Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Dan Sorensen on Utes Spring FB, HS Recruiting, Expectations for new offense + more

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Dan Sorensen on Utes Spring FB, HS Recruiting, Expectations for new offense + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

0:01
Speaker 1: God, you were listening to about Sean O'Connell show, your
0:07
Speaker 1: source for the best youths football coverage. Here's OC from
0:10
Speaker 1: the Murdoch Hyundai Studio of ESPN seven hundred at ninety
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Speaker 1: two to one a half.
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Speaker 2: Am, Oh, welcome to our number three. Welcome in. Dan
0:22
Speaker 2: Sorenson kind enough to join us to talk a little utes.
0:26
Speaker 2: Spring football is a rap instead of a spring game.
0:30
Speaker 2: This past Saturday, they had a twenty two Forever fan event.
0:35
Speaker 1: Uh.
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Speaker 2: Fun for the kids. I don't know if it was
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Speaker 2: fun for everyone else because there was a long line
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Speaker 2: for the autographs, but people seem to be happy and
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Speaker 2: good spirits waiting there. Dan Sorenson, how are you doing well?
0:48
Speaker 3: How's it going, OC?
0:49
Speaker 2: I'm doing all right.
0:50
Speaker 3: Man.
0:50
Speaker 2: It's good to have you back on the show. It's
0:52
Speaker 2: been a while. So before we get to any you know,
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Speaker 2: meaningful football conversation, how do you think the Saturday fan
1:00
Speaker 2: event versus spring game comparison is going to be handled
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Speaker 2: processed by Utah fans.
1:07
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that's a good question. I was there
1:09
Speaker 3: on Saturday checking things out. People that were in attendance
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Speaker 3: seem pretty excited. I love the kids zone thing with
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Speaker 3: letting the kids run around and jump on tackling dummies
1:20
Speaker 3: and that sort of thing. If you have a family,
1:22
Speaker 3: if you've got kids, like that's ideal, way better than
1:25
Speaker 3: the spring game. I get why they changed it, wanting
1:29
Speaker 3: the extra practice, wanting to limit contact, limit injuries, that
1:32
Speaker 3: sort of thing. From the message board at you Zone,
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Speaker 3: it's probably fifty to fifty in terms of people that
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Speaker 3: are missing the spring game and wish that they'd seen
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Speaker 3: it and love to sit in the stands and get
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Speaker 3: some sort of a glimpse of football in the long
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Speaker 3: offseason versus the people that liked to engage with the
1:51
Speaker 3: players and engage with the coaches and that sort of thing.
1:54
Speaker 3: So I think it's probably going to be a pretty
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Speaker 3: healthy split. I personally liked it, but I'm not a
2:00
Speaker 3: fan of spring games in general. So that's just me
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Speaker 3: and I don't necessarily expect people to have the same
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Speaker 3: taste so that I do.
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Speaker 2: All right, let's talk about the actual spring practices. The
2:12
Speaker 2: media observation Morgan Scalley opened things up a little bit more,
2:16
Speaker 2: especially that final two our viewing period, almost two our
2:20
Speaker 2: viewing period. And look, we know that there's some questions
2:24
Speaker 2: that need answering. I think the number one for a
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Speaker 2: lot of people is how's the offensive line going to look?
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Speaker 2: So let's start there. Based on what you saw, based
2:33
Speaker 2: on conversations that you've had, and knowing the talent that
2:36
Speaker 2: they brought in, especially guys like Kelvin Obot, how do
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Speaker 2: you think this offensive line has taken shape to this point?
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that they're right on schedule for where
2:47
Speaker 3: they want to be based on what we saw and look,
2:51
Speaker 3: we saw limited portions of practice. We saw a couple
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Speaker 3: of full sessions, only one of them full of contact,
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Speaker 3: so to speak. But it's it's a little tough to gauge.
3:02
Speaker 3: You know that when they're doing the running game, it's
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Speaker 3: not necessarily full bore contact like you'd see in the game.
