What I think needs to be done with Utah football going forward

I agree with a lot of what you say, however, there seems to be a common sentiment among fans that Utah is not a good pass coverage team. If I am reading the below link correctly utah is ranked 2nd behind Oregon in the PAC 12 for passing yards allowed. I thought Vaughn played awesome this year. One mistake Shaw made is that he let it out of the bag that Utah DB’s would face guard the opponent and not turn their head to find the ball. That’s a fine tactic but maybe don’t voice that out loud to media and other teams. That would give me a lot of confidence as an opposing QB that I can take chances on one on one matchups with low risk of an interception.

https://stats.pac-12.com/sports/fball/2023-24/teams?sort=ptspgopp&r=0&pos=def

All good points proud Ute. We go back to the late 60s early 70s with Utah football. The program is completely different in all aspects. I would never dream we would be in this position. It’s been an amazing ride!!

10. Evaluate the physical play at practice. Maybe tone down the physical play rhetoric just a little. As our reputation for being physical has increased so have injuries.

11.Upgrade the passing game. Seems like we play in a 10-15 yard radius on offense. I’d be surprised if we don’t lead the nation in fewest pass interference calls on offense. The four yards and a cloud of dust works against Colorado but not the top teams.

It’s not a coincidence that our passing defense suffers when our D-line fails to get pressure on the quarterback. We put guys on islands, and no matter how good they are they will get picked apart if the quarterback has too much time. We also played some of the best passing attacks in the country in Oregon, UW, and Arizona.

– Why do you think Shah failed? Special teams was not an issue this year at all. Our kicker got hurt. When he played, he played great. Our punter had a good year as well. Some areas need to improve I guess, but Shah did not fail. I don’t know when you turned into Mr. Negative Nancy.

– We can’t just add a coach (unless we’ve gone all this time with an open spot). We would have to remove one of the other position coaches. I see no reason to believe that Ludwig isn’t doing a good enough job with the QBs. What coach would you fire to make room for a QB coach?

– We have two stud young guys at CB. I agree Broughton in particular was disappointing this year. I would hope at least one of the two new guys would be ready to start next year.

– Vaki should play at whatever his best position is.

I think a bigger issue that you did not mention is WR. We need NEED NEEEEEED a deep threat. We do not currently have a deep threat on the roster. Kincaid was somewhat of a deep threat last season. We need to find someone that can stretch the defense out. Throw all the money we have at them, and get them here early to develop chemistry with Cam. Vele, Kuith, Parks and co are decent, but we NEED a deep threat.

Another big issue – How much of JJ’s lack of effectiveness at times (he was mostly effective) was due to injury? How much of it was due to lack of experience? How much can he improve by next season? If he can be a true workhorse back, that will be great. Is Bernard coming back? His ability to catch the ball out of the backfield would have been a huge boost to this year’s team. We should not need Vaki to run the ball. We should have enough competent running backs to let our defensive stars play defense. I’m fine with Vaki playing offense, but he shouldn’t feel the need to play offense.

I think pretty much everything else will sort itself out just by guys healing up.

Thanks Proud.

#4 – Whit has to value the QB position differently than he has in the past, if he wants to get different results. QB is clearly not Whit’s specialty. He needs to get a dedicated SME on staff or something like this.

#5 – IMO pass rush is our biggest weakness assuming we are at full strength. We get lulled into believing that this year over year issue has been resolved when Elliss and others feast on subpar lines and QBs. We get upset with the secondary when we go against better lines and QBs when at the same time the pass rush goes missing. It’s simple, give Nix, Williams and Penix too much time and they will pick you apart. What’s more we have young talent in Johnson, Snowden, Blocker and Malaska that should make us feel better about that room.

#7 – assuming we have JJ, Micah and Glover returning along with Randle and Stanley, this shouldn’t be necessary and isn’t best for Vaki. Safeties get paid more for longer at the next level than RBs. Use him on offense in spots, but not long term/permanent.

It appears DBs was a weakness due to long plays given up. I would say it was 1) we didn’t get enough pressure on some pretty top-notch qbs, 2) those qbs/wrs are some of the top in the nation. We took our licks, but in the big picture wasn’t as bad as it appears. But sometimes if you know you are burnt, PI on purpose! 15 yards is better than 30-40+.

Having a deep threat would be great, but it also isn’t our identity with so many 11 and 12 personnel sets. But it would be nice to add that 4-5 times a game. Just doesn’t seem like we had a ton of ‘chunk’ plays this year. But we also need a qb that will get it there. I mean, 1st play vs Florida was nice, but that’s a 1 or 2 out of 10 throw (double covered).

We obviously need good qb play, healthy RB stable (which I think we have), and continuously improve the trenches – OL and pass rush (run protection was pretty good, sometimes).

It feels like we need to re-load, but much of that is just getting the walking wounded back and healthy. A few more pieces here and there, but moreso for depth than swapping out talent.

Word is that we are allocating a lot more money to portal targets this offseason, so should see some wins there.

Bernard is coming back. And everything I’ve heard and seen is Kuithe and Pittman are also..

Vele, Bills GONE

Laumea, Bishop 50/50 But my guess is Utah Throws a bag at Bishop (Which they should) and he comes back for one more year. Bishop is worth the bag that guy with O’Toole, Ellis. Barton, Reid, Vaki OMG