Spring football starts TODAY! Here’s the spring depth chart

[Tony (admin)]

[Fabian]

I know this is just the pre-spring practice depth chart and might not mean a lot but here are some things that stood out to me :

Ford over umana at center (thought he would go back to LT)

caine savage moving to receiver 

kaufusi moved to DT

tennessee starting over hautati 

[Ute Dub]

Is Umaana hurt still? Wish OnlyU could weigh in on what’s happening here? It looks like they are giving Kump the chance to the be the guy at LT.

[Charlie]

With so many DEs I was thinking one may move inside.  Kaufusi has the most pounds (inside) but is the tallest (outside).  But if he can be a run stopper, he will make it quite hard to throw over the middle on passing downs.  I was wondering if one of the DEs would becomd a hibird DE/LB.

Savage was a very good WR in HS.  If he goes this way, it suggest to me the depth at WR is needed more than depth at CB.

[mfaulk80]

Ford is an interior lineman, and he was only at LT last year because of talent.  Things improved a lot when he moved back inside.  

Kump at LT is not a surprise based on his build and the hype around him IMO.

I know everyone is excited about JQJ, but he needs to learn sooooo much about playing QB in a normal system.  Given Rising’s injury, who else is going to be 2nd string other than Costelli?  

It’ll definitley be interesting to see how things shake out.  Since we don’t get as much media coverage of spring ball, the depth chart is all we have to go off of….which is tough because I think Whitt sometimes uses the depth chart as a motivator during camp, so it’s not always accurate in terms of playing time, etc. 

[Utesbyfive]

Interesting that Costelli is QB2. Overall, there’s a lot of experience here.

[Yergensen]

Rising and possibly JQJ? not involved with spring ball.

[Utesbyfive]

Rising is out. JQJ is on campus. I guess he’ll be in the mix, but I find it interesting that the true frosh who didn’t play his senior HS season is #2 already.

[UteThunder]

Interesting and a bit worrisome. A true freshman that didn’t play their senior year should never be your backup.

[Jake]

It’s only because Rising is out for now. And if Costelli beats out JQJ I wouldn’t worry about Costelli’s skill level.

[Charlie]

It all makes sense to me.  Rising is out until summer, he will be holding the clip board.  Brewer is the most experienced and he represents the bar the others need to get past.  I am guessing now, I think JQJ will get time in several positions and I am assuming he is open to suggestions as to where his NFL career is most likely but one spot will still be QB.  Costelli will have every opportunity to catch and move ahead, if possible, just like Rising did last year.

Out of all this, I have a good feeling we will be building toward a very good QB1 and QB2 as well as a plan to get JQJ onto the field.  It would be nice if JQJ can absorb more than 1 position.

[Central Coast Ute]

Whitt said they’re pretty much working out who QB 3 is is spring ball and when Rising returns, it will be between him Brewer to battle for #1. I wouldn’t read into Costelli being QB 2 too much.

[Anonymous]

I’m excited to see the two TE, three WR, and an RB set on offense, Ludwig getting very creative and playing to our strengths. 

[Jake]

Well if you’ve got 3 WR and 2 TE on the field with a RB and obviously 5 o line men then there’s no room for a QB haha or you’re gonna get a 12 men on the field penalty. Correct me if I’m wrong.

[Dallas]

That Ludwig is always thinking outside the box.

[Anonymous]

If you cheat every play nobody notices. We have three NFL TEs, gotta get them in there somehow. 

[2008 National Champ]

it’s standard for the Utah depth chart. Same thing on D where the Rover Linebacker and Nickel Back rotate depending on down/distance. WR3 (the Vele spot) and TE2 do most of the rotating and gets the most commenting from announcing because they keep track of when Kuithe is on the field.

[Jake]

Chris Curry taking number 0 is pretty cool. Caine Savage moving to WR makes sense, he played DB and WR in high school and he was getting buried in our DB depth chart. He’s pretty athletic and there’s a need at WR (obviously lol) so I like the move. Costelli beating out JQJ (so far) is also interesting. I assumed Davis and Hubert would be the two safeties and I’m sure they’ll move Hubert to SS. Same with Dixon at WR, most of our packages will likely have Covey, Dixon, Enis, and Kuithe or replace one WR with a TE.

[2008 National Champ]

Do we know if Jackson is fully recovered from his ACL? Coaches may want to limit his snaps in the spring to non-contact drills only if he’s not 100% yet.

[UteDuke]

Where is Ethan Calvert? Is he not going to be on campus until fall?

[Ute Dub]

I think Bartle said June or July, so yeah. 

[Charlie]

No he comes in summer.  Tufaga is the new spring LB.

[Stone]

That is a young team – very few seniors on the depth chart. The optimist would say that shows we have been recruiting great young talent and have a bright future. The pessimist would note that we lack strong senior leadership and failed in earlier recruiting classes. I choose the former.

[2008 National Champ]

When no one matriculated in class in 2020, all it did was add 20 or so names to the Freshman/Redshirt FR. Going forward, that is going to look like a mouse moving its way through a snake’s body and won’t get resolved until ’24 or ’25. All schools have the same issue so there probably isn’t an advantage.

The really good thing for Utah is all the first timers that got reps in 2020. Look for someone like Phillips who got picked on a bit against SC and UW to really shine next year now that he knows what to work on. Whereas teams who played mainly upperclassmen weren’t able to get the same development.

[PhiladelphiaUte]

No Lotulelei?  No Laumea?  Are they injured?  Did they decide to not return?  What happened here?