Finally, basketball season is over. Can we talk some football now?

[Dwight89]

I’m sorry but until Larry is gone I have ZERO interest in Ute basketball. The dude is a tool and Utah will languish in .500 b-ball til he’s gone. 

 

So…moving on… Spring ball! What do we hope to see learn from Spring ball? Personally for me its the following:

1) QB depth chart – who is making moves? 

2) Receiving corps – do any of the incoming kids and sophmores make any noise? 

3) Running backs – who fills the void Ty Jordan leaves behind? (sadface emoji) 

[UteThunder]

Totally off topic response, but am I the only one that reads Dwight89’s posts in the voice of his avatar?

 

On topic, you’ve nailed my top 3 concerns.

I wasn’t impressed with Rising and, other than Brewer, we are seriously lacking in experience at QB.

Ty Jordan will always be the ultimate “what-if” our program has ever had. That kid had Doak Walker & Heisman trophies in his future. Who will step up in his place, and how much of a drop off will there be?

WR is never a strength for us, just hoping for some kind of receiving threat to emerge besides Covey and Kuithe. 

Other than those three, I would say the defensive backfield is my next concern.

 

 

[Dwight89]

Ha, I hope everyone reads my posts in the voice of my avatar.

 

Yeah, I mean I think its tough to judge Rising on, what, three offensive series? So I’ll give him a pass for now but time will tell.

Good point on the defensive backfield. 

[Yergensen]

Can’t come close to evaluating Rising or anyone else on a quarter of football, first college game, little to no fall camp etc.  Also, I wouldn’t get overly excited that our transfers are day 1 starters (RB included), we all saw how that can go.  It will all play out.

Biggest issue on defensive side of the ball may be lack of a pass rush.  Not my take, but Whit’s and most recently OnlyU.  

[AlphaUte]

Ty Jordan was better than Booker and Moss. And watching them was like, WOW.

[Charlie]

Spring practice starts monday and should give us a chance to break out of the negative BB loop.  Bummer we can’t go watch practice but I can hope that things get good enough for us to go to the spring game.  Of the new QBs and RBs from the portal, 247 only has Brewer as immediate.  So I will be interested in how he and Costelli mesh with the receivers we have.  I expect RB will be all about fall practice.  I do want to hear Hurbert is stepping right into Ritchie’s shoes.  I think the OL will mostly work on pass blocking in the spring and the run game in the fall when the RBs are full strength, so it would be nice to hear progress on that.  Love hearing more from Bumphis, he has me excited.

[ALUF]

Do we know when the spring game is?

[Xanthis]

Yes. April 17

[UtahMan17]

My guesses…

1) I expect Costelli to be the biggest riser. The transfers got all the buzz, but I expect Costelli to have made some serious progress since we last saw him play, and become a serious contender for the starting job alongside Brewer and eventually Rising. I don’t think Justice or Barnes are ready and can’t see Jackson contributing anything in our offense except some wildcat type packages, which hopefully we’ll see!

2) Vele and Money will garner some buzz, but the ones who will eventually make a major impact this season aren’t here yet. Covey, Enis, and Dixon will gobble most of the snaps and production among the current group if they’re healthy. Vele will get some consistent snaps but I don’t expect many targets. So my eventual answer to your question is that the 1 or 2 transfers at WR we get sometime this offseason will be the only necomers to make real noise during the year.

3) No one single player will. Bernard, Pledger, and Curry all split reps, fill different roles, and have their moments, but none look like they will dominate touches and production like Ty did. Bernard will be best receiver and big play threat. Pledger will be best all-around rusher. Curry will be the power runner and goal line back. 

4) UteThunder’s DB question: Our DBs will be solid again. Hubert will fill Ritchie’s spot next to Davis, with Bishop ready to come in at SS if needed. CB will be some combo of CPIII, JTB, Marks, Mataele, and then eventually Lloyd during the season. 

Those hit all the top Spring Ball questions I’ve got. Though I am excited to hear if any of the DE took a step forward. Would be major if Fillinger, Carlton, Wegis, Kaufusi or anyone else besides Tafua and Tupai show some progress as a pass rusher. 

[AlphaUte]

They need to put Ja’Quinden Jackson at RB. He’s 6’2 230 and runs like a DEER. Plus, that is the exact body type as Derrick Henry and Najee Harris.

[AlphaUte]

Agreed 1000%

[concerned]

Q re transfer wr’s. Keep seeing posts that we will get one or two. Have we zeroed in on some targets or are we assuming somebody will be available this summer? If we have zeroed in, and the interest in reciprocal,
what are we waiting for? Was there no possibilioty of getting them here for spring b/c TB and SN tgransfers were so abrupt and late?

[Author]

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