3:09
Speaker 3: We saw a lot of passing sets, so we I
3:11
Speaker 3: think we've got a better view of how they can
3:14
Speaker 3: handle a pass rush, how they can handle a blitz,
3:16
Speaker 3: that sort of thing. But from what we saw, from
3:19
Speaker 3: from what we heard from both coaches, from other players,
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Speaker 3: private conversations that I've had, I think that they're feeling
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Speaker 3: pretty confident about this line and feeling like it's going
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Speaker 3: to be better than most people will expect. Having to
3:33
Speaker 3: replace those five starters. You know you mentioned Obot he
3:36
Speaker 3: came in. He looked really good for a true freshman
3:39
Speaker 3: in terms of physicality and having a body that looks
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Speaker 3: ready to go. I think that obviously the game still
3:45
Speaker 3: needs to slow down for him a little bit. It's
3:48
Speaker 3: to be determined whether we're going to see him in
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Speaker 3: that starting lineup this fall, but I think that they
3:54
Speaker 3: established probably seven guys that they trust, and and and
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Speaker 3: three of those guys we know we're going to be
4:00
Speaker 3: sure fire starters, and zarow A Williams and Keith Olsen
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Speaker 3: and and Alex Harrison likely at center, and then there's
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Speaker 3: gonna be some battles. But it was nice to see
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Speaker 3: a guy like Garcia, who's been in the program a
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Speaker 3: couple of years, was heard all year last year. He
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Speaker 3: looked really really good, especially towards the end of spring football.
4:20
Speaker 3: And so that unit is coming together. They need to
4:24
Speaker 3: develop some cohesion. There's a lot of work that needs
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Speaker 3: to be done throughout May and the summer that the
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Speaker 3: battles are going to continue into fall camp in terms
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Speaker 3: of who's going to actually start. But I do think
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Speaker 3: that when the lights are on and this team takes
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Speaker 3: the field, that offensive line unit will probably be better
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Speaker 3: than most fans expect. I'm not expecting them to come
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Speaker 3: anywhere near what we saw last year. I think that
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Speaker 3: was a once in a generation type of a line
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Speaker 3: for Utah. But I still think that they're going to
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Speaker 3: be good enough for this Utah offense to do some things.
4:55
Speaker 2: We had Kevin McGibbon on last week and he basically said,
4:59
Speaker 2: you know, Kelvin Obot is going to be a guard
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Speaker 2: this year. I mean a lot can happen between now
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Speaker 2: when they actually take the first snaps of live competition,
5:09
Speaker 2: but right now, that's where they're working him out. And
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Speaker 2: he obviously was a tackle in high school, because of
5:14
Speaker 2: course when you're built like that, you're going to be
5:18
Speaker 2: and he'll be a tackle at some point in his
5:20
Speaker 2: career at the University of Utah. I think it's less
5:24
Speaker 2: of a physical readiness thing and more of like a
5:26
Speaker 2: learning a playbook and getting used to the pace of
5:29
Speaker 2: the game and things like that at this level. But
5:32
Speaker 2: when you see somebody like that being put inside to
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Speaker 2: play guard, what do you think.
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Speaker 3: Look, I think it's it's a good idea. It's a
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Speaker 3: I think it says less about Obat and his readiness
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Speaker 3: and more about Zaraway Williams and what he's bringing to
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Speaker 3: the table is that, you know, graduate level senior. You
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Speaker 3: got the extra year of eligibility. He's had a lot
5:54
Speaker 3: of injuries that he's dealt with throughout his whole career,
5:56
Speaker 3: but you know, you can't coach six eight three h
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Speaker 3: five And he looked he looked as solid as any
6:02
Speaker 3: lineman this spring. And so if you've got a guy
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Speaker 3: like that at left tackle that can handle the job,
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Speaker 3: and he's got some experience and he's an older guy
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Speaker 3: who's been in the program for a long time, kicking
6:14
Speaker 3: Obot inside is a good idea. You want to get
6:17
Speaker 3: him a reps. You want to get him on the
6:19
Speaker 3: field as much as you possibly can. If you can
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Speaker 3: win that starting spot, it's about getting the best five
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Speaker 3: out there. And yeah, to your point, next year, Kelvin
6:28
Speaker 3: Obot's the starting left tackle barring anything strange happening. And
6:32
Speaker 3: I think that that's a great path for him in
6:34
Speaker 3: terms of what that will look like, both not only
6:37
Speaker 3: for his personal development, but for the team as a whole.
