Ok, season wrapup. Great season with exactly the number of wins and losses I predicted! I think you have to have hope after playing four ranked teams to the final play (including giving away the game @ UW), and most the offense back and about half the defense. The game against ASU still chaps my hide, but I really can't complain about that one game.
On offense next year:
We have Huntley, Moss, and 3/5s of the O-line back (Falamaka will try to get a medical redshirt to make it 4/5). Most of our WRs are back except the big loss in Carrington and a lesser loss in Troy McCormick. Both TEs graduate, but is that even a position at Utah anymore? Basically we have the ingredients to be really good on offense next year.
We lose our two-headed backup QB situation which turned out to be very valuable this season. We get (hopefully) the highest rated QB recruit at Utah, ever. Our RB depth should improve as we get Armand Shyne back to play with Moss and Henry-Cole. We have some really young WRs that will be asked to fill Carrington's role: Wilson (to be Jr), Simpkins (Jr), Singleton (Sr), Nacua (So), Thompson (So), Boyd (Fr), Hampton (So, got little playing time this year). I don't think anyone is as good as Carrington, but we will have serious depth at wideout. On the O-line, there are some worries (Jordan Agasiva!), but Im' hoping the young guys (Umana/Tucker Scott) can help out. The offense gives me great hope, if we can figure out the o-line.
Last edited by Applejack; 11-26-2017 at 03:23 PM.
I owe Utopia an apology. He was right about the running game--it works when TW is the qb. Moss runs better; the o-line blocks better. Amazing how few penalities there were last night--and no ineligible receiver penalties. Cant be completely due the UC's porous defense. I hope Taylor gets rid of the RPO next year--at least make it much less dominant. Huntley keeps the ball too often, and the plays take too long to develop. It hurts our passing game, because the two or thee step drop isn't there, and it takes Huntley too long to see the receivers. And Huntley wont have an experienced back up next year. have to keep him healthy. Run Huntley maybe more than TW ran last night, but along the same lines.
Last edited by concerned; 11-26-2017 at 03:40 PM.
On defense nest year:
Ouch! Our mediocre pass rush gets decimated (Fitts), as does the interior of our D-line (Mokofisi, Lotulelei), as do our linebackers (Luafatasanga, Sunia T). We need to work hard to replace all those players. And the D-line was the most disappointing part of this team! The only guy we lose on the backside is the overrated Boobie.
Now, on the bright side, I haven't been this excited about a Utah defensive backfield since Antwan Sanders was back there. We have will STUD sophmore dbs. Guidry and J. Johnson are incredible. Add that to very serviceable dbs Blackmon (Jr) and Hughes (Sr, I love Casey Hughes) and you have a very young, very talented pass defense. Our safeties as well: Chase H (Sr), Blair (Sr), Ballard (Sr), and Afia(Jr). One of those safeties (at least) probably gets moved full-time to linebacker (my guess, Chase).
But I don't know who picks up the slack on the interior. At linebacker we are THIN. Cody Barton is back but he is not a starting pac12 talent. Other than him, who do we have? Donovan Thompson got some time late in the season due to injuries/suspensions. Who else? I feel like I am always harping on this, but why do we not recruit enough LBs?
Worse still is the D-line. Now, I know that Whittingham doesn't have awful D-lines, but this year's group was not great and they are gone. Anae (Jr) is back, but he doesn't get a ton of pass rush. The others are very meh: Tupai, Caleb Repp, Davir hamilton. And at defensive tackle it's just as bad. I think Leki Fotu is one starter at DT next year, but the others are a mystery to me. (Probably John Penisini right now?). In Kyle I trust, but his work is cut out for him.
It would be so painfully ironic for Utah to put together a nearly complete team - a championship caliber team - that is only missing a defensive line. But that is what appears to be happening.
Some great QBs in the Pac next season. Who is the favorite for first team all-conference? Tate? Herbert? Browning? I think Huntley is the top dark horse candidate.
I wouldn’t say we are thin at LB. we have Thompson coming back, who has been great. The last four games, he is averaging almost 10 tackles a game.
Barton will be back, and he has been solid. The coaches really like Lloyd’s potential. Nuimatalolo played a lot of special teams as a FR.
Sione Lund and Tufua are coming into the program.
