Now spring practice is over – what do you think…

Great post Proud! I think the roster is looking very good right now. So many starters sat out of the Spring Game that didn’t need the reps and didn’t need to put themselves at risk. For example, we didn’t get much of an idea of what the OL will look like and I’m optimistic the OL will take a step forward this year. My biggest areas of concern to address with the portal are: need to pick up 1 solid backup QB, 1 stud CB, and 1 to 2 solid WRs and we would be set. In my dream world, Whitt would convince a couple of our largest donors to provide the NIL needed to bring Martinez to Utah. If all of that happened, I’d have no problem saying the floor for the coming season is 11-1. Assuming Martinez isn’t an option due to lack of NIL, I believe the floor will be 9-3, most likely 10-2, with a realistic shot of going 11-1. But everything hinges on keeping Rising healthy. Otherwise, all bets are off. However, with our schedule and a healthy Rising, it’s CFP or bust this year IMO. Go Utes!!

Kansas St fans were right! We have no idea what we are getting into! Playing USC and UW and Oregon and OSU and Arizona last year have not prepared us for the absolute GRIND the Big 12 is!!! We are doomed, I tell you DOOMED!!!

I feel the same way I felt pre-spring.

There are a lot of teams that “can” beat us. TCU, Baylor, Iowa St, UCF. There are some teams that will be tough for us to beat: Arizona, Oklahoma State. And there are teams we should beat, with or without a QB: Southern Utah, Utah State, ASU, Houston, BYU, Colorado.

A disappointing season is 9-3. We should be in the Big 12 title game. Anything less than that would be a disappointment. We recruit better than any Big 12 team. We have more depth than any Big 12 team. We have a better QB than any Big 12 team. And we should have the best defense in the Big 12.

We should win 10+ games. This is not a PAC-12 schedule. This is a strong MWC schedule. The top isn’t as good as when Utah, TCU and BYU were all ranked, but the bottom of the Big 12 is a lot better.

And after seeing Rising and Wilson play? We should win 10+. Anything less would be disappointing.

Need a QB transfer. The situation is less than ideal again.

I think our RB problem statement is different, I would put it this way: It’s unclear whether we currently have a bona fide Utah RB1.

Job description of Utah RB1: workhorse, physical yet big play capable, 3-down back (run, block, catch).

What I think is that it’s too damn long until we start.

9-3. Too many new opponents to plan for and while I think Utah’s roster is one of the best in the league, I don’t think it’s so much better that it can withstand key injuries. I envision incremental progress at most positions over 2023 and a healthy Rising runs Ludwig’s scheme very well. But I think the O-Line is setting up to be better in 2025 than 2024 so it’s hard to assume Utah goes right back to 41 or 42 ppg. I’d say more in the 35-36 range which may not be enough to overcome an all-new secondary or slightly diminished pass rush.

I’m also concerned about the LB’s. Past iterations really attacked the LOS whereas last year they were more passive and I can’t tell if that was by design or an acknowledgement by the staff that the personnel weren’t capable of doing that, yet. I will feel a lot better about that room if someone like Fotu can step up at MLB and become an eraser in the mold of Lloyd, Hansen, C. Barton, Bernard.,,

Ultimately, it’s tough in college to have all position groups peaking at the same time due to roster change. 2019 was one of those years where everything came together. 21, 22 and last year there were obvious weaknesses and I see the potential for a couple of rooms to be a “year-away” which is why I don’t feel comfortable assuming that all of the breaks with go Utah’s way.

Nine wins is a pretty reasonable base expectation and most of the uncertainty is upside imo. Ten is as likely or more likely than nine even. It’s really a pretty good outlook.

However we have a problem. Whenever you have a star if that star goes down your team probably won’t be able to pick up the slack. Especially given what we know about our team in particular. Word is that our 2nd best QB is a true freshman with a bum knee who we should have absolutely 0 expectation of seeing. A decision I would agree with no matter what happens. I guess as long as he is held out enough to preserve the redshirt we’re all good.

Our expectation goes down the absolute s**tter the moment Cam is out, which isn’t a terribly unlikely possibility. That’s just not a great place to be and knowing that we made the same (monumental) mistake last year I would be pretty disappointed if we did nothing to remedy that issue again. And so far it seems we haven’t

If Rose is roughly the Rose of last year and was more or less on Barnes’s level then I sincerely hope we start practicing for a mid year pivot to the triple option. If there’s no threat that we could do anything productive passing already then may as well lean into it. It can’t possibly be worse than what we got last year and we could probably win the Big 12 doing it lmfao.

Sure, if everything goes wrong for Utah and well for the rest of the B12, we could fall to 8 or 9 wins. Or injuries may be spread evenly and that would put Utah in the championship game. What B12 team does not have thin spots? The other front runners, Az has plenty to work thru over the summer with their changes. OSU and the Kansas schools are generally behind Utah in the preseason outlooks. I don’t feel the rest of the conference will pressure us. Do we know a contender that does not have thin spots or questions?

The RBs only lack the big guy thru the A gap for short yardage but there are other ways to pick up the line to gain. We often have a surprise in the RB group so that has a chance to be improved. Too many new opponents to plan for, well they also have 4 new P12 teams plus the regular rotation to deal with as well. The schedule feels like a MWC one with 2 maybe 3 bumps to get over. I am not seeing a Oregon St/Washington/Oregon/SC kind of game coming. Utah has 2 very good LBs, play 2 in the base D, will get Damuni back at some point, and usually develop another each year. I like the WRs and with the TEs and Bernard coming out of the backfield, I expect the passing game will do fine.

I don’t know if our QB2 or QB3 is any worse than any other team’s but I am quite fine with our QB1. The only contenders we play is Az and Oklahoma State with only one on the road, followed by 2 byes and a whole second half of non contenders.

You know I lean into an optimist but maybe we could relax and think about guys new to the rotation that will surprise. Lomu? Johnson? Singer? Lyons? Pittman? Calhoun? I think our DEs will take pressure off our CBs.

Sure would like to hear OnlyU’s post spring perspective.

I think I’m going to see who leaves and who comes in before I want to even try and figure out what next season will bring. I still think it’s too damn long to wait until it all starts.