6:41
Speaker 2: So, I mean we've probably belabored the offensive line point,
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Speaker 2: maybe even too much for some people, but that is
6:47
Speaker 2: you know, you've got maybe all five guys will get
6:51
Speaker 2: at least some opportunity for professional football. The top two
6:54
Speaker 2: of those are going to be as high as first
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Speaker 2: round draft picks, and it's a big thing to try
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Speaker 2: and replace that. Like you just mentioned, beyond offensive line,
7:03
Speaker 2: and I've asked, I think all of our football guests
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Speaker 2: all spring about this, Where else are you worried? What
7:10
Speaker 2: is the secondary concern? If that's the right way to
7:13
Speaker 2: put it. In terms of replacing talent from last year?
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that coming into spring there were three
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Speaker 3: main areas, So offensive line was a number one, A
7:23
Speaker 3: close second would be the defensive line, and then third
7:26
Speaker 3: place would be cornerbacks and replacing all of the talent
7:30
Speaker 3: that left that room in the offseason. Defensive line definitely
7:34
Speaker 3: was a question mark heading in I think that a
7:37
Speaker 3: lot of those questions got answered. The defensive tackle room
7:40
Speaker 3: looks deep, they look good, they look bigger than last year.
7:44
Speaker 3: The transfers that they brought in, and jam Wallace and
7:47
Speaker 3: Lucas Samsula and Jai Moi especially those three looked outstanding.
7:54
Speaker 3: And Carson Kafussi looks like he's taken a leap. Poop
7:58
Speaker 3: Poo was looking really good and in early in camp especially,
8:03
Speaker 3: So I think that that defensive tackle room is going
8:05
Speaker 3: to be much improved in what we saw a year ago.
8:08
Speaker 3: And they've got a lot of able bodied guys there
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Speaker 3: that are going to have a fierce competition and that
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Speaker 3: competition is gonna gonna raise all boats, so to speak.
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Speaker 3: So so I like, what where what we're seeing at
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Speaker 3: interior defensive line edge rusher. I think that there's still
8:23
Speaker 3: some questions to be answered. We saw some really good
8:27
Speaker 3: things out of out of a few of the guys
8:30
Speaker 3: in the room, and guys that where where you would
8:33
Speaker 3: expect to see a lot of progress. Lance Holtzklaw, you know,
8:38
Speaker 3: he's a senior. He was in the defense last year.
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Speaker 3: He was coming along nicely towards the end of the year.
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Speaker 3: He's a guy that we expect to be out there
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Speaker 3: a lot. He looked good this spring. Cash Dylan looks
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Speaker 3: like he's really close to making that leap, and we've
8:52
Speaker 3: been hearing about him for the last couple of years
8:54
Speaker 3: about how coaches have very very high expectations of him,
8:57
Speaker 3: and he's a guy that you know, once that lie
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Speaker 3: well really goes on for him he could be a
9:02
Speaker 3: force and maybe even John Henry Daily type of force.
9:06
Speaker 3: But he's got to put it together and he looks
9:08
Speaker 3: like he's close there. I think he had a pretty
9:10
Speaker 3: solid spring. And then of course Ethan Day that the
9:14
Speaker 3: transfer out of North Texas, he looked really good as well.
9:18
Speaker 3: He's got a great motor, looks like a good leader,
9:21
Speaker 3: a good culture fit. So they've got those three at
9:23
Speaker 3: defensive end. There's others that are fighting for it to
9:27
Speaker 3: get on the field and be part of that rotation.
9:29
Speaker 3: But overall, d lines looking pretty good and the cornerback
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Speaker 3: room I think is going to surprise some people as well.
9:36
Speaker 3: Lots of new faces. Basically the only people that we
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Speaker 3: saw last year really were Scooby Davis, who we know
9:42
Speaker 3: what he can bring to the table, and then maybe
9:44
Speaker 3: a little bit of JC Hart as a backup, and
9:46
Speaker 3: Rock Caldwell is a backup, and beyond that it's all
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Speaker 3: new faces. But we saw some really good things, some
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Speaker 3: really excellent progress throughout the course of the spring. The
9:56
Speaker 3: biggest thing, and Shriff Shaw brought this up in his
9:59
Speaker 3: media availability, is they got to learn how to defend
10:01
Speaker 3: and be physical without being too physical, without grabbing too much,
10:05
Speaker 3: so watching for the PI and if they can get
10:08
Speaker 3: that cleaned up, they can be a pretty solid group.
10:12
Speaker 2: Who are the top three linebackers going to be? I
10:14
Speaker 2: feel like you might be embarrassed for choice here because
10:17
Speaker 2: I like what I've seen from that group, and obviously
10:20
Speaker 2: you've got John too Hall back, But I wanted your
10:22
Speaker 2: perspective on who you think the top three linebackers are.
