Category: Utah Utes

REPORT: Utah quarterback Nate Johnson no longer with program and intends to transfer

The redshirt freshman has played in 11 games for the Utes and has been one of the more effective dual-threat quarterbacks in the Power 5.

Utah quarterback Nate Johnson is no longer with the Utes program and intends to transfer, according to a Friday night report from KSL Sports.

Johnson, a former four-star recruit, has played in eleven games across his two seasons with Kyle Whittingham’s program. He split time with Bryson Barnes this season with Cam Rising lost to an ACL tear. So far in 2023, he’s completed 39 of 72 passes for 499 yards and three touchdowns.

Even with his small sample size, Johnson is one of the most effective dual-threat quarterbacks in the nation. He added 232 yards and four touchdowns on the ground in his 58 rushing attempts. The redshirt freshman competed in track and field in high school.

Utah is set to play Colorado at 3:00 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday.

Utah quarterback Cam Rising to return in 2024

“One more year,” the Utah quarterback said on social media on Sunday.

Utah starting quarterback Cameron Rising will play for the Utes again in 2024, he announced on Sunday.

Rising suffered a torn ACL in the Rose Bowl last season, an injury that eventually cost him the entire 2023 season.

In his two seasons as the Utah starter, he led the Utes to back-to-back Pac-12 conference titles and a pair of Rose Bowl appearances. He threw for 5,527 yards, 46 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions across his two years at the helm of Utah’s offense, and the Utes finished both seasons 10-4.

Rising offered a threat with his legs as well, rushing for 964 yards across the 2021-22 seasons and scoring six touchdowns each year on the ground. Kyle Whittingham will have one of the country’s best and most experienced quarterbacks back for the 2024 season.

Best Amazon Prime Big Deals Day deal for each team in the US LBM Coaches Poll

View our favorite Amazon Prime Big Deals Day deals for each team in the US LBM Coaches Poll Top 25.

The college football season is heating up and ranked teams are headed in all directions in the US LBM Coaches Poll.

Oklahoma leapfrogged Texas after a convincing win over their rivals. Following suit was another riser in Louisville, who sent Notre Dame down the ladder after a big home win.

No matter what team you pull for, it’s the perfect time to show your support. Amazon Prime Big Deals Day has arrived.

Amongst the slew of deals available on Tuesday, Oct. 10 and Wednesday, Oct. 11, college football’s top-25 will be well represented in the Amazon savings.

Check out our list of featured Amazon Prime Day offers for each team currently in the US LBM Coaches Poll top-25 right here:

Utah’s Cam Rising goes in-depth on knee injury in radio interview

Utah Utes star quarterback Cam Rising gave further insight into his knee injury that has kept him out so far this season

Over the last few weeks, Utah star quarterback Cam Rising’s availability has been one of the top stories not just for the Utes but in all of college football. Leading up to the season, it appeared that while Rising may miss the first week or two of the season, the signal caller would eventually be able to return early this season.

Now, entering week six of the season, Rising’s potential return remains a mystery.

The last time the college football world saw Rising was on January 2, 2023, against the Penn State Nittany Lions in the Rose Bowl.

In the Rose Bowl, Rising would go down with a knee injury in the third quarter of the Utes’ eventual loss to the Nittany Lions. For most of the last nine months, it was under the assumption that Rising suffered a torn ACL in the game. However, that was far from the case.

On a weekly radio spot on ESPN 700 in Salt Lake City, Rising gave further insight into his knee injury as he continued to work his way back from the injury.

“I wasn’t really expecting to do this,” Rising told radio ESPN 700 host Bill Riley on Thursday. “But I think it’s important that I just let everybody know.  I didn’t just tear my ACL. I tore my ACL, meniscus, MPFL (medial patellofemoral ligament), and MCL. It was a big surgery and it’s not an easy comeback.”

Rising would further add that both Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray and then Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Hendon Hooker both suffered similar injuries late last year for their respective teams but have chosen to not play this season. Rising, however, has chosen to try to work his way back to the field this fall, a tough task to say the least.

