Status of Utah football

[ProudUte]

It was announced today that we are done recruiting the portal. There are a couple of guys who have offers that may still join the team in the coming days. But, for all intents and purposes – our Spring roster is set. So, what is the status of our team?

I think anything that is said today, is subjective at best. We have lost some key players to the portal and graduation. Losing Reid and Kuithe is the most painful. Also, losses like Calhoun, Woods, some Dline guys, etc., are also painful.

We may be better off with our new offensive coaches. I am at least hopeful that Beck will make a difference. We also have a new RB and QB coach. Continuity is typically a good thing for a college program. However, I think that these are changes that were needed.

It appears we have made some nice pickups via the portal. Yet, none of these guys were top P4 players. Some of these new guys have a lot of potential, but we all know what potential is worth.

Let’s face it – we will be a whole new team with a completely new offensive look. Last year we entered the Big12 with experience and continuity. That got us a preseason ranking of #1. But, three of the four teams that ended up tied at 7-2 were teams picked in the bottom 6 teams. Three of the four teams that were picked in the top 4 – ended up dead last.

So, where do we stand? I don’t know. I hope the offense can be productive and fun to watch. The defense has a lot of rebuilding to do. If I had to predict our record for the 2025 season as of today – I would say 7-5 or 8-4. Could we do better than that? Yes, but there are way too many unknowns. I am not drinking any Kool-Aid in 2025.

[AlohaUte]

First, the offense can’t be worse. So we got an upgrade for sure. Is it enough though? TBD.

I’m a little concerned we didn’t have more transfers in the trenches on both sides of the ball.

But I think we’ll be substantially better next season. Dominant defense will be there and couple that with a sufficient offense and we’ll compete for the top of the league.

Goal should still be to make the CCG.

[UtahUtesRock]

I know this may not be popular. I love Kuithe as much as the next guy but I’m not sure how this is a big loss from the last few years to this next one. We really didn’t get that much production and of the two I always felt Kincaid was the more productive of the two. Do we have a Kincaid this coming year? I’d say not likely, no. But do we have somebody that can match Kuithe’s production from this last season and the one before? Almost certainly.

[Utesbyfive]

Bartle had to write a story. Utah isn’t done recruiting the portal, if the right player comes open.

[Utah#1]

Unless I am wrong, but it appears the portal never closed because players are still transferring even though techically the portal closed end of last month.

[2008 National Champ]

By rule, the Winter portion of the portal is closed to new entries. The exceptions to the rule are:

1) Kids who have reached graduate status can enter at any time
2) Kids whose season has not ended yet have 5 days after their team has played its last game
3) When a Head Coach takes a new job or is fired, kids have 15 days to enter their name in the portal

Kids in the portal can sign at any time they find someone willing to take them on. So there is limited movement throughout the year with big pushes during the December and April windows for new entrants.

[pedro]

I’m not that worried. We’ve lost a lot of guys on defense before, and though we might not have been as strong the next year, we were still a decent defensive team.

As for the O, that is the big question mark. I think we will be better, but by how much?

[Uteanooga]

We didn’t have to worry about the defense under the old rules because the program always had players developing alongside returning veterans- that is, when someone graduated there was a player with 2 or 3 years learning the system as well as development in the strength and conditioning program. This recipe was spiced with some incredible players who started as freshmen like Eric Weddle, Jaylon Johnson, and Clark Phillips.

Now we are losing both starters who would have returned to anchor the D as well as players in development and replacing them with players from G5 programs and P4 programs where playing time was not available. The coaches will have to make do with players having less time in the program.

Will this recipe be as good as in the past? Time will tell. There is no point in being worried about it but some level of skepticism may be warranted.

[22Ute22]

I’m honestly quite concerned about the defense. Obviously Scalley always does well, but how can you not be a bit worried?

We lose O’Toole and Van and we don’t really have anyone proven to replace them. Hopefully Daley and Fitzgerald take a step forward, but we can’t count on that.

LB is unknown. Barton hasn’t decided, right? Even if he does comeback, he wasn’t exactly great last season. Would be better than him leaving, but not something to be hyped about. We haven’t heard about Damuni.

CB has no proven players. Johnson might be back, but we really have no idea. Blocker left. Calhoun left. Our CB transfers we brought in aren’t exactly the most highly rated.

