As Utah rolls into week three of spring football, the team is focused on integrating new talent, fine-tuning the offense, and gaining a deeper understanding of its strengths and areas for growth.
For offensive lineman Caleb Lomu, he’s excited to be back on the field with the new guys on the offense, learning and expanding the playbook.
“We’ve got six practices down, the new offense is limited so far and the defense is looking great; obviously like we do every year, " said Lomu. “It feels good to be back out here competing with the offense and defense just having fun.”
Lomu likes the versatility to the offense and how it can keep a defense on its toes.
“We have lots of options, with Devon [Dampier] in the backfield,” Lomu continued. "He can run, he can throw, he makes it happen. We have so many more options where we can just take it and run it, sit in there and just throw it. Last year we were kind of limited but now we can open the book more and do more.”
Despite the newness of the offensive scheme and several newcomers, head coach Kyle Whittingham feels like things seem to be moving right along where they should be.
“I would say we’re on schedule, we’re in the middle third of spring ball, and so far we’ve made a lot of progress,” said Whittingham.
One of the bigger questions of spring ball is who will step up at the wide receiver position. While Whittingham isn’t content with it yet, there's been some good progress from the group.
“Still got to sort things out at wide receiver; we’re still trying to figure out who the go-to guys are going to be, and that’s going to be a process,” said Whittingham. “We feel comfortable with a bunch of them, it’s just who’s going to step up consistently and make plays.”
At running back, Wayshawn Parker is leading the group, but Whittingham is impressed with the rest of the guys behind him.
“NaQari Rogers is doing a good job. Daniel Bray is a different type of back, but he’s doing some good things,” said Whittingham. “Hunter Andrews is doing a nice job there, and Nate Johnson is also getting some reps there.”
Both Andrews and Johnson are being utilized for "slash" roles, and not as regular running backs. Andrews’ primary position is now tight end, while Johnson will be put wherever they can get him the ball as a “Swiss Army knife.”
Everyone knows what Johnson can bring to the table. As for Andrews, it’s similar to how Utah utilized Brant Kuithe.
“(Andrews is) a hybrid, he’s more of a running back/tight end guy,” said Whittingham. “We’ve seen good things; when he’s in the backfield, he does a great job of blitz pickup. He’s got great speed — a 4.4 kid — so he’s got the ability to go the distance.”
At quarterback, Devon Dampier continues to set the tone for the group, but as a depth piece, Whittingham noted that true freshman Byrd Ficklin has been making a strong impression.
“Byrd Ficklin is doing a lot of good things; he’s shown a lot of promise,” said Whittingham. “He’s gaining good command of the offense and he’s got a really good arm. He’s starting to feel comfortable in the offense, and showing more of the things we saw on film.”
With all of the positives early-on during spring ball, the intrigue will be seeing how the depth chart shakes out.
