for Rose. It’s a direct quote from him in the text. Whitt says:

Backup to be determined,” Whittingham said. “Nate obviously will be the guy, but the backup would be- we’ve got Brandon Rose and Luke Bottari to fill the backup role. It will be one of those two guys.”

The idea of Rose potentially being pressed into action if the worst happened caught the attention of the media who followed up with a question about his ability to play after sustaining his own gnarly injury in fall camp.

“He may have to,” Whittingham said. “Due to not having anyone available. We’re trying to redshirt him which we still can with four games. He’s got plenty of cushion there for us. We’ll just have to see who is available on Monday.”

[Central Coast Ute]

Whitt definitely misspoke. Rose was on the team last year and redshirted. As has already been said, he’d have to get a medical redshirt in 4 years.

[The Miami Ute]

Central, 3008, thanks for clearing that up. This site is great for fact-checking.

[2008 National Champ]

Did I get promoted or are you calling your shot for the 3008 season? 🙂

[The Miami Ute]

May you live a thousand years…

[The Miami Ute]

Great that you bring that up. Whitt did say that they have a lot of buffer with Rose (he can play up to four full games without impacting a future RS status). I have to imagine that we’ll see him sometime this season to see what he can do. Maybe in the last couple of games?

[Caliman]

What? Bottari tranfered out of Utah to Cal.

[2008 National Champ]

He transferred back this summer so technically, Whitt did get a QB out of the portal 🙂

[DrahtUte]

Why was Cal interested in our fifth string QB in the first place? I know nothing about Luke.

[The Miami Ute]

I believe that it was more a case of Bottari being interested in Cal than vice versa. He’s from the Bay area and was going to go to Cal as a walk-on. I’m guessing that he got there, took a look at the QB room, and hightailed it back to Utah. From the time he declared that he was transferring to Cal to the time that he returned back to Utah was what, six or seven weeks?