Who is Byrd Ficklin?

[The Miami Ute]

Evidently, he’s a freshman QB who’s made a good impression at camp. Does anyone have any details about him?

[NarfUte]

He was a late cycle flip from texas state out of oklahoma, just before early signing day. Jamarian Ficklin – https://www.si.com/college/utah/football/2025-three-star-qb-jamarian-ficklin-flips-from-texas-state-to-utah

He’s also a lefty

[Ute Dub]

If I remember correctly he’s the quarterback that was committed to Texas State that Utah flipped when at the same time Utah was interviewing the Texas State OC.

Also, the DNews had a write up about him.

https://www.deseret.com/sports/2025/04/01/utah-utes-spring-practice-observations-backup-quarterback-race/

“His arm is live and he’s accurate. He’s put on some weight. He was real thin when he got here, but he’s put on like 15 pounds since he’s here and he is really starting to feel comfortable in the offense and doing things that we saw him doing in his high school days,” Whittingham said.

[Yergensen]

First glance his offers aren’t impressive.

Closer look, Texas St was #5 in D1 offense in 2024. They know how to score points. They know under the radar players that will score points in their scheme.

JB also knows what players will shine in his scheme.

This could be good.

[EagleMountainUte]

Calling me gun shy when it comes to any news about Quarterbacks doesn’t begin to describe how I feel. I won’t trust the “rhetoric” around the qb room until 16 games are hopefully played. (Hopefully you see what I did there)

[Jim Vanderhoof]

We need depth at Qb. Dampier will get beat up running the ball. Ficklin has similar skills to Dampier. A much different offense than we’ve seen in the Ludwig era. A less complicated offense should make it easier for the young QBs to grasp and get ready to play sooner. The spark has been lit on offense. If the Oline buys in it could be a fun year. Instead of trying to over power everyone use our speed and athleticism to spread the field.

We’ll soon find out if Ludwig’s offense was holding us back or we just don’t have the talent to compete.

[Tednab]

A close descendant to Ray Finkle a former Miami Dolphins kicker

[Yergensen]

I hope the offense will be transformed, but I think you’re giving Whitt too much credit.

I’ll believe he has gotten out of his own way and the OC’s way when I see it. We will see it in scheme, we will see it in the “throw game”. True change specifically will be less predictable playcalling and game plan, increased WR use and targets, throwing vertically, attacking the edges, just simply getting the ball more to our playmakers.

If not, then we’ll know once again Whitt is in control and in the way.

[UteThunder]

Your skepticism is warranted, but for me, the circumstances of this OC hire are different than the rest which gives me hope the results will follow.

[RedRocks]

Yeah, we’ve seen this song and dance so many times before. “This time will be different.”

That said, we’ve had some recent years with good offenses. Not sure if the coaches deserve some credit or if all the credit goes to the players who may have just had the skills to mask the coaching deficiencies (Rising, Huntley, Kincaid, Moss, Covey, etc.).

[NarfUte]

utezone’s practice report has me drinking the kool-aid again. I gotta stop

[Yergensen]

Yeah, I think personnel was transformative.

Whether it was Rising getting us into the right play at LOS or his making a play with his legs when plays broke down or TT’s elite vision it transformed Whitt and Ludwig’s predictability and conservatism into something more.

Do we really believe that in 2021-2022 Whitt and Ludwig schemed and playcalled that high red zone success rate when for years prior and since it was pretty mediocre? Or could it have been Rising, TT, Oline et al made the same old scheme and plays hum.

[UteNamedOg]

If I had to guess, it’s probably both. Whitt’s offense seems to play to the players strengths, but not at the cost of risking turnovers or negative plays. I remember going from almost never having a fullback in 2021 to Logan Kendall committing padded homicide in 2022. I’d be interested in seeing how the offense changed from just one year to the next where we went from Booker to Williams, Wilson to Williams, etc.

[Charlie]

Actually, we need to give Whitt more credit. The last few years have been awful, no doubt. But I stop and ask: how many coaches have better overcome the numbers of injuries at the QB position? Very few of the top teams have quality QBs in the 2 and 3 spot. Very few keep running along starting the #4 or #5. We could do better at backup QBs but we have to consider we are short on resources compared to all the other ranked football teams. If Rising had simply maintained typical QB1 health, just maybe more people would respect the job Whitt has done. That is more bad luck than in the way.

[Yergensen]

Charlie, I like your posts and positive outlook. But really? Whitt committed QB malpractice the past 2 seasons (not his first offenses btw) and you want to chalk it up to bad luck?

We see this one differently.

[chinngiskhaan]

I agree he deserves more credit, but I’m not going to excuse the last two years as bad luck. Sure, part of it was bad luck, and I don’t think Whitt is as much the problem as some of you seem to think, but it is ultimately his responsibility.

Our offense wasn’t just okay when Rising was healthy, it was very good. The scheme fit our personnel perfectly. When Ludwig had his guys in there, his playcalling looked great. Ludwig was a solid offensive coordinator for us.

IMO, what hurt Ludwig was his inability to recruit guys that could succeed in his system. I think a lot of that stemmed from Rising sticking around for two years too long. No good QB wanted to come and sit behind Rising.

Make no mistake, we needed to move on from him, and we did move on, but I think people forget just how effective that offense was when it was humming.

[HATUman]

Not many things great come out of Muskogee, OK, but this kid will be one of them. Excited to see what he’s got, hopefully we can hang on to him.

[The Miami Ute]

Thanks for all the comments to my original question. I’m thinking that if this Ficklin kid is more in line with the offense that Beck wants to run, that might really make Wilson redundant. We shall see.

[D T]

Hopefully, this reduces odds of relying on IW, who really needs a RS year.

[The Miami Ute]

Well, if this Ficklin kid is as good as he’s showing in practice, it might reduce the odds of even having IW on the team.

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