Looking at this week’s depth chart

Mckinney and Davis are also gone after this year. Not sure what depth chart you are looking at.

We need to make getting Lander Barton a priority. There have been rumors that he might be leaning towards not coming to Utah, which would be a huge disappointment. He looks like he could be better than his brothers.

Do you mean Ethan Calvert one of the highest rated recruits Utah has ever landed? Swan is safe.

Whoa.  Swan is killing it in recruiting, and it’s laughable to think he might be on the hot seat soon.  Utah is recruiting more talent at LB than ever. LB talent is not a huge need.  LB development is though…because of youth.  There is absolutely NOT a recruiting problem at the LB position.  There is just a lot of youth, and a lot of those highly touted LB recruits just haven’t had time to develop yet.

You say that the Soph LBs may not be panning out….but there is only one non-walkon Soph LB: Andrew Mata’afa, who was always viewed as a project that needed to put on weight. 

None of the talented LBs that you mentioned (Hansen, Paul, etc.) played signficant minutes as freshmen.  

Recapping the ‘big time’ LB recruits:

Ethan Calvert (FR) was not here in the spring, and was injured early against Weber State.  Comments from coaches make it sound like a significant injury.

Josh Calvert (RS FR from UW) was also not here in spring, but is listed as the backup to Lloyd.  He was injured his RS year and didn’t play at all.  Up until this game, he hasn’t played because Lloyd doesn’t sit.  I will say that I was surprised he didn’t come in when Lloyed got ejected, and it’ll be interesting to see what happens on Saturday.  It’s important to note that all of the LB positions are not interchangeable, and they require different types of players….

Jonah Ellis (FR) was here in spring, and has seen the field and made some plays. 

Trey Reynolds (FR) was here in spring, has played every game on special teams, and is listed on the 2 deep behind Furey…who happens to have an extra year in the program so probably has a much better hold on assignments and the mental side of things.

Mason Tufaga (FR) was here in spring, but has not seen the field.  

Note that the 4 big time recruits from last year’s class are not COVID freshman.  They’re legtitimately true freshman.

Now, let’s look at the walkons:

Hayden Furey (Covid SO):  Has been with the program since 2019, saw time on special teams in 2019 and 2020.  He’s been with the program almost 2 years longer than Ethan Calvert, so he’s just going to have a better understanding of the defense.  Also note that his playing time has decreased since those first 2 games.

Karene Reid (FR):  Was awarded a scholarship at Utah State prior to serving a 2 year mission, and is listed as gaining 23 lbs over that time.  He was also here in spring.  I just wouldn’t consider him your typical walk on.  

You mentioned 3 walkons….but I don’t know who the 3rd walkon would be at LB.  

TL;DR:  We’ll be fine at LB.  We’re just really young, and you have to be patient.  Our future at the LB position has never been brighter.  Let’s hope we can keep Swan around for a long time. 

LOL! This post is so bad it’s good.

Utah’s LB position takes a full year with spring to settle in. The COVID year was not enough to get that done. For now, we can be happy for the young LBs to watch Sewell and Lloyd and get ready to see snaps next year. Reid is an anomaly, he is ahead of recent successful LBs for a freshman. Against UCLA we should see 3 LBer sets and Lloyd’s first half replacement will tell us who has made the most progress.