[RedRocks]

From a fan perspective, I don’t think the NIL/Portal system is that much different from recruiting in general.

There are many high school recruits that never even see the field. Most fans probably don’t even follow recruiting all that closely. I actually think that more people are paying attention to portal comings and goings than they ever did for recruiting (outside the big catches).

At the end of the day, the games will still be played with the same rules (more or less) and the same number of players. Most of us enjoy the games more than recruiting and the coaching carousel.

Recruiting/coaching changes are interesting for off-season entertainment, but I am more interested in the on field product. College football teams change so much from year to year already; this shouldn’t be new to the fans.

I think Utah fans should be more upset about the lack of communication from the team/coaches: no more public practices, no injury information (or straight up false information), etc. This hurts the fan experience more than NIL or the portal.

[RedRocks]

I won’t pretend to know, but most people in this ‘industry’ are looking to advance their careers and get paid more.
Sometimes people bite off more than they can chew, or leave success to find failure (Scott Frost, Brian Harsin, Chip Kelly, etc).
I guess you can’t fault them for shooting their shot. Many people have succeeded following this approach as well.

Utah is a clear step up over UNM and USU for career/money chasers. If you want to coach in Utah, I assume most would choose Utah over USU as well.

[RedRocks]

I’d really like to know why Utah has so many injuries lately, especially quarterbacks.

Some like to blame the turf, but many teams play on turf. Some like to blame Under Armor, but there are other teams that use Under Armor.

Having seen some of the injuries on video, there doesn’t really seem to be anything unusual. Cam Risings latest injury looked painful as the defender kind of caused him to roll up on himself (backwards). Isaac Wilson’s injury also looked painful as he seemed to land awkwardly and get tackled by a defender who appeared to try and gator-roll him.

[RedRocks]

Urban Meyer is probably the best coach Utah has had (so far 😉), but he didn’t stick around very long.

Kyle Whittingham has been a great coach with some glaring blind spots (offense, fan engagement). I am not in the camp that thinks he should be fired or forced out, but I really wish that he would adapt a little bit more on offense.

Throughout all the different Offensive Coordinators, Kyle Whittingham has been the constant that keeps the offense the same (despite what he has said publicly). The only years where that hasn’t been the case is when Utah had a quarterback with the skills to mask/overcome those deficiencies (Huntley, Rising).

Poor QB play/progression, inconsistent offensive line play (despite constant praise for how good they are), and playing not to lose (instead of to win) have been hallmarks of the Kyle Whittingham era.

This is nothing new. We Utah fans have been complaining about these things for a long time. We just kind of forgot (or became hopeful they were gone) during the PAC-12 Championship years.

I am a Utah football fan, have been for a while, and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. I think Kyle Whittingham has done great things for the program. However, when you get paid that much, you are expected to produce.

I hope he comes back next year, turns things around, wins the Big-12, and rides off into the sunset as a Utah legend. Not because I don’t like him (he seems like a great person/coach), but because I think we are all ready for a new era of Utah football (even with the potential growing pains).

[RedRocks]

Maybe my memory of former Cam is tainted by recent Cam, but Rose looked just as good or better running than Cam ever did. At least, from an athletic perspective. Maybe not on the option reads.

[RedRocks]

This. I’ve been impressed with his ability to seemingly catch (almost) everything thrown in his direction and wonder why he doesn’t get more targets.

[RedRocks]

Most likely.

Think of someone like LeBron James. He receives a salary as an employee of the Lakers, but he also gets paid by Nike and others for NIL/promotion/etc.

[RedRocks]

Yeah, that false start penalty made me wonder why those don’t count as a free play for the defense; kind of like how offside is a free play for the offense.

I wonder what it would be like if they were allowed to continue the play and the defense was allowed to accept/reject the penalty.

[RedRocks]

I can’t bring myself to believe anything like this from Whittingham anymore… The past season and a half have made sure of that.

[RedRocks]

Yeah, that is kind of what I was trying to say with part of my previous message. I guess I didn’t do a great job.

[Author]

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