[Bob]

Ute football has lost in almost every measurable way over the past two years. Injuries, recruiting, transfers, conference realignment, and of course, actual game losses. I try to stay optimistic but I feel like we’re in a bizarro world right now. There has been an uptick in hype over the past month with several “experts” and oddsmakers touting the Utes as bouncing all the way back to a conference championship. I’ll believe it when I see it, but those same experts were saying Moa would end up in Utah with some touting 100% confidence. It feels like we are at a turning point where things need to change fast or Utah football is going to fall into oblivion.

[NarfUte]

It’s not team issued gear. It’s FCA (which is a campus community) gear. Those coaches and players are wearing it since they’re part of the community- a huge portion of the athletes at the U are also a part of it

[Holladay Ute]

Not surprising, but disappointing given Rivals (and our own sources) said it was likely we’d get him. When he delayed his decision, I assumed our odds went down a lot.

It sounds like they were recruiting him as a WR (so I’m assuming that’s what he wanted to play). Would he have made a big instant impact in 2026? Unlikely. And would Utah be able to turn him into a great WR at the college level? Maybe, maybe not (which has to be why he ended up choosing TN…they have a ton of WRs they’ve sent to the NFL). I would’ve loved to have the talent on our roster and I’m sure he would’ve eventually been a good player for us. In the meantime, Utah just needs to be scrappy at the WR position and generate a good (doesn’t have to be great) passing game w/ high three-star recruits. If our new offense can produce a solid passing game in the next year or two, we may start to get players like this once in a while (a 5-star skill position player). I think it’s encouraging that we were in the final two (and the frontrunner for much of it).

I really wanted him, but mainly b/c it would’ve helped quiet BYU fans from beating their chests on the recruiting front. By the way, they were beating their chests about his brother (Aisea Moa) a couple years ago and then he just barely transferred to Michigan State (and never did anything for them). You never know how a high school player will pan out. Utah needs to be successful consistently recruiting a handful of 4-stars out of high school on the OL, at RB, and on defense. Everywhere else I hope we can fill in w/ solid transfer portal adds and mid/high 3-stars that we develop. I think this formula would produce similar results to what we’re used to.

[Central Coast Ute]

There is no more developing 3 stars. If a kid is good, you put him on the field. If not, you cut him and bring in someone from the portal to take his place. Doesn’t sound nice but it’s what the players wanted. Morgan Scalley even said the other day development is a thing of the past. You can’t put all of that time and energy into a kid just to have him bail for another school.

[BeachUte]

If Whitt is to be believed, Utah will mirror New Mexico last year more than what many here are suggesting. He flat-out said it will be the same offense Beck ran with the Lobos. New Mexico wasn’t a pass-first team but they were far more aggressive through the air than we’ve seen for most of Whitt’s time at Utah. The Lobos last year finished just behind BYU (61st I think) in passing yards per game. Utah has only managed a better ranking twice under Whitt since leaving the MWC (2017 and 2022).

So, if Whitt is being honest, I would expect more passing than we’re generally used to.

[Utah#1]

It doesn’t hurt and you shouldn’t be shocked. Some people on here weeks ago told me to go pound sand and kick rocks when I said, this dude isn’t worth wasting time over. If he wanted to play at Utah he woulda committed already, but he kept changing his commit date. They had predictions on X Twitter that he was like 93% to Utah. When he didn’t commit and kept changing his dates, those X Twitter posts disappeared. Don’t know why some of us Utah fans put a lot faith in these kid coming to Utah when the writing was on the wall. Something about Tennessee lured him there whether it was NIL money, Tennessee, his family, who knows. I think two subpar coaching seasons by Whitt and the moved to the Big12 hurt Utah more than some of us care to admit. Last season the seven games we lost were winnable games even with Wilson at the helm, but that ain’t gonna get it done. Losing Rising a true leader hurt the program and we had no backup QB leader to fill those shoes. Hope with this new OC and offensive personnel, they can return to back to their winning ways again.

[Yergensen]

Huh? With that logic we shouldn’t take most of the players we take from the portal.

[SLC-UteFan]

This really is the right attitude.

If he rips it up at Tenn I won’t notice.

Some are commenting that we have a chance to flip him around national signing day. Well, count me out of that hope. Even if Utah runs through the conference and wins in Arlimgton, I would still doubt he would consider flipping to Utah. I mean we all know the SEC >>> Big 12 and that itself makes it highly unlikely. Besides (correct me if wrong) but wouldn’t he have to back out of NIL deals, thus making it more unlikely he’d flip? Meaning, I’m sure Tenn is aware that Utah and others would try to flip him so I would guess Tenn would try to lock him up through NIL if possible (again, I don’t know how all this works so maybe I am wrong.)

Good luck to him. And that’s all that I will say about him.

[BeachUte]

It was an amazing opening. Maybe the best quarter in Utah football history.

I still remember Kenny Albert saying, “wow, wow, wow…” after Utah went up 21-0 on the Tide.

[Central Coast Ute]

If it doesn’t work out, why does Utah want him?

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