Next 
byu – Sat 11/24 8pm – Pac12 TV
I think that is a reaction to changing directions…he moved forward and angled towards the sideline, and then made a couple big hops back – I think his arm is just raising in response to shiftin weight backwards.
A still picture does not do it justice.
I agree on the still picture watch the video link
Luckily the back judge is watching Hobbs catch the ball, instead of keeping his eyes on Covey.
It could certainly be interpreted as a fair catch signal. Luckily it wasn’t.
Given how things were going for us in that game, we probably still would have driven and scored.
From that rear angle it looks like the arm goes over his head, but on the lateral angle it looks like it goes in from of him to me. He might have gotten away with something. The announcers said it didn’t look like it to them. Also what would happen if we signaled fair catch after Hobbs had the ball? I know if he had done it before the ball is dead, but you can’t fair catch a ball that has already been advanced can you? From the video this is not the car he clearly makes this motion before the catch but I was curious. Here’s a link to the lateral view that I think looks like the motion is in front of his body, but that could be from the elevated position of the camera. Bottom line nobody called it and I doubt it will be attempted again by this team anytime soon.
It’s not a fair catch until the ball is caught in your hands, you can wave your arms signaling but until the ball is in your possession it doesn’t matter what you do.
Here are the NCAA 2015 rules
SECTION 8. Fair Catch
Fair Catch
ARTICLE 1. a. A fair catch of a scrimmage kick is a catch beyond the neutral zone by a
Team B player who has made a valid signal during a scrimmage kick that is untouched
beyond the neutral zone.
b. A fair catch of a free kick is a catch by a player of Team B who has made a valid
signal during an untouched free kick.
c. A valid or invalid fair catch signal deprives the receiving team of the opportunity
to advance the ball. The ball is declared dead at the spot of the catch or recovery or
at the spot of the signal if the catch precedes the signal.
Rule 2 / Definitions FR-31
d. If the receiver shades his eyes from the sun without waving his hand(s), the ball is
live and may be advanced.
Valid Signal
ARTICLE 2. A valid signal is a signal given by a player of Team B who has obviously
signaled his intention by extending one hand only clearly above his head and waving
that hand from side to side of his body more than once.
Invalid Signal
ARTICLE 3. An invalid signal is any waving signal by a player of Team B:
a. That does not meet the requirements of Article 2 (above); or
b. That is given after a scrimmage kick is caught beyond the neutral zone, strikes the
ground or touches another player beyond the neutral zone (A.R. 6-5-3-III-V); or
c. That is given after a free kick is caught, strikes the ground or touches another
player. [Exception: Rule 6-4-1-f
So you’re saying combination of article 1c and article 3a would be growing grounds to hold the ball where Hobbs caught it. That makes sense, but the more I watch them the more I’m convinced Covey’s left arm doesn’t make afair catch signal. It is a just a by product of lateral movement. If people were watching the ball like the ref was it would never cross the radar.
What would have been awesome was if the camera man would have followed the ball and all we initially saw was Hobbs run it back and marveled at how easy it was and then see in the replay the fake. That would have been a cool way to experience it.
Yea that was my thoughts Gad valley – it would be dead at the point in which hobbs caught it. The back judge is not even looking at Covey however and I agree it is not a valid signal . The back angle is what caught my attention . Interesting how different angles show different things and how it can be easy for a ref to miss a call. We have all the time in the world to look at it and analysis it.
That’s just a poor angle. From the other angles, it is clear that the arm is in front of him, moving side to side as he moves back and to the side. His hand doesn’t go higher than his shoulder.
A fair catch signal has to be a clear hand above the head, if the signal isn’t clear then the kick returner is fair game. Covey made no such signal.
After that fake fair catch that UCONN pulled in like 2008 or 2009 (guy raised his hand above his head so it looked like a fair catch, but didn’t wave it, then took off for a TD after the catch while the return team watched and didn’t touch him, he even cleared it with the ref before the play so it was totally intentional) I think they amended the rules: see article 1c above so that you couldn’t do that sort of thing again. the rules as I read them now state a invalid or unclear signal is now basically a fair catch and the ball can’t be advanced. The argument goes: If Covey made a fair catch signal or made something closely resembling a fair catch signal then the ball should have been dead where Hobbs caught it. That’s a valid point. However I agree with you the movement his left arm makes doesn’t really look like a fair catch signal when seen from the side. Clearly doesn’t go anywhere near above his head and seems like its just part of his normal re-positioning motion. I think the only thing we “got away with” was a well designed and executed play. Kinda sad we used it in a blowout. I get why Kyle kept the afoot on the accelerator, but the way we were moving the ball I think we could have dialed that up another day. I guess it does always put that play in opponents minds and maybe that opens things up for the return game in ways I don’t know how to anticipate.
