After the UCLA loss I started looking at the current Ute roster to see what we had at Defensive tackle. I came across Simote Pepa who is listed at 6-3 tall and 354 lbs.. I checked out his highlight videos and saw he was quite impressive at stopping the run, and has the strength to bull rush the O-line and put pressure on the QB. This was High School, locally, so that has to be considered. He looks like the run stopper in the middle that the Utes need badly.
Then I looked up the box score for the Utes defense and Pepa actually played and was in on a few tackles. I hope he is an answer to improving the D line play for the rest of the season. Something has to be tried, because for some reason the current lineup is not working, even though I think all the starters and 2s are good players. They just need to improve the run defense, put a little more pressure on the QB.
Another thought, it may be to late this season, but Bishop needs to move to linebacker, and have Marks move to Safety. To many gaps that the linebackers should be filling.
College football is a tough situation with yearly changes in personel, you have a small window in the season to get your team playing at a high level. I think the Utes can get things corrected, but we have another tough opponent in USC right away, little time to improve. This past season things were looking pretty bad, then all of a sudden tavion and Rising have breakout performances. This is the upside of college football, there is the chance for the young players to turn things around. Go Utes!
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