10:25
Speaker 2: Technically your base is still a four to three even
10:28
Speaker 2: though opposing offenses forced you into Nickel package is more
10:31
Speaker 2: often than that. But if you had to start three
10:34
Speaker 2: guys right now, who to be right now?
10:37
Speaker 3: John W.
10:38
Speaker 1: Hall?
10:38
Speaker 3: Of course, he looks like he's gonna have a big year.
10:41
Speaker 3: I'm a big Tray Reynolds fan. I think that he
10:43
Speaker 3: played really really well down the stretch last year. We
10:46
Speaker 3: saw his reps go up as a season progressed. He's
10:49
Speaker 3: going to be in there as a starter once again.
10:51
Speaker 3: Another senior that can get out and get it done
10:54
Speaker 3: and be a leader. The third guy, I think is
10:57
Speaker 3: really where the question mark is. I think it's going
11:02
Speaker 3: to be Cyrus Polu, the sophomore. He was a four
11:04
Speaker 3: star recruit coming into to campus. Last year. He saw
11:09
Speaker 3: reps on the field as a true freshman. He looked
11:12
Speaker 3: outstanding this spring. Just a high motor guy. Ability to
11:17
Speaker 3: rush the passer, ability to drop into coverage. He's getting smarter,
11:21
Speaker 3: he's physical, he looks really really good. You can't discount
11:26
Speaker 3: Eliza Ellis, who I think we're going to see a
11:29
Speaker 3: lot of as well. And between those two, I think
11:32
Speaker 3: that they're probably the ones that are going to battle
11:35
Speaker 3: for that third spot. And we might see a lot
11:37
Speaker 3: of Taystan Reid. We saw a lot more of him
11:39
Speaker 3: towards the end of spring than than we did in
11:41
Speaker 3: the beginning, But I think that he's a guy that
11:44
Speaker 3: could be a rotation guy. But yeah, to your point,
11:47
Speaker 3: there's a lot of great choices, and really love what
11:50
Speaker 3: they have, especially with the senior leadership. But man cyrus Polu,
11:54
Speaker 3: if I had to pick a kind of a dark
11:57
Speaker 3: horse breakout player for the Utes this fall that maybe
11:59
Speaker 3: the casual fan doesn't know he's the guy.
12:04
Speaker 2: This is the first year I can remember where we
12:07
Speaker 2: don't come into well springball and then into fall camp
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Speaker 2: saying who's going to catch passes, Who's going to be
12:13
Speaker 2: the thread on the edge. Feels like that problem, if
12:19
Speaker 2: you want to call it that has been addressed with
12:21
Speaker 2: the transfers for the most part. But I'm gonna you
12:25
Speaker 2: can revise this answer when we talk in the fall.
12:28
Speaker 2: But based on what you saw in spring, who will
12:31
Speaker 2: the leading receiver for this Utah football team be in
12:34
Speaker 2: the fall?
12:35
Speaker 3: Man, that is tough. Look, the ridiculous fan in me
12:40
Speaker 3: wants Utah's leading receiver to be semi talonga But that's
12:45
Speaker 3: not realistic. No, that's the NCAA football on your Xbox
12:49
Speaker 3: type of a thing. Really, look they've got it. Looks
12:54
Speaker 3: like it's going to be an embarrassment of riches at
12:57
Speaker 3: the wide receiver position. I don't think that I ever
13:00
Speaker 3: thought I would say that sentence when talking about the youths,
13:03
Speaker 3: and frankly not even about this year's Utah team. But
13:05
Speaker 3: to your point, they did a great job in the portal.
13:09
Speaker 3: Braden Pagan from Utah State looked really, really solid. Larry
13:14
Speaker 3: or I'm sorry, Ricky Johnson from Mississippi State is a
13:18
Speaker 3: guy that over and over and over again you would
13:20
Speaker 3: ask about who's standing out from the receivers, and he's
13:23
Speaker 3: a guy or who's hardest to cover that sort of thing.
13:25
Speaker 3: And he's a guy whose name came up a lot.
13:28
Speaker 3: I think he's going to do some things and some
13:29
Speaker 3: price and surprise some people this year. And then Kyrie
13:33
Speaker 3: Sholz shows great burst, he tremendous talent, great body control.
