Utah Football Spring 2025 Preview: Quarterbacks
The University of Utah heads into their 2025 spring camp without a familiar name on the quarterback depth chart. The storied Utah career of Cam Rising is over after leading Utah to back-to-back Pac-12 championships, but then being cursed by the injury bug, thereafter.
With his departure, there are big shoes to fill, something the quarterback room has struggled with when his injuries struck. Fortunately for Utah, they landed New Mexico’s Devon Dampier, one of the top quarterbacks in the 2025 NCAA transfer portal. Dampier followed his offensive coordinator, Jason Beck, to Utah, so the familiarity with each other is already there. Now, spring ball is important to get the rest of the offense on the same page.
After Dampier, that’s where questions arise. However, the talent is there. Utah brought in an Oklahoma transfer and welcomed back a familiar face after a year away. They also bring back last year’s part-time starter, and welcome some intriguing freshmen.
Let’s take a look at the quarterbacks:
Projected Starter
Devon Dampier
Junior, 5-foot-11 and 204 pounds
Dampier was Utah’s most crucial addition to the roster during this year’s transfer portal. Last season, the 2024 First-Team All-Mountain West quarterback went off for 3,934 total yards, including 2,768 passing yards and 1,166 rushing yards. Dampier has proven to be a dynamic dual-threat in Beck’s offense.
His 57.9% completion rate can improve, along with his 12:12 touchdown to interception ratio, but this is expected due to his own improvement and the increase in talent and playmakers around him.
Dampier’s elusiveness and ability to extend plays — making something out of nothing —
is his calling card. Utah expects this to be a big headache for their opponents. Dampier has adapted well to the Utah program and has a swagger and leadership style much like Cam Rising.
The Backups
Brendan Zurbrugg
Redshirt Freshman, 6-foot-3 and 197 pounds
The transfer from Oklahoma is currently viewed as the early favorite to backup Dampier. He redshirted in 2024 and before that he was a talented dual-threat quarterback at Alliance High School in Ohio. During his senior season, Zurbrugg threw for 2,322 yards and 26 touchdowns while also rushing for 1,038 yards and another 13 touchdowns.
Zurbrugg’s father, Chris, played quarterback and briefly started for Michigan in the 1980s.
Nate Johnson
Junior, 6-foot-1 and 202 pounds
He’s back. The dynamic playmaker who started off at Utah but transferred to Vanderbilt for the 2024 season, has returned for an offense that is much more friendly to his dual-threat skillset. While Johnson is listed as a quarterback, you might as well call him a slash. He’s going to see a lot of time on the field in either a receiver or a running back role. Beck is also sure to be drawing up schemes that would have both Johnson and Dampier on the field at the same time as a guessing game for opposing defenses.
Isaac Wilson
Sophomore, 6-foot and 212 pounds
After entering his name into the transfer portal, Wilson asked Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham if he could return to Utah — a subpar season and late injury didn’t help his market. To Wilson’s credit, he was thrown into a difficult situation in 2024 after the fluke injury to Rising. However, even as the season progressed, Wilson regressed and struggled making decisions in former Utah offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig’s offense which was known to be difficult to immediately learn. It would have been a great benefit to him to redshirt as a true freshman.
Wilson played in nine games and started seven, passing for 1,510 yards and 10 touchdowns. He completed 127-of-225 of his passes. Wilson didn’t show much rushing capabilities last season, but the potential is there, as he showed it in high school as a four-star recruit.
The hope is to redshirt Wilson in 2025. The potential is there, and taking mental reps while learning a more simplistic offense could be a great benefit to Wilson.
The Freshmen
Utah signees Byrd Ficklin and Wyatt Becker have enrolled early for valuable spring ball reps. Ficklin is known for his dual-threat capabilities as he passed for 3,249 yards, 32 touchdowns, and just six interceptions to go along with 947 rushing yards and 20 scores in 2024. In 2024, Becker threw for 2,423 yards, 29 touchdowns, and just seven interceptions. Becker was used as more of a pocket passer, but he’s also a more than capable runner.
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