You’re totally right!!
They missed that one
You need to keep in mind that the angle of the screen cap posted above is a high angle from behind and above. A referee on the ground directly behind Covey would not see his hand raised above his head. There was no fair catch signaled at all.
As I keep staring at the pic, I keep asking myself, why oh why did the Oregon players not notice the back judge looking on the complete opposite side of the field.
Smart teams will start putting a spy on the back judge to see where the play is going.
Watched it in context of the full game last night. Didn’t look like a fair catch to me.
Please?
Utes -10
Ill be surprised if its more than -7. Im thinking -5.5.
They are about 5 better in sagarin rankings. If played today they’d be a 7-8 point fav.
We have a new poll and the previous two are closed. VOTE NOW.
I haven’t paid much attention to them since we last played.
I gather they throw the ball a lot and tend to score a lot. What type of offense is it exactly?
How mobile is their QB? How good is their O-line?
Is their defense any good?
They gave up 14 to Grambling, 7 to SDSU, 44 to Texas and 24 to UW. Don’t know how many points may have been from special teams or pick 6’s.
Cal had two Pick 6s vs Grambling, and nothing since. None of their opponents have a Pick 6.
They give up a TON of yards on PR and KR (giving up multiple 30-40+ yard returns), but only seem to manage very small kick returns when they receive.
They have an excellent passing game. Their defense seemed to stop UW’s passing game, but couldn’t stop the power rushing game (which UW seemingly abandoned after the first drive). Texas put up 268 yds rushing and 382 yds passing on Cal, but Texas could only manage 160+ yards TOTAL vs a stout defense (Notre Dame).
Utah could absolutely lose this game, especially if we have a few mistakes/fumbles/picks or bad penalties or ‘ball didn’t go in hoop’. But the likelihood of losing this game is low. Booker and Wilson could both put up career rushing numbers.
Goff will probably be the first QB taken in next year’s NFL draft (if not the first he’ll be the second after Connor Cook), and he has legit NFL receivers (plural) to throw to. Our D is going to have its hands full, it will be a full team effort to stop their offense – our Dline is going to have to get pressure, blitzes will have to be well timed, and the secondary is going to be tested all game long.
Their D is better than Oregon’s, but not by much. I expect Booker and Wilson to be able to run almost at will.
i would call them this year’s oregon with an asterisk….. * – their O is good but it’s not mariotta-esque. we should play em just like we played the ducks. i believe the utes physicality (is that a word?) will be the biggest difference. our OL and DL were man-handlers last week. when you win the trenches, you usually win the game. aside from SC, i think we’ve got the best OL and DL/LB’s in the conference. the elevation edge helps too.
FWIW, i think we’re screwed next year : )
Actually depending on how well we replace our three SR LBs our D could be even better next year. Aside from LBs Paul, Whittingham, and Norris we only lose Fanaika and Carter as far as defensive starters. If LBs Masina, Drews, Tauteoli, and Barton can get up to speed our D is going to be just as nasty next year as it is this year.
On offense we only lose one OLineman, center Siaosi Aiono, and there’s little dropoff to his backup, Hiva Lutui. I’m quite a bit more upbeat about next year after watching our freshmen receivers in the Oregon game, granted Covey is mission bound, and we lose Scott and Poole. Watching Tyrone Smith and Caleb Repp gives me confidence that the offense can be pretty good next year. Joe Williams looks like he’s going to be the front runner in the race to be Utah’s next great RB, and we’ll have Troy McCormick back from injury. If Chase Hansen can live up to the hype we could be pretty good.
TL/DR I think we’ll be pretty good next year. Playoff good? Maybe not quite that good, but in the PAC anything can happen.
I was also thrilled to see our underclassmen WRs play so well last week. Tarzan Smith had at least one very nice play plus some excellent blocking, and True FRs Covey and Repp had a pair of TDs a piece.
I hope Whitt allows Repp to stay as a WR rather than throw him over to DE. I know he wanted Nate Orchard 2.0, but can we please leave a FAST (4.5s 40, 47.6s 400m), strong, big (6’4″) baller with good hands at TE/WR? Please??!!
I was under the impression that the decision to keep Repp at receiver had already been made – he’s too good at catching the ball to move to defense, is what I heard.
dude has great hands for sure. reminded me a little bit of jake murphy
Tarzan (Alfred) Smith transfered. I think you mean Ty Smith.
Yes, sorry. Ty Smith.
He had a nice diving catch in the game that would have been a TD, but he stepped out of the back of the end zone. 4″ closer and he would have done it.
That’s what I thought when I was reading his post.
We lose Steve T and Seni – don’t underestimate what those guys have done for the solid interior line play.
True, I just quickly glanced at starters we’re losing.