13:38
Speaker 3: So those three receivers I think are definitely going to
13:41
Speaker 3: be in the mix of all of them. Man leading receiver,
13:47
Speaker 3: I mean, I guess Pagan just because he's a guy
13:49
Speaker 3: that's put up an eight hundred yard plus season and
13:53
Speaker 3: nobody else really has done that yet. But there are
13:56
Speaker 3: going to be a lot of guys that are going
13:58
Speaker 3: to be out there to be able to catch passes.
14:01
Speaker 3: Creed with Moore looked really really good, vastly improved the spring.
14:05
Speaker 3: Nate Johnson looked vastly improved the spring. Larry Simmons, he's
14:10
Speaker 3: a senior now and he you know, he came on
14:13
Speaker 3: strong at the end of the year and loved what
14:15
Speaker 3: he did and he was a guy that once again
14:17
Speaker 3: he's reliable and you can trust him. So there are
14:20
Speaker 3: a lot of guys that they're going to get in
14:22
Speaker 3: that rotation. There's only one football I don't necessarily think
14:26
Speaker 3: Utah is going to have a thousand yard receiver, and
14:28
Speaker 3: that's mostly because they've got so much talent. I don't
14:30
Speaker 3: think it's going to be just one guy that's going
14:32
Speaker 3: to be the breakout guy. But Pagan is the guy
14:35
Speaker 3: that I would guess is going to be your leader.
14:39
Speaker 2: How are they going to use Hunter Andrews? This was
14:42
Speaker 2: a question last year. He was like, Yeah, he's a
14:45
Speaker 2: running back, but he's also a tight end. But he's
14:48
Speaker 2: also just a slot receiver, but we could use him defensively. Also,
14:53
Speaker 2: what are they going to do with Hunter Andrews? A
14:56
Speaker 2: healthy version of him can be a massive weapon for
14:58
Speaker 2: this team hundred percent.
15:00
Speaker 3: And I think that that's the key, right is how
15:03
Speaker 3: healthy is he going to be? Is he going to
15:06
Speaker 3: have that same elite speed that he had pre injury
15:09
Speaker 3: last year? And there's a lot that they can do
15:12
Speaker 3: with him if that's the case. You know, they can
15:14
Speaker 3: run him out into the slot as in kind of
15:17
Speaker 3: a brand Keithy type of role that he made so
15:20
Speaker 3: many big plays for the Utes doing that. He can
15:23
Speaker 3: play a little bit with his hand in the ground.
15:25
Speaker 3: He's not as big as some of the other tight ends,
15:27
Speaker 3: but he can do it. They can you know, run
15:29
Speaker 3: that orbit motion and hand the ball off to him,
15:32
Speaker 3: and we saw him make big plays early last year
15:34
Speaker 3: doing that, and I think that we're going to see
15:37
Speaker 3: more of the same, provided he is healthy and he'll
15:43
Speaker 3: be out there. He's just too dynamic of an athlete
15:46
Speaker 3: to not be out there. We didn't see him a
15:48
Speaker 3: ton this spring, but he's they're bringing them along slowly.
15:51
Speaker 3: The fact that he was in pads, that he's taking
15:54
Speaker 3: some contact, that he's playing football again is a massively
15:58
Speaker 3: huge sign for this team. And that tight end room
16:01
Speaker 3: is going to be really interesting just because they've got
16:04
Speaker 3: basically Hunter Andrews, who's the athletic freak and the outlier.
16:08
Speaker 3: Then they've got their traditional guys like Noah Banny who
16:11
Speaker 3: looked really, really good, and then you've got, of course
16:14
Speaker 3: the Rhinos, who are going to be everybody's favorite. And
16:16
Speaker 3: you know, Semi Talalanga might be the most popular guy
16:19
Speaker 3: in all of college football right now based on the
16:23
Speaker 3: Twitter highlights. So it's going to be interesting to see
16:27
Speaker 3: how they use that group. I think that tight ends
16:29
Speaker 3: still going to be an important part of this offense,
16:31
Speaker 3: and we're going to see a lot of you know,
16:35
Speaker 3: one tight end, two tight end sets, and how it's
16:40
Speaker 3: all going to play out is frankly it's a good
16:43
Speaker 3: problem to have for coach McGibbon.
16:47
Speaker 2: I have a prediction. I probably shouldn't throw it out
16:49
Speaker 2: here yet, but I repeat myself all the time on
16:51
Speaker 2: the show, so you'll hear it again in the fall.
