Wow, we are deep at LB

[ProudUte]

Nice article on our depth at LB.  This position is likely our biggest strength in 2021 IMO.

Linebackers

[EagleMountainUte]

I can’t remember who it was, but a few years back when Lloyd was recruited. Someone on here was trashing him and Utah’s depth. As if it was supposed to happen overnight. Swan has done a great job in only three seasons.

Pepperidge Farm remembers though.

[Central Coast Ute]

I remember after his first start someone on here was claiming he was almost benched despite a team high in tackles for the game. Pace of course jumped on and started trashing him too. He was claiming Whitt couldn’t land big name LB’s and that’s why we were so thin at the LB spot.

[fosternano]

Pace!!! I forgot about that Debbie downer 💩 😂😂😂

[2008 National Champ]

I don’t know who you are referring to but, to be fair: 2018 LB corps was Cody, a former QB, and a parochial school transfer. 2019, the big news was two transfer commitments. One never enrolled and the other quit the team at the start of fall camp leaving Bernard and Lloyd. If anyone wants to claim they knew Lloyd would be an all-american before the 2019 season.,,

Swan has done an excellent job getting talent into the LB room but there have been question marks. Even including 2020, it has felt like Utah has had to get kids from other positions or rely heavily on transfers just to get two starters.

[EagleMountainUte]

I’m not gonna say Lloyd was going to be a All American. But I will defend Utah at pretty much every position group on defense. Now depth has been thinned at times due to injury leading to lapses. I think this has finally been adjusted for and 2020 is going to be a real boon in 2022 with all of the experience on defense. Not overlooking 2021 yet of course…..well a little.

[2008 National Champ]

The only issue I currently have with the LB’s is that so many of them are in the same class. I think it will take a couple more recruiting cycles to get a better distribution and I also think that at least one of this year’s freshman will end up transferring out. 5 in one class for two starting positions just isn’t sustainable in the long term.

The DB’s and DLine will be strengths in 2022 which will help Utah break in 2 new starters so I think Utah will continue to reap the benefits of Swan’s recruiting without taking a step back.

To Central Coast Ute’s point, I think it was reasonable to have concerns about the LB’s in recent years. Remarkable injury luck at the position has been a big help in alleviating those concerns. At the same time, I would challenge any fan to look at the last 6 years of Utah HS recruiting at the position and show me more than Barton and Lloyd panning out. Fotu I would put an asterisk on until he comes back from his mission and continues with the excellent play he showed last year.

2015: Cody Barton
2016: Donovan Thompson, Kurtis Taufa, Luke Loennig
2017: Devin Lloyd (listed as Safety), Sewell (listed as a Safety, transfer in 2019)
2018: Andrew Mata’afa, (Tennessee listed at LB but will never play the position)
2019: Junior Tafuna (Mission?), Trennan Carlson (Transferred)
2020: Sione Fotu (Mission), Graham Faloona (Transferred)

[Hellhound152]

Bartle was not a fan of the Lloyd signing because he didn’t have a position.  I remember the guy from last summer that was bemoaning Lloyd’s “lack of highlight plays” and didn’t think he was that good.  He disappeared pretty quick though when confronted with actual statistics.

Ah, Idahute, there you are…

[UteFanatic]

Swan was a stellar hire. 

[idahoute]

cough, cough…that would be me. For the record I would never “trash” a player, not my thing. But as an observer I didn’t like a lot of what I saw in 2019 (I’m no authority, just a former HS player and 6-9 grade coach). I don’t remember a benching comment but as I look back at the stats he did make a ton of tackles and 6.5 sacks, so I’m not sure what I was smoking. I do remember thinking he got caught up in a lot of blocks and made so many tackles because of that amazing 2019 DL. Anyway, I did post later that I was impressed with his improvement over the year and thought/hoped he would develop into another stellar LB. Looks like that is going to happen and he is the leader of the D this year so I look forward to great things from the stud this year…

On another note, I was thinking back a few years to when an insider friend told me Tuttle was gone before the story broke and thinking Utah recruiting was doomed. Look how far we have come in just a few years! Truly amazing job by all the coaches. We have depth like I’ve never seen! Star Athletes are coming in bunches to compete for the same position which will lift the trajectory of the program even more. Believe the hype fans. On paper the next couple years will be something special….

[RedRocks]

Kudos for owning it 🙂

[EagleMountainUte]

2011 wasn’t that far back and the trajectory has generally been positive.

[Central Coast Ute]

I went back and looked and it wasn’t you. It was someone else on the same thread but I can respect a man that is willing to eat crow.

[RedRocks]

Seems like there have been quite a few links to Deseret News articles lately. Are they increasing their Utah coverage or something?

I normally try to avoid the Deseret News and KSL, but perhaps some of my dislike is unwarranted….

[leftyjace]

It’s not unwarranted.

[AlohaUte]

They and KSL are way better than SL Tribune for Ute coverage. You don’t need to agree with the Church or read the rest of the news site, but it is worth your time to check out their sports pages as they have good coverage. Neither are just a schill for BYU.

[Anonymous]

also, 247 “free” content is garbage. The site has dozens of of fluff articles that tell you absolutely nothing except “how hard they’re working” and “just trying to be a team player”. Without OnlyU we’d basically know zero about what’s going on in Fall camp.

[Author]

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