Utah seems to have an endless supply of defensive linemen though, I’m much less concerned about those losses than I am the LB losses.
Stevie T is only a Junior – he should be back next year.
We only lose three Seniors from the D Line this year:
Jason Fanaika
Seni Fauonuku
Clint Shepherd
Which is why we have to win everything possible this year. Next year is going to blow.
Cal will have to decide what they want to do. Allow Wilson or Booker to run all over them. Wilson I believe has demonstrated his ability to carve up defenses that cheat on coverage. I think Special teams could have a huge game against Cal. Cal is going to have a tough time offensively. I don’t think Utah’s defense is a fluke. They have demonstrated to me enough this year to call them elite. Goff is very good and can punish Utah.
Right now I am leaning towards 35-24 Utah.
Agree Beehive, I think this is a 10-14 point win for Utah.
Goff is the real deal for Cal and they are improved for sure. Their offense probably gives us the most matchup problems as anyone because of the 5 receiver sets. Norris can’t really run with a TE or a back in space and neither can Whittingham. Paul can which helps and Thomas as the nickel is a stud. Our safeties are solid so we have to worry about “back out” and the inside wideout. A lot of time to prepare fortunately and Whit will install a great game plan so we should be fine. Puget Ute hit it on the head with turnovers…more than a couple and we are in trouble
Cal shouldn’t be able to stop the run consistently and if the bring 8 up Wilson is good enough (finally) to see the field and make them pay. We have to continue to protect him so he doesn’t panick like in years past but if he is protected we win going away. 8 PM start helps us as well…good crowd, electricity, etc.
There is depth on this team and youth that will develop next year. Already JC Impact kids committed so we’ll plug and play as always. Gotta find an impact backer but Whit always seems to do that, O-line will be solid and so will the D-line. Corners and safeties will be a strength next year with plenty of depth after Carter leaves. Wideouts won’t be worse and McCormick and Williams give us plenty of options in the run game. Hansen will be a key but he just has the look and feel of a gamer so I expect him to figure it out quickly and lead us well for 3 years!
Goff may be the best quarterback in the nation. Any time you can say that about an opposing QB, a win is never easy
Does Goff run or mostly pocket passing?
Jared Goff has -15 rushing yards on the year, so he doesn’t really run all that much. But he is very good at scrambling to avoid sacks. He is a lot like Aaron Rodgers that way. He is a legit Top Ten pick in the draft next year and will probably be the first QB chosen.
That Goff could be the #1 draft pick overall.
That they have a great RB but an average O-line.
That their ‘D’ is average to below average.
That they haven’t played anybody yet and that continues this week! Yeah, they went into Texas and won but their ‘D’ folded in the 4th and if it wasn’t for a missed FG, they lose.
IF California wins this week against Wazzu, and heads to Utah with a top-20 ranking… I see it for both teams as a ‘Contender or a Pretender’ game. We already know the Utes have USC on the road and UCLA at home but this cross-conference game for both teams on the rise is very important, probably even more for Cal?
I was skeptical of Cal early on because of the fact that they lost their last 6 of 7 last year and 5 of those games were at home. I’m a believer now. They’ve convinced me.
I too expect a 10 to 14 point Ute victory in a game that is probably still in doubt going into the 4th.
We certainly can’t afford to overlook them though. This was a perfect time for a bye to let the team get over the euphoria of the Oregon beatdown and refocus.
Sounds like we have our work cut out for us on the defensive side of the ball. In terms of our offensive approach I wonder what will happen. I know its been a long time and coaching and players have all turned over since, but didn’t Cal beat us and stack the box on us when we went there in 2011? Didn’t John White have a terrible day? I know our O-line is good, but we need a complete offense to reliably move the ball. How good are their defensive backs?
Our game there in 2011 sucked.
But then we beat them by 3 touchdowns in 2012 at Rice-Eccles. Of course we had 1 TD by the defense and two KO returns for TDs.
Besides Special Teams I think the key will be getting pressure on Goff. I don’t think he’s effective under pressure.
If you look at the games they lost last year it was against teams that had good front 7s that put pressure on him.
That and their defense isn’t very good.
Jared Goff is a poor man’s Duncan Lebowitz. I can only imagine the atrocities that he was subjected to as a youth in Sarajevo.
Watched the Cal – Texas game. The final score was not inductive of how well Cal played on defense for 3 quarters. They had a 21 point lead going into the fourth quarter and started celebrating early. Texas came roaring back when their QB started scrambling around and ran for large gains. Cal should of won that game going away. They are a good team. Goff is scary good.
I just want to see the same offensive confidence from the Oregon game and a solid pass rush with 4 against Cal.
^^^THIS^^^. The D-Line needs to play for pocket compression and lane integrity, not over-pursue trying to get the sack, and keep the pressure on Goff.
