Biggest strength and weakness in 2023

This topic has 17 replies, 12 voices, and was last updated 1 year, 9 months ago by ProudUte.

Viewing 7 reply threads

Author

Posts
- 02/09/2023 at 2:55 PM #185665
  7
  
  ProudUte
  Participant
  
  I love college football. I post this just so I can talk Ute football. What is our biggest strength and weakness going into spring ball. Of course things will likely change before game 1 against the Gators.
  
  Strength
  I would probably say QB except I do not know how healthy Rising will be. Will he be able to run? For Rising to be great, he needs to run the RPO. So I would say that our biggest strength may be at safety. We have Bishop, Richie, Isbell, and Vaki. Seems like we are very strong at this position. One group that may surprise me is RB with Jackson, Bernard, Curry, and Glover. Of course, tight ends are strong with Kuithe and Yassmin. I am not sure if we have the depth we would like here.
  
  Weakness
  I think our weakest position group may be the wide receivers. Vele, Parks, and Cope are back. We have a couple of talented players coming in. I am not saying we are weak at WR, but it may be our weakest position group. It is certainly not our strongest group.
  
  Just my two cents. What do you all think?
- 02/09/2023 at 3:06 PM #185666
  1
  
  pedro
  Participant
  
  Not really what you’re asking, but I think out biggest weakness will be our schedule. We have a tough one and it’s tough to win in this conference. We will have a very good team, but so will a couple of our foe’s. I would even dare say that this has the potential to be our best team yet, BUT may end up with 3 or 4 losses.
  - 02/09/2023 at 4:29 PM #185674
    2
    
    ProudUte
    Participant
    
    I totally agree. This appears to be our toughest schedule ever. We are one of only 4 or 5 teams that will play 11 P5 teams this season.
- 02/09/2023 at 3:14 PM #185668
  1
  
  Johnny
  Blocked
  
  I can appreciate this post. I want more football talk. I don’t care if it’s the socks they wear. Better than some nonsense about Oregon.
- 02/09/2023 at 3:17 PM #185669
  4
  
  D T
  Participant
  
  I don’t believe we have a weakness….The biggest concern is remaining relatively healthy….IF we can consistently keep guys on the field, we can beat anybody on our schedule.
  
  Not saying we’ll go undefeated, but there’s not a team on our schedule we can’t beat, IF we don’t get decimated by injuries.
  
  This Spring is important for the development of guys like NJ/BR at QB.
  - 02/09/2023 at 4:27 PM #185673
    
    ProudUte
    Participant
    
    As it sits right now – I agree we can beat any team on our schedule. In fact, we may be favored in most if not all of the games depending on injuries. However, I suspect we will lose two of the games against UW, USC, Oregon, Oregon State, and Baylor.
    - 02/09/2023 at 5:04 PM #185680
      
      Yergensen
      Participant
      
      Replied to wrong post
- 02/09/2023 at 4:31 PM #185675
  3
  
  dystopiamembrane
  Blocked
  
  The season is only seven months away. What else would we talk about?
  - 02/09/2023 at 4:42 PM #185677
    
    dystopiamembrane
    Blocked
    
    @sgufan mentioned something earlier today that made me wonder. Honest question: If there was a better football product in Salt Lake, i.e., if there was an NFL team in the city, how many of you would stop following the Utes?
    - 02/09/2023 at 4:50 PM #185678
      2
      
      ProudUte
      Participant
      
      I would remain a Ute fan first as I have with basketball. However, I think that an NFL team in SLC would hurt our attendance because big corporations and donors would buy suites for the NFL games.
      
      I do not want an NFL team in Utah.
      - 02/09/2023 at 5:08 PM #185681
        1
        
        Yergensen
        Participant
        
        With NFL in Utah tailgating would just go on for another day. Win win win scenario. Seriously though, we’d be fine with the NFL in Utah. Our fan base is dedicated in large numbers, look at how we travel.
    - 02/09/2023 at 4:52 PM #185679
      2
      
      bopahull
      Participant
      
      I haven’t followed NFL for 40 years, I certainly wouldn’t give up the Utes for it now.
    - 02/09/2023 at 5:29 PM #185682
      1
      
      The Miami Ute
      Participant
      
      I wouldn’t stop following the Utes at all. I went to the University of Utah but I’m a transplant from Miami and nothing in the world would make me switch allegiance to any Utah professional team from the Dolphins, Heat, or Panthers.
    - 02/09/2023 at 7:32 PM #185688
      
      dystopiamembrane
      Blocked
      
      My next honest question: Then, why has men’s basketball attendance been rather low?
- 02/09/2023 at 7:02 PM #185684
  1
  
  RedUte14
  Participant
  
  i think our biggest weakness is the Pass Rush this next year.
  strength for me has to be Safety for sure.
- 02/09/2023 at 7:20 PM #185685
  1
  
  chinngiskhaan
  Participant
  
  Our biggest weakness will almost certainly be at WR as is pretty much always the case. I do think they will be better this year than last. We should have at least two guys that are capable of getting open and occasionally catching a pass. Enis was unfortunately not that kind of receiver. Vele is fine, he can sometimes get open, and catches most of what is thrown his way. I’m hopeful that another receiver will step up and add something more to the offense, but we’ll see.
  
  Strength? This is going to sound crazy, but I think it’ll be a toss up between DL and LB. Both of these groups will be significantly more experienced than they were this last season. Tafuna and Pepa will make our DEs look really really good. With Fillinger/O’Toole/Ellis/Sugu etc. getting another offseason to learn the ropes, I think they all collectively take a huge step forward and make things really easy on our safeties, corners, and LB group.
  
  LBers? I think Barton is going to take a big step forward. Reid will be solid but not great as usual… but overall the group will benefit from having an elite defensive line in front of them causing problems for offenses.
  
  Offensively I think we will be great until Kuithe gets hurt and we have nobody to throw the ball to. Hopefully the other pass catchers step up and fill in the void left by Kincaid’s departure. JJ is going to be better than this last year for obvious reasons, but how much better? I don’t think he’ll be reliable enough to lean on when we have nobody to throw passes to (or nobody to throw passes depending on who gets hurt).
  - 02/09/2023 at 8:43 PM #185690
    
    Rick
    Participant
    
    I agree with you on the DL and LB groups. Don’t forget that Damuni joins the linebackers and is playmaker. Logan Fano joins the D’Ends. He has dealt with ACL injuries (I think twice now) so I don’t know how healthy he is and/or if the injuries have slowed him some; but he has the size and speed to be a playmaker if he is healthy.
- 02/10/2023 at 7:51 AM #185706
  
  Utesby1
  Participant
  
  Our receiver rotation will have some interesting challenges during spring camp. Apparently, Sidney (can’t spell his last name) is out. Tao Johnson is transitioning to the secondary. Kuithe will not be recovered from his knee injury. Signees Zipperer, Jacobsen, and Carvalho will not be here yet. That means that Yassmin and McLain will be our principal wide receivers. At least this will give us the opportunity to see if Pututau and Vaha are ever going to contribute. At wide receiver, we will have Vele, Parks, Cope, Reed, and Mathews. It sounds like we will be light at tight end and wide receiver.
Author

Posts