DT is a bit rough with Tanu leaving. While he wasn’t amazing and he wasn’t as good as Tafuna, we are losing both. I don’t think we have anyone who is as good as Tafuna, and while someone might be as good as Tanu, who are the backups going to be?

Oh well, we will have to see.

[China Rider]

The conference is awful. Were stuck with the zoobs. The offense is anemic. The kick team is out the door and we are rolling the dice with the newcomers. I have traded in the koolade for whiskey.

[Jim Vanderhoof]

The coaching staff (Whitt in particular) will be highly motivated. Hopefully that will transfer to the remaining players from last year that want redemption. A new simpler offense will help the new recruits and transfers. We go from front runners to underdogs.

[2008 National Champ]

the problems of 2023 & 2024 were because the coaching staff wasn’t motivated? or just normally motivated but not highly motivated?

[Jim Vanderhoof]

2024 was a disaster. Picked to finish first and Whitt wanted to retire a winner. It seemed to motivate Sitake more after a losing season. We will soon find out. Plus he is finally figuring out the offense and defense are to complicated for the revolving doors.

[chinngiskhaan]

This program was stale and badly needed a refresh. Make no mistake, having Rising, Kuithe, and Ludwig gone is good for this team, and they should have been gone after the last Rose Bowl game. The entire Rose Bowl team was built around two players. When those two players got SERIOUSLY injured, we should have moved on from them and built a new team around new players. Instead, we decided to stick with the old scheme and old players, despite the old players being shadows of their former selves. This created many issues in all facets of the Utes CFB program including recruiting, coaching, team bonding, leadership, and overall program growth. How

We had guys sticking around due medical redshirts, and others sticking around due to COVID years. This completely clogged up the flow of our football program, and brought everything to a screeching halt. If Rising and others had moved on when they should have, we could have used the momentum from our success to recruit newer, better players. Instead, all our stars stayed, and newer players didn’t want to come because they knew they would be stuck behind our stars.

We needed a refresh, and we got one with a new OC, a new offensive system, and a completely new offensive look. Is it a good refresh? If good means better than the last two years, I think it is nearly impossible for it not to be good. We’ll see how much better than the last two years we are when next season rolls around.

[concerned]

Truer words were never spoken.

[Yergensen]

Ludwig wasn’t getting changed out after those RB runs, rarely do you see change during periods of success.

Wasn’t going to happen after 2023 either when many thought the coaches did a really good job of triage despite being the actual cause of the mortal wounds.

I’m afraid had we not heavily relied on Cam’s return to health and gotten adequate or even Barnes QB play in 2024, we would still have Ludwig and his staff and the issues that came with them.

Was 2024 avoidable? Yes, with progressive and accountable leadership it could have possibly been avoided. Our 2024 season would have happened to most programs in a similar situation and was unfortunately necessary for us to change the direction of our offensive system.

[chinngiskhaan]

Yeah, I’m not trying to suggest Whitt should have seen the future and canned Ludwig after 3 stellar years in a row. Had Rising and Kuithe left back then, Ludwig probably would have done much better these last two years, but they didn’t, Ludwig was terrible, and he needed to go.

The coaches did the best they could with the info they had, which was apparently bad info (regarding Rising’s injury).

[Yergensen]

My angle was more had we moved on from Cam earlier with Ludwig at the OC helm, 2024 might have looked something like 2023. This would have kept Ludwig in place and wouldn’t have brought on this needed change this early. Call it 2024’s silver lining.

[lgt4141]

All Utah needs is average offense to be competitive. With an average offense 2024 would have been different.

I am excited for the change in offensive philosophy and personnel. It feels needed. I think the coaching staff is going to be extra motivated to show that 2024 was a fluke. I think we will be pleasantly surprised.

My personal hope is that they win 7 games. Like others have said I am avoiding the kool aid.

[UteNamedOg]

Defense has earned the benefit of the doubt. My therapist says the offense from 2024 was actually just my imagination and any mention of it or something about TCU in 2010 should be ignored. I don’t care what the offense looks like, just as long as we don’t have to sit through another year of run for 2 against an 8 man box, run for 3 against a 7 man box, incomplete pass. Handcuff Wilson to the OC ala Rising in 2019 and just air it out.

[Author]

Posts