If they can do that, I like our chances very much.
The LB who Travis Wilson decleated last time is no longer with the team (either retired or graduated). I was wondering whether he would try for a bit of revenge in this game…
I just thought of one more thing. Our brand-new turf field will likely be slippery for at least the first game. How badly will that hurt a team which relies on receivers running precise routes? I have to think a relatively slippery field condition might help a team who has a power run game and hurt a passing game.
I wonder if Utah practices on it beforehand to break it in so to speak.
The number of characters allowed in the title of the post means that people can have all of the substance of their post be immediately visible. In a sense, that board is the equivalent of Twitter.
I think that that allows for more lively conversation in a sense. People can get the gist of the post immediately and make a decision whether to contribute right away or simply ignore. With a board of the format of UteHub the user may not get the gist of the conversation just from the title. There may be deviations or tangents within the thread that aren’t reflected in the title of the thread.
Just thinking out loud.
Yeah, I think you hit it. Also, there’s an immediacy to the most recent posts. They are in a big spotlight, with hundreds of users able to read those comments within a very short time. It’s like having 15 minutes of fame every time you post. It encourages more short, to the point posts, and the red star system encourages wit (or crudely presented jokes, in many cases). There’s also the fact that it’s a well established website with a huge user base. If you want to be noticed, it’s still the place to be for Ute fans on the web.
You and Lefty are completely right. The Twitter comparison and the point about getting noticed are spot on.
As others have pointed out, the two boards offer much different experiences and serve two different purposes – which is why many of us regularly use both. I really like the UteHub format and while continued improvements are great, I see no need to change it to be more like UFN.
dupe post sorry
Yeah the UFN format is certainly not a standard forum format, and not an out of the box solution available. Trust me, I’ve researched it for hours. Recent posts does a great job of showing new to old, like that format does.
I may see if I can program a “look” similar to that or cooterboard, but that will take a while and simply getting the site up and running and looking good is a higher priority.
The other funky thing is that only the topic start has a title AND content field. The replies don’t have a title field… So that makes the UFN style thread even more difficult.
I’ve seen some chat boards, where you can scroll over a topic title with the mouse and some of the content will pop up. I think maybe Utezone? I’m not sure. This makes it a little easier to determine if you are interested enough to actually click on the thread.
By the way, I think the board is all ready fantastic. We’re really nit picking now, but that can be a good thing too.
I still love Utefans but I need a 9 or 10 day break. This should be the greatest week of posting about the Utes in years. Instead a vocal minority is peeing on any bit of optimism and celebration expressed.
Thank God for this alternative in times like these!
The straw man argument where a few posters continue to act as if we said Utah was a lock to make the playoffs is ridiculous. Really, really aggravating.
I like them both but I just hate the political posters on Utefans.net. It get too nasty for my taste.
Where is the guy who chastised me for mentioning utefans the other day? Why is he not bitching about this thread right now?
LOL
God, Brando was a dreamboat
I was lucky to have a conversation with one of our coaches today and what he said opened my eyes to a few things as they head out to recruit this week.
When we joined the Pac12 conference and started playing these teams we quickly realized that we needed more size to compete against Stanford and USC, we needed more speed to compete against Oregon and UCLA, we needed to be more athletic to run with AZ or ASU, etc., so over the years we’ve identified players that would fill weaknesses against WHO we’re competing against each year and the style they play. What they showed us last year or the year before, what we didn’t react well to or what we struggled to stop. Stars show athletic ability and upside but we needed guys to stop specific schemes we compete against year in and year out more than anything else.
Not Rocket Science of course but then he says “who does BYU recruit against?” Sure they recruit a certain type of player, one who fits in their system but how do they match up with 8 or 9 new teams each year? Sometimes it works and their profile matches up just because of who they play, physicality or scheme but think about the last 5-10 years, they’ve typically been embarrassed at least once a season, they almost always lose a game that they can’t explain and then lead with excuses, injuries, “Position mastery” and of course Donko’s favorite “execution.”
Bottom line is they don’t recruit to face Utah’s or Michigan’s physicality, Oregon’s speed or USC’s athleticism because they don’t see it every year. They simply plug in the best kid they can get and hope for the best with their scheme. Unless they get perfectly lucky with matchups in a 12 game stretch they’ll never seriously contend for anything on a National scale.
We recruit to what we need, what we have to overcome to accomplish our goals. The gap widens!
Great insight – thanks for sharing.
Hadn’t though about that but it makes sense
I also think we are able to get better recruits as time goes on and we are exposed to the Pac-12 region more and more.
Wow great insight. Thanks for sharing!