“I’m grinding and doing everything I possibly can,” he said. “I’m ahead of schedule. I’m trying to make sure that I can be out there because no one wants to be out there with those guys grinding on the field more than me. But at the end of the day, it’s my body, it’s my body that has to recover, and not really anyone that can say much besides the best doctor in the world, Doctor ElAttrache, down in LA, can say. I haven’t really talked to any other doctors about my knee. Just been focused on continuing to improve each and every day and I know I’m getting closer. Just gotta keep making the days count. I’ll be back as I’m ready to go.”

While Rising looks to continue to work his way back to the field of play, the Utah Utes are looking to survive a rigorous Pac-12 schedule without him. The Utes are 4-1 on the season but are coming off their first loss of the season, a 21-7 defeat at the hands of the Oregon State Beavers in Corvallis last Friday. The Utes are off this week but will return to action next Saturday against the California Golden Bears.

Utes’ scholarship players to each get new Dodge Rams

Each scholarship football player at Utah is set to receive a brand new 2024 Dodge Ram

The Crimson Collective and the Ken Garff Automotive Group have reached an NIL agreement that is expected to be worth nearly $6 million.

As part of the agreement, each scholarship player in the Utah Utes football program will receive a new 2024 Dodge Ram 1500 Big Horn with the Night Edition package addon.

The NIL deal is worth at least $5.1 million alone for the 85 Dodge Rams that will be given to the scholarship players.

Each truck, however, will be wrapped in an advertisement for, For The Win 360, a college sports streaming app. For the players to use the trucks, they’ll have to remain a scholarship member of the Utes football program and be eligible to play. The insurance and lease for each of the 85 trucks will be covered for each athlete as well.

According to KSL Sports, each athlete is also expected to give back to their community in some way over the next year.

The Crimson Collective is Utah Football’s endorsed NIL collective that is looking to generate $5 million in funds raised this year. Board members of the Crimson Collective include Eldin Diglisic, CEO of Shipex, Nicole Mouskondis, Co-CO of Nichols and Co, Charlie Monfort, owner of the Colorado Rockies, Eric Weddle, former Ute and NFL safety, and Alex Smith, former Ute and NFL quarterback among others.

The Ken Garff Automotive Group is one of the country’s largest automobile dealerships based out of Salt Lake City. The group has 26 car dealerships in Utah.

Even without Cam Rising, Utah’s lack of offense in 2023 has been jarring

Of course Utah’s offense won’t be as good without Cam Rising, but just one score in two straight games? That’s really bad.

Of course the Utah offense won’t function as well without Cam Rising at quarterback. Rising is the Utes’ best quarterback and their preferred option at the most important position on the field. Not having Rising was always going to limit what Utah could achieve. The Utes desperately need Rising to get back on the field. We know this. There’s nothing new in that basic observation. However, the story goes deeper than that.

Even without Cam Rising, one wasn’t necessarily ready to expect Utah to hit rock bottom the way it has in its last two games. The Utes scored 14 points against UCLA, but seven were on a pick-six, so their offense scored just seven points versus the Bruins. Then Utah scored just seven points last Friday in a 21-7 loss to Oregon State.

One score. Seven points. Two straight games. The Utah offense should at least be able to cobble together 14 to 17 points and be moderately competitive with their offensive line and their other players.

They’re not. Bryson Barnes and — on Friday in Corvallis — Nate Johnson aren’t getting the job done.

Utah fans are not having a good time. See the ugly details below:

Comments by Utah coach Kyle Whittingham on realignment have everyone talking

Before the ACC votes on adding #Stanford, #Cal, and #SMU, #Utah’s football coach wondered how permanent all of this will be.

A few days ago, Utah football head coach Kyle Whittingham made some newsworthy remarks in a conversation with Utah-based radio host and podcaster Spence Checketts.

Whittingham was discussing the future of the BYU-Utah football rivalry, but what he said about that game also flowed into the larger discussion of college sports conference realignment.

