Any word on LB development?

[rbmw263]

Hoping for some bit time steps from davir and Donovan. That group has to be much better this year or 9 wins is not a hope but a likely cieling given schedule 

[RiseasUtes]

Haven’t heard anything on Davir, but Thompson was reported to be fighting for playing time.  Davir will probably get special teams playing time this year.  Thompson I expect to be a rotational player at LB.

[Sweetness]

I’m pretty sure Davir is full time d-end now. Could be wrong but that’s what I thought I had heard. I would have liked to have seen him and tupai get a shot at LB. 

[Onlyu]

Davir is a full time D-End…wasn’t able to make the transition as well as hoped in year 1 at backer so they moved him.  Thompson and Barton are the 2’s right now.  They each run so well and are so physical that they’ll both play a lot but Sunia and Kavika are the starters right now.  Linebackers won’t be a weakness like they were at times last year.  Kavika could be all conference and Sunia is consistently in the right place.

Good depth and experience there now.  Cody Ippolito is 250 lbs and with 3 knee surgeries in 4 years won’t likely find much time but he’s a gamer so it will be interesting to see where he fits in, if at all.

Devin Lloyd is a freak athlete but word is he might have to move to D-End.  Either way he has a high ceiling and could someday be in the mix.

[Utah]

I’ve heard the coaches think Davr has NFL potential at DE and they love what he’s doing there. 

[Sweetness]

Moving linebackers to d-end is the new “move receiver to corner.” Seriously, the d-line is stacked, the LB core is thin and our best athletes at LB keep getting moved to d-end where they are 3rd-4th on depth chart. 

[crazyute]

One thing to keep in mind is that we are running more of a 4-2-5 defense now. and so only 2 LBers are needed on the field at a time. There is talent in the program at the position. We have some younger kids in the program that are developing still like Thompson. But I believe we do need to get 1 or 2 in this next recruiting class.

[GoUtes]

Admittedly, I’m not a huge Xs and Os guy, but have we been playing more of a 4-2-5 in recent years? Or is this something new for this coming season? What is the rationale behind this? More DBs to combat many of our opponents airing it out more? Has the 4-2-5 been more effective against these spread-type offenses?

[UtMtBiker]

I think it was a combination of pretty poor performance at linebacker last year and the necessity to keep more speed on the field for match up reasons.  

[Wilson’s Mustache]

No its not new for this season. We primarily ran out of a 4-2-5 last year. You are correct, it allows us to put more speed on the field for better coverage & better match ups against spread teams. Not to mention, I believe, it allows us to put the best 11 men on the field. We haven’t been especially deep at LB, but our secondary was talented last year and looks to be even deeper this year.

If we were to play a team like Stanford, and probably BYU. We will most likely run our traditional 4-3 or possibly play with 5 D lineman.

[89ute]

LINEBACKER

THE LOWDOWN

Second-year linebackers coach Justin Ena is tasked with the biggest rebuilding job on the defense after his 2015 All-Pac-12 seniors Gionni Paul and Jared Norris headed to the NFL. The Utes have officially moved away from their longtime 4-3 base defense to get an extra defensive back on the field, so they’ll have just two holes to fill on the field most of the time.

From fall camp 2016

[Rick]

I heard Coach Whit talke about Maxs Tupai will come in and play that kind of Trevor Reilly role of hybrid DE/LB in certain situations.  Maxs is a tremendous talent and he will see some playing time this year and then he will take over  for Fitts next year.

[St George Ute]

I’m rooting for Trevor Horlacher, #51. He’s the brother of a neighbor and I met his father the other day. Really nice family. He should see some time on special teams this year but I’m hoping he makes a name for himself at LB in the next couple seasons. He’s a redshirt Freshman, so still young with a lot of time left. But for their family, I’ll be rooting for him.

[Tony (admin)]

Cool. Nice to have a connection like that. Makes it more fun.

[Utah]

We also have Ippolito, a really good LB transfer from Arizona who is hurt a lot. He can play right away but is a SR, so enjoy him this year. 

[Author]

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