That is good stuff, thanks.
jrj84105 made a point somewhere (I think on r/cfb) that I think holds true. The byu of P has a few players who would start or be in the 2-deep on nearly every team in the nation (especially their big WRs). But beyond that they are very thin at other positions and have no depth behind that. It makes sense that they do not have the personnel to match up with the diverse range of teams they play.
Their team makeup is similar to Utah of years past, where we had a few studs on the team (CF-M, Steve Smith, Jamal Anderson, Scott Mitchell, Erroll Tucker, Eddie Johnson, etc) but mostly filler in between. Now that we have significant, deep talent and many positions we are now finally able to be more flexible in our game plans and can pivot the lineup as necessary to create matchup problems for the opponent. The 2004 and 2008 teams were STACKED with NFL talent. And we have that again this year, with upwards of 13 players getting serious a look for the next level. And some of them are actually on the Oh-fensive side of the ball…
we’re the world beater at finding JUCO’s to fill specific roles. booker and clay are great examples. JUCO is a great path for the utes since we can’t get many of the real studs out of highschool.
So… BYU doesn’t know who they’re preparing to play, so they need to be ready for everything. While Utah needs to recruit to battle size, athleticism, and speed (i.e. everything). At the end of the day, I don’t see the recruiting needs of the two programs being that much different.
We have the allure of a P5 team in a P5 conference playing a P5 schedule and all of the prestige the highest level of college football affords.
They have the Honor Code that adds one more layer of difficulty to the inexact science that recruiting already is. And, while independence allows them to schedule *slightly* better than the average G5 school, they have no conference affiliation (which their fans SORELY underestimate the value of) and basically nothing to play for after their first loss. But they do have an HD Truck and the Studio C audience.
Honestly, I’m surprised that any recruit takes a BYU offer seriously if they have ANY P5 offer on the table. I only see our programs growing further apart if things stay as they are.
Fair assessment but the point he was trying to make and the one I was trying to convey was that we know what our conference opponents did against us, what worked and what didn’t and why. We know how they reacted to a wrinkle we added, we learn where we can beat them and unless they change their staff it will probably be similar each year.
The point is that it’s a constant chess match based on known data…our players and coaches take the same test year after year and improve with knowledge gained. BYU doesn’t have that data to recruit with because they don’t take the same test over and over. As an independent they start from scratch 8-10 times each season.
True. While the players on every team cycle in and out, there IS some consistency to the type of program a coach or school tends to run. Maybe our inconsistent offensive identity is our advantage. 😉
I think we are like every other team in the country – when we have a need for certain positions we go out and find the best player we can to fill that need. The best player is always going to be the big fast athletic guy over the little slow unathletic guy. What a team did to us the previous year has little to no impact on what we do recruiting wise. First, it doesn’t make sense — first year players typically don’t play. Second, say we have 10 dlineman but no WR’s after graduation. Even if our d line got blown up by being too slow, too small, not athletic enough, we are going to recruit WR’s. I appreciate what you had to say, but we are no different than byu, central Michigan, or Alabama when it comes to recruiting. We are just able to attract better players now that we are a p5 team.
Went to the game with 3 local diehard duck fans…great experience, great game and obviously tempered excitement for what comes next for the Utes but after the game one of these guys starts talking about how he can relax now and not stress the rest of the year. Just enjoy college football.
It hit me that the pressure that these top P5 programs deal with is absolutely crazy…national championships or bust…players, coaches AND fans. They’re done…failed in the quest to return to the NC game and similar to the TDS their season is over after 4 weeks (granted it took 2 duck losses). These guys live that every year…not the same BS we hear from Provo at the start of every season…these expectations are real not a bunch of fantasy crap.
I’m sure it’s the same way at the 8-10 other programs across the country that expect to compete every year but honestly before the Pac12 our dreams have been pipe dreams for so long (with some great times along the way) and are now real and actually possible. All that means is that we have a s**t ton of stress to look forward to as we hopefully continue to get better!
I live and die with this program…no doubt more than I should but it also brings me so much excitement and fun. Thinking about what the future holds…the opportunities at special seasons that will come because of where we sit today. How soon before we see our whole season go down the s**tter with a single loss…don’t answer that for a few weeks at least!! All in or in the way!! Go Utes!
Nice post. Thanks for writing it. GO UTES!
Invite your pals to come here and post too!
The beauty of being in the PAC 12 is your season isn’t really down the s**tter unless you aren’t bowl eligible.
Now, when the Utes become perennial contenders for the PAC 12 championship, my paradigm may shift. 🙂
What’s Whitts record coming off a bye? I think it’s pretty good.
I think it was perfect until we joined the Pac12 I think we’ve dropped 1 or 2 since then
We beat Michigan and OSU coming off byes last year
Lost to UCLA and ASU after byes in 2013
Lost to USC in 2012
Lost to Washington in 2011
2-4 after bye weeks, I believe, since joining the PAC12. Not a great record
Yes, but most of those losses were against teams who were clearly better than Utah. And the game against UW we fumbled the opening kickoff and Jordan Wynn went down and John Hayes came in soooo…
If not perfect, it’s damn close to perfect coming off of a bye week.