If Chase returns, it wouldn’t shock me to see him move up to LB.
If Chase plays LB, we will be very, very good at LB. If he doesn’t, we will be average at worst.
As for the DL, we will be fine. Fotu and Penisini will start and they will be your traditional very good at worst Utah DT. Pututau will be really good. Pita Tonga has been solid for us and will be a sophomore.
Anae was unstoppable by the end of the year. Hamilton will be a sophomore. Maxs Tupai will be a sophomore. Hart will be a JR (it seems like he has been here forever). Heninger played really well for a freshman. The coaches think Repp can play in the NFL if he gets his weight up.
Too many fans mistake inexperience for lack of talent. We were insanely young this year, which will pay dividends next year. Our front 6 will be just fine.
Look at our front 6:
Anae - all conference potential
Tupai - 4 star player
Penisini
Fotu - both DT’s are very good already
Thompson - only averaging just under ten tackles a game.
Hansen - NFL talent or Barton, who was very solid at worst to end the year.
Then, you sprinkle in some Gary Andersen? Our defense will be fantastic.
Next year hinges on Huntley staying healthy and figuring out how to maximize Huntley AND Moss AND Shyne together.
Wilner, always loving the contrarian role, doesn't put Mitch on his all-conference team (and votes for Todd Graham as COY):
http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/12/0...award-winners/
Ugh.
Don't get me wrong. I'm high on Anae, and he ought to be mayor of Sack Lake City next season. But he's never approached anything like Unstoppable this year.
By the way, we still need to make a bigger deal out of the Mayor title. Key to the city. Ceremony. Sash. Etc. We try to force-create so many traditions. This is one that happened naturally that we can really adopt and make a big deal of.
Agreed.
And my old year's resolution was to not get in a fight with UTAH about linebackers, so I won't go there! All I will say is that too many fans mistake lack of experience with talent; if someone was sitting the bench behind someone that wasn't great (d-line!), that probably tells you that the backups weren't as good.
Official conference honors. No Utes listed on offense or defense but get 2 out of 5 on special teams.
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"Be a philosopher. A man can compromise to gain a point. It has become apparent that a man can, within limits, follow his inclinations within the arms of the Church if he does so discreetly." - The Walking Drum
"And here’s what life comes down to—not how many years you live, but how many of those years are filled with bullshit that doesn’t amount to anything to satisfy the requirements of some dickhead you’ll never get the pleasure of punching in the face." – Adam Carolla
Utah,
Let me play a bit of a contrarian based on conversations with a few people within the program. Experientially, we are thin at defensive line and linebacker. Coach Scalley is recruiting his fanny off trying to attract a couple of JC D'ends and JC linebackers as well as grabbing key high school talent. The East kids are high on the list. Anae has been a good pass rusher but not great and he's weak against the run. He has a lot of work to do to be a strong end these next two seasons.
Hansen may stay. If he does, he needs to play safety. I imagine the U will move him around some but he's a safety. That leaves the U with two experienced linebackers. One of those, Thompson, is undersized but really showed a Gianni Paul-like knack at getting to the hole and making stops. The other, Barton, got better this year but we still see him being worn like a cape by offensive players instead of getting to and filling gaps. He's a step late too often and ends up making tackles from behind. He'll improve no doubt but we're not solid at the position.
I agree with you at D'Tackles. We'll be fine. Lund has to sit a year. I hope he's a linebacker. Mika Tufua (I'm not sure if that's his name) - the decommit from BYU who came here after a mission, is working hard at D'end and may be in the mix. Too many maybes at end.
The secondary is an embarrassment of riches at this point.
Which East kids? Junior Angilau? Paul maile? S. Vakalahi? I hope they come, although I heard Maile wants to be o line in college. Any chance we can flip that buy commit? Apu ika?
Concerned,
I wish I had more info for you. All I was told was that we're hard after three East kids. I wasn't told they are all defensive players but it was within the context of talking defense with a few people.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
Pretty sure the East kids they're pushing the hardest for are Angilau, Pututau, and Maile.
If Marquise Blair and Huntley had stayed healthy, Blair would have been first or second team and Huntley would’ve gotten some recognition.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
Not sure where to put this, but here is scary video of what must be the 405 from last night. Is that how LA Ute gets to work?
https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/938437285258907648