Whitt’s weekly presser

Good game on Saturday. Wins in the Coliseum are difficult to come by. Proud of the team for facing adversity.

Oregon is a good team with very good offense and defense. They are hands-down the best offense in the league. They are very balanced bewtween passing and running. They have no weaknesses.

It’s great to have GameDay coming back to SLC.

The kickoff coverage was good but the one punt coverage was bad.

Big step forward from Barnes. He is getting better each week. Barnes wishes that pick-6 throw could come back. He know he made a mistake.

Barnes has replaced Cam as a captain for the remainder of the season.

Speaking of Vaki – he was a great offensive player in HS. He has a natural ability and a great feel for making defenders miss. He is an outstanding receiver. He has been a big plus for the offense. His impact on offense is bigger than the impact he makes on defense.

Barnes is gaining confidence and becoming a leader on the field. It helps that he is getting the full allotment of number-one reps.

The uncertainty about Rising and Kuithe certainly hurt long-term planning.

Kuithe and Rising coming back is totally up to them. They will need to look at the draft prospects and NIL money before making a decision.

Barnes is healthy in spite of taking a few hard hits. He would prefer that Barnes typically would not lower his shoulder, but that changes at the end of the game.

We cannot overload Vaki, Trending towards using him more on offense. This is a difficult planning week for the safeties. It is a fact that the impact of offense on winning a game is more than the defense.

The defense played well overall. Vaughn and Battle had great games in coverage and tackling. Nate Richtie did good but was not perfect.

Asked if Cam will continue to travel with the team. He said that is yet to be determined. If he travels, someone else can’t because there is a limit to how many players they can take on a road game.

Ritchie is still knocking the rust off from his mission. He did miss a tackle or two and needs to be more decisive. We will see more of Hall if Vaki doesn’t play because Hall is Vaki’s backup.

Jackson is a big part of our offensive attack. They want him to get 25-30 carries per game.

The offensive line is doing better and has helped the running game. Jackson being back to 100% also helps.

Bo Nix is an amazing QB and leads the conference in pass efficiency. He is also a great competitor and leader.

Would you have given Barnes the #1 reps if you could have changed things? He said he would if he knew what he knows now. But, there was no way of knowing what was going to happen with Cam.

Damuni is physical, tough and will do a great job of filling in for Barton. Barton had his best game of the season. He could possibly be back for a bowl game. We also have a lot of other LBs who could step in.

GameDay is great for the team, but we need to keep it under control so we don’t lose focus. It is great for the school and the community. We need to block out the noise and focus on beating Oregon.