I agree, no let down, but I don’t think we will see another blowout. Cal’s offensive strengths are much different than Oregon. Their accurate quarterback (understatement) and talented receivers are a whole different problem for this defense to deal with. I think Oregon’s offense was especially susceptible to a dominating interior D-line.
I predict no let down and a possible double digit win, but not a blow out.
Utah is SIGNIFICANTLY better on Special Teams. That will help. Cal has not yet faced a Defensive front 7 like we have, and they will struggle to run against us. We have significantly upgraded our speed in the LB and Secondary, and that will help. Coach Pease doesn’t mix in the Corner/Safety/LB blitzes the way Sitake did, which takes away the hot reads that burned us so badly in the past (see WSU last year). Goff is a master at hitting those.
Cal’s defense is improved this year, but they also gave up 650 yds to Texas, which is almost as many yards as Texas has put up in its other three games COMBINED. I can’t wait to see what they and WSU do to each other this weekend.
If we stay on the Plus side of turnovers and contain their run game, and impose our run game and efficient passing game, we win this by 2 TDs. Even if Goff tears it up passing.
Anyone care to type up a recap for those us us who can’t listen at work?
Thank you.
It was interesting to hear A Rod gush about Troy McCormick. It’s like he couldn’t say enough good things about the kid. Makes me excited to get him back next year.
we will need a healthy McCormick next year to be a playmaker, we lose Booker and Scott to graduation and Covey to a mission 🙁 ice up Troy
Plus a Senior QB. We are losing a lot next year, so I hope this year is really special. I will say, I think with guys like Troy, Joe Williams and others we have some pretty good talent waiting in the wings.
Is Covey 100% gone? I heard he was evaluating the season before he decided whether or not do a mission.
I believe that was the story earlier this summer, but it seems to have changed to him going. Again, same as with High Uintas, I have no inside info.
He is Mormon Royalty. His entire family will be disappointed if he doesn’t go, and they will keep serious pressure on him.
I just hope he doesn’t get sent to a mission where the President is a huge byu fan and swings him to the dark side, a la Harvey Langi.
Is that possible though since he didn’t redshirt or sit. I’m pretty sure that since he has a scholly and played BYU can’t poach him. And if a BYU MP does do that couldn’t Utah nail the Y for NCAA violations?
I think the Riley Nelson rule and the Letter of Intent is only in force for 24 months.
The way he is going he could be a potent slot receiver like Wes Welker, especially after he puts on another 15#. He is roughly the same size, has fantastic hands, runs great routes, and is a bit faster than WW. I hope he doesn’t p**s away that opportunity to play in the NFL, but I fully understand the pressure to do the mission thing. My kids are getting the full-court press on it and my oldest is only 14.
I enjoyed some of the things on my mission, and I learned a new language, but overall it was a HUGE waste of time and effort. At least I learned that I would be a horrible used car salesman.
Does this really happen? And are you serious?
I just hope he doesn’t get sent to a mission where the President is a huge byu fan and swings him to the dark side, a la Harvey Langi.
I almost think it is the opposite spectrum of zoobism. Crazy notions in Ute minds much like beer dumpings etc.
Langi’s MP was a Utah graduate, but was a big byu booster and iirc one of his kids or nephew plays sports (baseball?) down there. The reports at the time were that the MP made contact with the team down south to check whether they had a roster spot, spoke with his family about transferring, and filled Harvey’s head with delusions of the superiority of the life and college experience in provo. It is true that he would not have made the 5-deep at RB at UTah, but he could have been in the mix at LB (and I can’t understand why he didn’t want to play LB at Utah).
In the end he made a choice that is right for him. He can go wild on the field without repercussions at Nut Punch U, but they will make sure he keeps his hair trimmed Missionary Style. You know, all the higher morality garbage…
I hope Britain Covey spends a lot of time with Chase Hanson and Chooses the Right the way Chase did, and returns home to the U after completing his 2-year sentence.
Don’t kid yourself, it happens.
Assuming that this happens I am not sure there is much he could do except email the missionary player weekly if it is allowed by the MP. I am not sure I buy into this particular conspiracy theory, but there is significant pressure to support BYU in the mission world, for obvious reasons. I have heard firsthand accounts of missionaries praying for BYU’s success, especially at the MTC, which just so happened to be when the U won the Sugar Bowl. I had several companions insinuate I was poorer Mormon for not cheering for BYU, to which I promptly lit into them for that asinine behavior. I could only imagine what would happen if I was a sought after recruit. So there is a large amount of pressure, but I am not sure it is conspiracy like mentioned above.
