The Utes have simply got to have more outside threats.

[Utesbyfive]

We won’t win the big games without a couple of very good wideouts. They don’t even have to be elite speedsters, they just have to run routes well, and have soft hands. Look at Cooper Kupp, he’s not winning any sprints, but the guy is shifty and catches everything thrown at him.

[Ghost of the HEB]

Facts. We were getting zero route separation. And their best CB wasn’t even playing.

[Utah]

I love Whitt. LOVE Whitt. I honestly believe the program will take a step back when Whitt leaves.

BUT he has a HUGE blind spot/flaw in his…system…ideals…ability. QB and WR. How he can never find 2-3 WR’s blows my mind. How he is unable to get them open. And the QB room. You’ve had Johnson for almost a year now. How you not have him ready to play after this long and you roll Barnes out there…blows my mind.

You should have the better player ready to play in a game like this. I get that Barnes is “safe”, but when he tosses that INT then does nothing, you gotta roll Johnson out there and see if you can at least get some option first downs.

Whitt’s inability to get QB depth and WR’s will be his biggest blemish. So many years he could have won the P12 or been to the playoffs if not for those two positions.

[chinngiskhaan]

You are making a lot of assumptions… too many for me to bother counting. Do you know for a fact that Johnson is better RIGHT NOW than Barnes? There is zero proof of that available to the public. Barnes was bad, but we haven’t seen Johnson do anything other than run the ball. Is that a coaching failure? Maybe.

I don’t think it’s fair to assume that a team like Utah should be able to get great WRs, QBs, RBs, and TEs. We aren’t a blue blood program. We can’t be great across the board unless we get suuuper lucky. We can be an excellent running team, or an excellent passing team, not both. We don’t have the cache to convince elite WR talent to come block for our runners… especially when we throw the vast majority of our passes to TEs. Elite WRs are not going to sign up for that style of play. You can say that is Whitt’s “fault” if you want, but he has to pick one style or the other. If we showcased our great WRs we wouldn’t be able to convince great RBs and TEs to join the team. Going the RB and TE route was and still is the right choice.

We’ll be fortunate to have even one all pac12 level WR come through in the next 3-4 years. We should expect to have an all pac12 RB and TE every year, and an all pac12 QB every other year or so.

[Utah]

Washington State can get WR’s. Arizona can get WR’s. BYU can get WR’s.

It is very fair to assume we can get WR’s. We are a better program than all those teams. I don’t believe for one second you either throw the ball or run the ball. Look at how many catches our players had this year:

https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/utah/2022.html

There are more than enough catches available for some WR’s to step up.

This whole “we aren’t a blue blood” argument has to stop. The reality is, there are ZERO blue bloods in the PAC-12 in 12 months. Utah will be arguably the best program in the conference. We can accept that football is hard and make excuses or we can turn ourselves into a blue blood.

The playoffs are easier than ever to get into. Had the playoff started this year, our Utah team would have been the #4 seed with a bye. There is no more USC. No more UCLA. Now is not the time to make excuses but to look in the mirror, be honest about where we suck, and get better.

And Whitt’s inability to get game ready QB’s and high level WR’s is a major flaw.

And with our OL, running game and TE’s, it should be even easier for WR’s to get open. If the defense has to bring a safety into the box and keep another over the middle to cover the WR’s, then that means the WR’s are one on one. And if they still can’t get open…that is sad.

[Utah]

TCU looked in the mirror, realized that they had a problem, went and hired Dykes and now are playing for a national title.

I don’t think we should move on from Whitt. I don’t think we should move on from any coaches. BUT, I do think we have a problem with the QB and WR room. And Utah has to figure out how to fix that problem.

[chinngiskhaan]

I think it’s fair to expect us to be able to convince at least one WR with the ability to gain separation to commit to us, and we may have done that with the most recent class. We had that one guy in Covey. I don’t think it’s realistic to expect more than 1 productive WR on this team.

Hopefully Bumphis can do a better job of recruiting guys that can at least get open and hopefully catch the ball. Parks seems to be pretty good. I think there was one other young guy (blanking on his name) that seemed to show some promise. We have a couple guys in this class that might be good as well. I’m not sure, hopefully Bumphis struck gold on one of these guys.

With the TEs we had, Vele was supposed to be the guy that took a big step forward. It turns out, there is a reason he wasn’t recruited out of high school, because he is sloooooow and not very quick. I don’t think he won a single footrace this season, and he was terrible at getting separation most of the time. His one major plus is his ability to catch the ball. It really is a pity he didn’t put on 25 pounds and become a TE. Dude would have been at least as good as Kincaid.

[UteFanatic]

We’ve had big time WRs before. Carrington, for example. Problem is, we had him in a year where Utah just wasn’t that great overall. Imagine how this team would have looked this year if we had Carrington?

I hope the staff can get a portal WR like him. Just one elite receiver is likely enough to take the offense to the next level.

Rising, Kuithe, Jackson, the o-line. This is a great starting point. Just need a good WR threat to round out the offense.

[chinngiskhaan]

Every one of the teams you just listed is a pass first team. We are an extremely run heavy team. Like I said, you have to pick one style, and go with it. We have done that.

Do the three teams you listed have the caliber of runners we have? No they do not. Do they have the TEs we have? No they do not. You are proving my point for me.

[EagleMountainUte]

Enis was turned into a blocker essentially.

Somehow Whitt got the tight end group figured out with some great talent. I think that same philosophy needs to apply to the wideouts. Less concerned with blocking schemes perhaps? I know some tight ends prior to Kuithe and Kincaid. They wanted them to have blocking weight with ability to catch balls. It just doesn’t work that way.

[chinngiskhaan]

I think Utah’s most viable option is to find TEs that can be outside threats. Kincaid was/is an outside threat.