16:54
Speaker 2: We have been pining for a pass first story, a
16:59
Speaker 2: truly balanced Utah offense for years, and I think a
17:05
Speaker 2: big reason for that is because you've had a deficiency
17:08
Speaker 2: in the passing game and you know, pretty reliable run game.
17:13
Speaker 2: The potential for things to switch and for the run
17:16
Speaker 2: game to be less prevalent because of scheme or because
17:20
Speaker 2: of personnel or whatever. I think we'll make Utah fans
17:24
Speaker 2: immediately start complaining, like we need to run the ball more.
17:27
Speaker 2: Run the ball more, run the ball more, even though
17:28
Speaker 2: for years it's been passed the ball, more past the
17:31
Speaker 2: ball more. So, Kevin mcgiven has a tough tesk in
17:34
Speaker 2: front of him because he's got to replace the top
17:37
Speaker 2: five rushing offense in the country, and he's got to
17:40
Speaker 2: do it while also delivering on you know, the potential
17:43
Speaker 2: of these two quarterbacks, not just one, but two quarterbacks
17:47
Speaker 2: utilizing a wide receiver room that we already just talked about.
17:51
Speaker 2: Is this an offense that can do those things. Can
17:53
Speaker 2: you check those boxes? Will this be balanced?
17:57
Speaker 3: You know, I think that they will. I think it's
18:00
Speaker 3: you know, last year, look it was it was a
18:03
Speaker 3: better passing offense than it probably should have been, just
18:06
Speaker 3: given the it wasn't a particularly strong wide receiver room
18:09
Speaker 3: last year. And frankly, they ran the ball so effectively,
18:13
Speaker 3: but they still you know, they had three hundred and
18:15
Speaker 3: seventy three attempts. They passed it for twenty eight hundred
18:18
Speaker 3: yards last year, twenty seven touchdowns, five interceptions. I think
18:22
Speaker 3: that that's a solid baseline, and having at least that
18:26
Speaker 3: as an expectation this year is not unreasonable. You know,
18:30
Speaker 3: twenty eight hundred to thirty two hundred yards passing. I
18:34
Speaker 3: expect a slight uptick. I think people that are expecting
18:37
Speaker 3: a purely passed, happy offense will be disappointed. And then
18:42
Speaker 3: frankly Scally talked about that. You know, he he corrected
18:45
Speaker 3: it a couple of times where you know, somebody would
18:48
Speaker 3: basically make that insinuation and ask him a question. He's like,
18:50
Speaker 3: where did I ever say that? And so they've got
18:54
Speaker 3: the tools to throw the ball more to be a
18:57
Speaker 3: little bit more balanced. Thing is that they've got a
19:01
Speaker 3: really strong running back room. I think a lot of
19:04
Speaker 3: it's just going to be dependent on on the offensive
19:06
Speaker 3: line and where their strengths play out. So if they're
19:08
Speaker 3: better at run blocking, if they're able to get out
19:11
Speaker 3: get down the field, if if they need to use
19:13
Speaker 3: the jumbo package more often and and and they're able
19:16
Speaker 3: to throw out of it, you know, what does that
19:18
Speaker 3: look like? Or if the offensive line is just better
19:21
Speaker 3: past pass in past protection, and and maybe they struggle
19:25
Speaker 3: and run blocking. I think that that's going to determine
19:27
Speaker 3: a lot of what you see from a statistical perspective.
19:30
Speaker 3: But it looks right now like they've got the tools
19:34
Speaker 3: that they can absolutely be balanced, and we can we
19:37
Speaker 3: can see them relying on on the passing game a
19:42
Speaker 3: little bit more. I think either way, Scaley doesn't care
19:44
Speaker 3: as long as he's getting explosive plays and they're converting
19:47
Speaker 3: red zone opportunities into touchdowns and and frankly, that was
19:51
Speaker 3: what the team was so good at last year, and
19:55
Speaker 3: so I don't think it's unreasonable to expect something similar
19:58
Speaker 3: this year. Despite the fact that the line is a
20:01
Speaker 3: big question mark.
20:04
Speaker 2: What are special team is going to look like?
20:08
Speaker 3: That's a great question. That's one the one thing that
20:10
Speaker 3: we really didn't see a lot of in the spring,
20:13
Speaker 3: and you know, we look, we know Dylan Curtis came
20:16
Speaker 3: in as an All American kicker and a national record
20:22
Speaker 3: breaker in many ways, and he had a decent freshman season.