When Bill Reilly interviewed him at fall camp he said he was definitely going. He said he decided before he even got to camp which made it easier for him. I don’t know if anything changed though.
Unless our season is wildly successful (Rose bowl or better) I dont see him staying
People who know Covey (I’m not one of them) insist that it’s 100% that he’s going.
Someone on UFN said he’s already submitted his papers.
I would imagine the coaches are going to put some pressure on him to stay after the breakout season. While he’s a breakout talent would he be getting this much playing time only to leave for two years?
I doubt any coach at the U would pressure him to stay. I’m sure some are asking whether he is sure or not, but not pressuring him to forego mission plans. Too many RMs and Mormons on staff.
Great stuff. Thanks for the link!
Honestly why wouldn’t Covey go on a mission? It may take two years to get a solid QB again and by that time he can come back to a restocked roster.
Chase Hanson will be a solid QB next year. Just sayin’.
I fear that Britain Covey will go the way of Britton Johnson, and never again have the same kind of success that he had his FR year.
I hope Covey does go on his mission. I have several reasons, its an experiance that is unparalleled in life. He’ll come back to us, he’ll still play 4 years, no loss there. He’s not going to come back lazy or fat, I think its proven how hard of a worker he is.
Finally, it will help with recruiting. Imagine you are an LDS parent and want your kid to go on a mission, maybe you are a BYU fan. Utah comes to recruit your kid, you are concerned that if he goes to Utah for a year he wont go on his mission. But wait, they point out Britain Covey, you watch football of course you know who that is. Oh yes, he played for a year, was a star, got no pressure not to go, went on his mission, came back to Utah. If covey goes on his mission in will help with instate and out of state LDS recruiting.
I’m more Mormon than anyone on this board, and I have to disagree strongly with anyone who thinks Covey going on a mission is a good decision. Fast twitch muscle fibers that aid in speed and quickness disappear and don’t come back to a 100% after two years of inactivity. The decrease in athletic ability is not debatable.
The way church missions are these days, the kids are not allowed to grow up or become more mature either. Covey is already very mature. A mission would be more likely to make him more immature. Missionaries these days live with members and don’t proselytize. They only teach member referals. It’s a 2 year EFY is what it is. For those not familiar, EFY stands for Especially For Youth. It’s a program that brings teenagers together to go to church classes and activities for a week.
The modern day church mission, in my opinion, is a giant waste of time. The only purpose it serves is to allow the parents of the missionary to speak proudly of their missionary in church, and for the missionary to be able to say he fulfilled that commandment and was loyal to the church. That’s all a modern day mission does.
At first I thought, how can someone be more mormon than someone else? Then I saw your user name.
very entertaining read though, but you science is way off.
Are in state Mormon athletes a priority target now or has the bar been raised on the kids they go after? I know in the MWC days the in state Mormon athlete could be make or break for your recruiting class. Is that the case now, my point being I’m not sure the impact of an Lds parent seeing Covey go on a mission outweighs the benefit of him staying and playing 4 years in a row.
Is it as important as it used to be? I dont think so. But I do think it is still important, and they dont have to be in state kids either. The football being played in High School in this state is way above what it used it be, so this may only affect a couple kids a year, but these players are better than they used to be and we are losing kids to out of state programs too. I just think it makes a difference in locking down our borders, and I think it could bring in an out of state mormon or two, and you never know when one of those will eventually be a game changer. What if seeing covey go on a mission gets us a future covey-ish player?
Sorry, lots of thoughts, not sure how to organize them.
I am glad Covey came to Utah. There will be LDS kids like him in the future. The program needs to maintain that mission-friendly policy that Ron McBride started back in the early 90s.
But I am also happy that getting those kids is not a make-it-or-break-it deal for Utah. In this interview ARod give effusive praise to Troy McCormick. It is nice to know that the cupboard is still completely stocked, even when a breakout player like Covey chooses to leave for a mission.
All the Utah hype after the Oregon win is great. However, I’m a bit hesitant to fully buy into it until I see how the team responds in the Cal game. It seems to me that Whittingham’s teams have been a bit prone to letdowns after big win or when the hype machine gets going. I hope that the coaches have learned from the past and use the extra time to get the team focused and ready to go against Cal. If the Utes can keep the momentum, the future looks good to me.
On a related note, it was nice to see Whittingham not go ultra-conservative once the Utes went up by a couple TDs. I know he said after the game that he kept going because Oregon is capable of scoring in bunches. I think most PAC12 teams are capable of scoring in bunches if the Utes go conservative so I hope the aggressive mentality sticks around a bit. The optimist in me hopes that a part of Whitt’s tendency to go conservative with any lead was related (at least for the last few years) to the fact that Utah didn’t have PAC12 depth and perhaps he didn’t think they were able to keep going full-throttle.
