I appreciate the detailed description you provide.
First games are always wildcards, and Utah fans wish they could have that first game last year back. Richardson terrorized our defense, and when we focused on him ASU transfer Ricky Pearsall and others were more effective. The mystery for Utah in looking at Florida last year is how the team seemingly didn’t improve much after Week 1. Was it injuries? A relatively lopsided offense getting picked up on film for subsequent teams to dissect?
This year it’s another Week 1 game, though Napier has had a full year of getting his system installed & recruiting the kind of players he wants.
The trouble with the three young WRs you mention is they are freshmen. We have a FR 4* WR from California named Mikey Matthews we think could be pretty good, but he’s buried in the 2 deep at WR. We hope to see him get some snaps in Game 1, but the other 5 WRs in the rotation are much more experienced.
SR DeVaughn Vele is 6-5 / 210 and can run, his ability to highpoint passes reflects his 40" vertical in basketball. JR Money Parks (5-10/175) is a jet who really worked hard last year to see the field, with that effort paying off as he became a weapon, outrunning the USC defense for a 70 yard TD in the PAC championship game, for example. We have two newcomers, SR transfers, that figure to get featured - Mycah Pittman is 6-0 / 214 via Florida State and Oregon before that. Is this the year he stays healthy? Another interesting insight with Pittman is he’s known Cam Rising since the 8th grade, and though they took different routes to become teammates - Texas, Oregon, Florida State - I think there’s an unspoken goal between them to make 2023 as memorable as possible. (Pittman’s older brother Michael was a force at USC, which is why he’s in the NFL).
The other SR WR transfer is Emery Simmons 6-1/180 who’s been described as a “jack of all trades”, who started at NC State and then at Indiana, and looking to make the best of one last year out west with the Utes. We rotate WRs a lot, with Soph Makai Cope (6-3/200), converted TE JR Munir McClain (6-4/217) and RS FR Sidney Mbanasor (6-5/214), all big bodies with great hands. Also, at Utah, if they’re on the field that means they can block.
I’ve focused on our WRs because that position group has been relatively late to bloom in the Whittingham era, as previously we won a lot of games with a stingy defense, punishing ground game and special teams players that are now in the league. This year we have a new WR coach Alvis Whitted, who has impressed and motivated even our senior WR Vele with his detailed knowledge of the position, honed from years in the NFL and coaching in the B1G.
For those who know Whittingham, he’s the classic grinder, and though it may sound weird that his program is still developing in his 18th year, it reflects his unrelenting discipline to just keep getting better, himself. He’s personally a devotee of the weightroom, stair-master, swimming, mountain biking. Throughout the years his players have absorbed this, it’s a key foundation to the Utah football culture, and a primary reason Utah has historically over-performed in terms of winning games far beyond what their recruiting rankings suggest. We’ve finally broken through in getting recruiting classes closer to our final rankings of the previous year.
The situation with Rising is interesting because his status gives veteran OC Andy Ludwig a lot of camp time to evaluate / develop the other QBs, and it also means Lud can dip into his personal playbook of about 500 plays to find some unseen-at-Utah plays to capitalize on big early season games vs FL and at Baylor, and to mitigate whatever the situation is with Rising.
I won’t say much about the defense, except they’re very talented - Whitt mentioned among the best we’ve had - experienced and there’s no shortage of motivation to atone for last year’s game in Gainesville. Our DC Morgan Scalley played FS for Urban Meyer here at Utah, and has seen many NFL QBs, WRs, TEs and RBs in the PAC, so there’s no chance of him getting rattled. Our ability to adjust on D in big, nationally televised games vs Oregon and USC is the primary reason many think Scalley is a young heir-apparent to replace Whittingham when Kyle decides to ride his Harley into the sunset.
In terms of environment, Utah is a smaller stadium at 53,000 but broadcasters and opposing coaches don’t hesitate to list Salt Lake City as one of the toughest places to play, the toughest in the PAC - which is saying something with Oregon and Washington’s overhangs for the rain able to contain and reflect their crowd noise. At RES the crowd is very close to the field. Every seat is a good one, and the energy from the crowd is a distinct advantage for the Utes.
Another big advantage Utah has at home is the altitude, just under 5000 feet above sea level. Especially in warm early season games this translates into less oxygen, with the effective altitude on a warm night being closer to 7000 feet. The effects of hypoxia are cumulative over time, and by the fourth quarter many teams have sagged, with opponents’ hands-on-hips being the blood in the water the Utes use to take their effort to another level.
We’re not afraid of elite talent teams - Ohio State in Rose Bowl '22, USC’s Caleb Williams and his NFL bound WRs - and we have a lot to prove this year, perhaps because of the changing conference landscape and the move toward super conferences.
Utah will be ready.
Utes 27 Gators 21