First, you make a BIG assumption Rising is more talented. There is no proof of this. Bentley is listed in NFL mock drafts for THIS YEAR.
If Rising is better, he starts, if it’s a tie, go with Bentley. Why? Because winning gets you better recruits. Don’t worry about 2021 until Jan 2021. Why would you risk losing to a team like BYU with Rising when you know you can win?
Same with ASU. Bentley has been there before. He’s played in front of bigger crowds than we will play against all year. Go get the wins.
Why go with Rising and miss out on another Phillips? Because you “might” be good in two years? Nah. I’ll take the better, more experienced player today and in Jan 2021 I’ll deal with Rising, a HS QB and another transfer QB and instead of one Phillips in my new class, I’ll have two because I went to another P12 title game.
Tie goes to the younger, more talented player. You put off Rising for another year and he’ll go into his junior year with zero experience. How is that good for 2021 when your other young players have gained experience and are ready for next step…And you’re inexperienced at your most critical position? Think 2021-2022 when looking at next year. If Bentley wins the job in 2020, I would at least expect him to be on a short leash.
There’s been a lot of hype and question for next year, with having to replace a lot of starters and playmakers, and optimism for the young talent. Next year we’ll most likely lose 3-5 games, with a lot of players inexperienced will cause mistakes, but will get better as the season goes on. Next year is more of a set up for 2021 season, as most starters next year will be underclassman, and next year is essentially a year to give guys experience. I see 21 as the year to be hopeful for another shot at a run for the pac 12 and possibly the playoffs or at least a ny6 game.
ASU landed a terrific class of skill players….but they don’t have an offensive line to block for those players. That’s exactly what they put on the field this year as well. Maybe they have some diamond in the roughs, but I doubt it. They are losing most of their reps from the offensive line this year, and that line wasn’t pretty. They’ll have zero seniors on the line next year though, so maybe 2021 will be better. Even then, their recruiting in the offensive trenches hasn’t been nearly as impressive.
They have enough talent that they’ll make some noise, but I still think it’s a battle between USC-ASU-Utah. Colorado is coming on strong, and I’m still not sure what to think of UCLA.
While we may not be as competitive as we’d like on a national level (yet), we should still continue to battle for the Pac-12 South every year. Our recruiting isn’t where it needs to be, but it’s also continuing to head in the right direction (albeit slower than we’d like to see as fans).
Did Ena bring in Devin Lloyd?
BDParticipant
I think there is nothing wrong with admitting that Utah needs to improve recruiting to make it to the playoffs and have a chance of winning. The same for consistently winning the South division and winning the Pac12 – although the Utes are close, but with USC being down (which won’t last forever). This was a wonderful season, but we know that the recruiting gap reared its ugly head in the Pac12 championship game. I am sure the coaching staff fully realizes it, but uses “coach speak” when talking and would not fully express it like we fans here do.
That being said, I am beyond thankful for the Utah coaches and the gift that we fans have. Rice-Eccles is less than half the size of SEC or Big 10 stadiums. And Utah’s history isn’t even a fraction of fame as what Michigan, USC, Alabama etc have. Because that is what Utah is competing against for the 4-star and 5-star recruits. When Utah is able to sign players like Jaylon Johnson, Clark Phillips III, and even locals like Van Fillinger and Xavier Carlton, it is nothing short of remarkable. We just can’t fathom how hard the staff works to bring these guys in and also coach up the 3-star players to perform at the highest level. I am beyond grateful for the staff, and the miracles they are performing.
Just because they’re not recruiting a DT or a LB specifically doesn’t necessarily mean they’re missing out either .. I think they do a great job in putting players in the right positions to get the most talent out of them .. Chase Hansen came in as a QB and made a great LB .. and if I were to guess , the same would have been said for Peyton Powell if he would have committed .. Utes have a checklist of attributes they like to have for each position when they’re out recruiting .. so I don’t necessarily get hung up on not having a LB or DT ; but I do see what you’re saying
I think that’s a very naive way to look at it. Jaylon Johnson should have been a layup for USC. Utah is known as a hotbed for top Poly talent and the nation knows it….why would your kid only look at Utah if he was a top prospect nationally? Your line of thinking would suggest that kids don’t want to spread their wings and get out into the world. Utah just pulled in 5 of the top 6 Utah recruits for 2020, and your butthurt about a kid who is following Noah Sewell and Penei Sewell to Oregon. Utah and every other school got massively outworked by Oregon for these 3 kids, massively. But Utah also massively outworked every other school for Jay Tufele and the kid got wooed by USC at the last second. So you can’t always put in tons of work on one kid and forget the other kids. Kingsley is a by product of Mario Crystobal’s work on Noah Sewell. It went their way on this round.
I guess Whitt is just a s**tty coach
Florida A&M @ 
Utah 