With regard to your nervousness to fully embrace the hype, I feel the same way. In general, I’m a conservative guy and so I try not to get too high on this kind of early success because I don’t want the figurative nut punch that comes along with a big let down (see ‘BYU Fan Expectations: Every August/September’, see also ‘BYU: Band of Nut Punchers’).
That said, I’m holding out some hope this year, because most of this team just experienced the Washington St. game last year. Given the way that game started, I’m comfortable saying that the team started to feel pretty good about itself after the quick start and it had a letdown. Now, I think Cal might be good enough to beat us on any given day (I feel that way about most of the league), but I’m hopeful that the Utes aren’t going to have a mental letdown. If they prepare and show up (mentally) the same way they did for Oregon, I don’t think Cal has enough to get it done in SLC this year.
The crazy thing is, Whitt DID go pretty conservative for the last 10 minutes of the game when we were up 62-13. That 2nd and 3rd quarter burst of points (49 pts!) will go down in history as two of the greatest quarters in the history of Utah football, ranking nearly with the 1st quarter of the Sugar Bowl.
I still can’t believe we played to a 6-6 tie in the 1st quarter and 7-7 tie in the 4th. Amazing.
That is pretty crazy. I’m just glad Whittingham didn’t go conservative coming out of halftime with a 14-point lead.
I’ve been saying all along that we need to avoid the brain fart game we seem to have every year, one we lose which we should win (Washington State). We have only won ONE conference game so far. The season is FAR from over.
I think we go too conservative too, but with a backup QB in there it is hard to open up the whole playbook.
I think they BYE week is coming at a PERFECT time to hopefully prevent a letdown. It gives the team some time to enjoy a big win, reset and heal up, and then get their focus back on the next game.
We saw a pleasant glimpse into what potential this team has but as you said, the big indicator of Utah’s ability to actually meet that potential is how they carry forward after a win like this.
Winning at Autzen was a great accomplishment but I think it is obvious that the Oregon team we beat is not quite what they were the last few years.
That being said, we still did something great by taking down a quality and talented team and it was a great thing to see Utah coaches build a game plan so well to negate an opponents advantage and shore up our weaknesses.
The best part to me to finally see our coaches show that killer instinct to not only get up on a team but to keep pushing when the situation calls for it and not just play “not to lose”. I can understand Whitt’s tendency to get conservative in games because of his defensive mindset and trying to limit the turnover risk that comes with a aggressive offensive scheme. However, I think that Whitt is finally starting to understand that this mentality does not fit all opponents as teams like Oregon can negate a lead in a hurry.
I hope we’ll see similar masterful game plans in the coming weeks and that Utah will stay focused on their post-season goals.
GO UTES!!!
I had an exchange about this with Tacoma yesterday on UFN. If you look at our really great seasons 2004 and 2008 they had a some things in common – A big one is senior leadership. Senior leadership that had been through tough down years, and had experienced at WTF loss after a big win the year before their special season. 2003 we lost to UNM after beating Oregon, and 2007 we lost to UNLV after beating UCLA. I don’t have any inside knowledge, but I have a feeling those losses as painful as they were galvanized those teams so that they wouldn’t let that happen again. Last year we beat Michigan and the lost to WSU. I think this Cal game will be a good bellwether. If we come out sharp, focused and win then obviously we have answered the hangover question, but it might be the true beginning of something great.
I mostly want to see if we can put up 35-40 points against a top 100 defense in conference play.
the hype is great. the national media is doing it for us. i think most reasonable ute fans realize there’s a long way to go and therefore we don’t go zoob. i love all the attention and it comes at a great time when kyle is on the recruiting path this week. the SI power rankings is a great thing to show the recruits (today anyway). i always temper my expectations… we will probably lay an egg in some game and lose a close one or two. the fact is that the PAC is just too tough. we will beat each other up just like last year (in the south) and the north is pretty much a big question mark now with perhaps cal and the trees being the new front runners.
so….. it’s really fun to see all the hype and it’s coming from all over the nation. enjoy it while we can. we deserve the accolades.
FWIW, i’ve had numerous coworkers, visitors and neighbors (that know i’m a ute) rave about the oregon beat down. every college football fan in socal knows who the utes are. there are a lot of duck fans here too. on my way home yesterday, i saw a car with the O sticker and i made sure he saw my Utes sticker and then we made eye contact. he just smiled and shook his head.
I once burst into my parent’s bedroom in the middle of the night only to find them cuddling in the corner stark naked listening to Mel Torme’s “Blue Moon”. My father looked at me stone faced, and calmly said “when the sea of life becomes unsteady point the bow windward and tighten your tail.”
Loading ...
