2008 National Champ

Unfortunately, I think Utah needs a couple more to go to get under 85 scholarships.

Per 247 Scholarship Distribution they have 76 on scholarship. Subtract the 7 names who have announced and that gets you to 69.

There are 14 commits who have not made it to campus yet so that gets you up to 83. Transfers Simmons, Damuni and Logan Fano aren’t…[Read more]

WR wasn’t the reason for the Florida loss. Blame craptacular tackling, not scoring on 4 running plays from 1st and goal from the 8 in the 3rd quarter, a brutal 2 point failure and Rising’s pick.

WR wasn’t the reason for the UCLA loss.

Not sure they were to blame for Oregon either. Any of about 60 guys makes one more play and perhaps Utah…[Read more]

the height was probably the bigger factor. Outside corners spend their day covering 6’3 guys who run 4.4’s. I don’t think Johnson was any faster that Phillips but he was taller, had a bigger wingspan and had been a shutdown corner. Teams continually threw at Phillips in high leverage situations, usually to their detriment, but he didn’t earn…[Read more]

Kincaid was hurt and had already given everything he had to help get Utah to the Rose Bowl. He still hadn’t fully recovered in time for the combine so if anything, he should have probably missed more time during the season (especially Colorado) than he did.

CP(ick-6) was also dinged up. I believe he played the 2nd half of the season with a…[Read more]

not if you use his transfer rating

How good was his vision? 20-10, 20-5, better?

Bernard got hurt against WSU and then Thomas got to be the lead back against some truly bad run defenses in UCLA, Stanford and Arizona among others. Pretty easy to hit holes hard when you can drive a truck through them. Oregon in the P-12 champ game had a bad run defense, even Ohio State was below…[Read more]

Just because Thomas was the lead back late in the year does not guarantee that a combination of Bernard, Pledger and Curry would have produced a lesser result. You can’t assume an outcome for an event that didn’t happen based on another event with different variables that did.

It’s not surprising for a RB move on after a class of three 4 stars are brought in and Utah runs an offense that rarely has more than one RB on the field at a time.

Good for him taking advantage of the chance to put some good runs on tape and it wouldn’t surprise me if Whitt purposefully featured the walk-ons during the spring game for that very…[Read more]

On the issue of QB replacements, I give Ludwig a pass for this year. Between he and Taylor (I think TT originally reached out and Ludwig got the transfer commitment but could be wrong), they got their presumed 2020 starter on campus and had a year to get him ready for a multi-year run as QB1. Bentley was brought on to be a stopgap in case Rising…[Read more]

trying to interpret thumbs can be a fool’s errand but it seems like they are saying that you are wrong about thinking that you might be wrong? which would make your original comment right?

for the staff, it’s an opportunity to evaluate progress in as close an approximation to live games as possible.

for the kids, it’s a reward because while practices can get tedious, games even against your own team are fun.

for those low on the depth chart, it’s an opportunity to show what they can do and hopefully earn more opportunities in…[Read more]

Ludwig didn’t develop 13 personnel and he certainly didn’t do it because of Kincaid. Ludwig was running 13 personnel at Vanderbilt and I believe Oregon also.

Kincaid’s star rating was due to only playing football his senior year of HS.

I think he has first round ability, but not first round measurables.

I don’t think anyone is doubting his potential. At the same time, the kid has had a very checkered past and it is legitimate to ask whether that is behind him or not. Especially since I can’t find anything indicating that his court cases have been resolved.

Has his case been thrown out?

how do you get payback for self-inflicted wounds?

Ty Jordan shot himself at least 6 months before Thomas got on campus so that is out the window as an excuse.

And Thomas is not the first example of players who didn’t live up to the standard that many believe Whitt sets. Who were the receivers that were still on the team long enough to get arrested for unlawful detention and/or rape? 2nd…[Read more]

I think what you are missing is that it is up to Tavion to get treatment for his illness once it has been diagnosed. If the reports of being off his medication are correct, then he wasn’t living up to his responsibility. There is no greater picture, just cause and effect.

The article noted at least 4 incidents over a 6 month period. How many…[Read more]

I’ve got Utah at 8-4 but I don’t consider that a significant step back. Last season could have just as easily been 8-4 (Rising doesn’t gets tackled on two point conversion against SC) as 10-2 (Rising throws to Kincaid’s right against Florida).

UW/Baylor (both on road) are upgrades over SDSU/WSU so the schedule is more difficult but it would take…[Read more]

Very true. The interesting part of your list is 3 of the names (Covey, Hansen and Lloyd) all earned their place in Utah lore at positions other than what they played in high school. I really think this is where Whitt and co excel the most is bringing in athletes and getting them to buy in to the fact that their future may be at different…[Read more]