It’s a much longer conversation, so you will want to listen to the full show to get the complete context. That said, this one paragraph is impossible to ignore. It reasonably caused a stir:

“Well, first of all, you use the word permanently, and I can say it’s far from that,” Whittingham said. “I think in two-to-three, maybe five years at the outside, everything is gonna change again. And so this may be just a quick couple years of the game (BYU-Utah) returning, and then everything is blown up again and people go their separate ways.”

Since BYU-Utah will be a conference game in the Big 12, people will obviously wonder what Whittingham thinks about the structure of conference realignment in several years. It is reasonable to think that a lot of changes (Florida State and Clemson to the SEC, for example) will occur. How far these changes spread is obviously something we’ll all wonder about.

Let’s gather some reactions to Whittingham’s comments and then make a few extra points at the very end:

Twitter reaction to Utah joining Big 12 as the Pac-12 turns out the lights

Utah joins BYU in the same conference over a decade after the two schools coexisted in the Mountain West. #SPICY

“Turn out the lights. The party’s over. They say that all good things must end. Call it a night. The party’s over. And tomorrow starts the same old thing again.”

If you’re old enough to recognize those lyrics, chances are you heard them on Monday Night Football, when Don Meredith pronounced a game as being done and dusted on ABC television.

The Pac-12 is turning out the lights. The party is over. The Conference of Champions is effectively done. The conference is down to four schools: Stanford, Cal, Oregon State and Washington State, after five schools jumped ship on an historic Friday. Utah followed Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon, and Washington out the door. While Oregon and Washington moved to the Big Ten, Utah joined Arizona and ASU in going to the Big 12 to form a 16-school conference. The Utes, Wildcats and Sun Devils quickly reunited with Colorado days after the Buffaloes began this domino effect.

Social media reaction was explosive, as you could well imagine. Emotions ran high. Here is a sampling of what went down on a landmark day in college sports:

Utah ready for Women’s College World Series for first time since 1994

Who do you think will win the matchup between Washington and Utah?

The No. 15 Utah Utes beat the San Diego State Aztecs 7-2 to advance to their first Women’s College World Series (WCWS) since 1994. This will be the sixth program appearance at the WCWS and they will face No. 7 Washington in Oklahoma City on Thursday at 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.

“I think we play better if we believe we are the underdog, so I think we are making sure to stay on that plane,” coach Amy Hogue told the Deseret News Wednesday afternoon. “But we know better. We have beat the best of the best, and we know if we play loose we can beat anybody.”
Washington and Utah are both in the Pac-12 Conference, so they are familiar with each other’s games. However, the Utes seem to be peaking at just the right time and San Diego State’s head coach had glowing words for them after her team’s loss.
“They’re a gritty squad. We’ve played some really, really good teams this year and I feel like … everybody (at Utah) can do everything in terms of, they have a short game,” said Aztecs head coach Stacey Nuveman Deniz. “As a defense, it’s hard to play them. They seem to be playing with a lot of confidence. I think they’re going go in and make some noise. You saw what they did in the Pac-12 tournament. They’ve got a complete team and they’re inspired. That’s a pretty dangerous combination.”
Coach Deniz is referring to Utah winning the 2023 Pac-12 softball tournament championship after beating No. 1 seed UCLA 7-4.

The WCWS is a double-elimination format and the final two teams play a best-of-three series for the national championship beginning June 7. The tournament runs from June 1 – June 9, if necessary.

Home field advantage: Who was the most dominant at home in 2022?

These teams were the best at defending the home turf in 2022.

The game of college football has a massive following and a large part is due to the traditions and pageantry of the sport. Home games in college football are just at another level than we see around most of the NFL.

Sometimes they get a little too rambunctious, just look at the Tennessee vs Ole Miss game last year. Does anyone need some mustard?

Regardless of how that game turned out, there is just something about watching your favorite team at home. The rankings were determined by the team’s record at home and the average margin of victory in those games.