20:27
Speaker 3: I think that he would he would have liked the
20:30
Speaker 3: Youthes to use him more often. That Whittingham definitely went
20:34
Speaker 3: against the kicking game in several games, and so we
20:39
Speaker 3: maybe didn't see everything that we might have from him
20:42
Speaker 3: last year. And so my expectation is that if he's healthy,
20:46
Speaker 3: that we're going to see him a lot this fall,
20:48
Speaker 3: and he should be a reliable kicker for the Utes.
20:51
Speaker 3: They've got Ryan Phillips back as the punter, and so
20:54
Speaker 3: the specialists. I think that they're a fairly known commodity
20:57
Speaker 3: and we should expect to see what we say last year,
21:00
Speaker 3: maybe a slight uptick in terms of of of their
21:04
Speaker 3: production based on just experience coming into a new season
21:09
Speaker 3: and being ready for from a return or perspective and
21:13
Speaker 3: who's going to return punts and who's capable of that
21:16
Speaker 3: and who's going to return kick off that sort of thing.
21:19
Speaker 3: It's a good question. I you know, there are a
21:22
Speaker 3: lot of different candidates. Bray is a guy that I
21:25
Speaker 3: think could do some interesting things in the return game.
21:29
Speaker 3: Kyrie Sholz is a guy that can do some interesting things,
21:31
Speaker 3: and so I think that they've got playmakers that should
21:36
Speaker 3: be able to be pretty solid in those roles. But
21:39
Speaker 3: but yeah, special teams absolutely question mark and and really
21:43
Speaker 3: it's going to be one of the interesting things about
21:45
Speaker 3: the Scally era. For so long under Whittingham, Utah was
21:50
Speaker 3: so good at special teams, and not just with the specialists,
21:53
Speaker 3: and they're the ones that got a lot of the
21:54
Speaker 3: attention with you know, the Ray Guy Awards and and
21:57
Speaker 3: that sort of thing. But frankly, the cover units tended
22:01
Speaker 3: to be elite and really strong, and the returning units
22:05
Speaker 3: tended to be really strong, and we saw a lot
22:08
Speaker 3: of big plays coming out of those units. And so
22:12
Speaker 3: it's been down the last couple of years. I think
22:15
Speaker 3: that everybody would agree with that, and so it'll be
22:17
Speaker 3: interesting to see how much of an emphasis that Scaley
22:21
Speaker 3: makes on that, how well that they can get dialed in. Frankly,
22:25
Speaker 3: they've got a lot of athletes that, especially in the
22:28
Speaker 3: skill positions at safety, at cornerback, at linebacker that that
22:32
Speaker 3: should be good from a coverage perspective, and frankly, they're
22:36
Speaker 3: going to play hard because it's the only time they're
22:38
Speaker 3: going to see the field, because there's a lot of
22:40
Speaker 3: depth at those positions, and so I have high expectations
22:45
Speaker 3: of them. But I haven't seen anything with my eyes
22:47
Speaker 3: that tells me that it's more of a gut feeling.
22:53
Speaker 2: I'm not asking you what your expectation is for this season.
22:57
Speaker 2: We'll get there at some point in the fall. Given
23:02
Speaker 2: what we have seen, you've reported on, We've you know,
23:05
Speaker 2: kind of talked to some of the fan base. What
23:08
Speaker 2: do you think people are expecting from Morgan Scalley's first year.
23:12
Speaker 2: I've asked this question of friends and former teammates, and
23:17
Speaker 2: the answers are all over the place. So the if
23:19
Speaker 2: we took a poll of the average Utah fan said
23:23
Speaker 2: how many wins you think this team's going to get?
23:24
Speaker 3: What?
23:25
Speaker 2: What do you think is the most common answer.
23:27
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the average Utah fan, the most common
23:30
Speaker 3: answer would probably be eight or nine. I think the
23:33
Speaker 3: average Zone subscriber, the people that really pay attention to
23:37
Speaker 3: the roster and and just they eat up every piece
23:42
Speaker 3: of information they can get that their answer would probably
23:45
Speaker 3: be nine or ten. I think that they would be
23:48
Speaker 3: a lot more bullish on this team than the average
23:51
Speaker 3: fan would be. I think outside of the state of Utah,
23:54
Speaker 3: this team is not going to get a lot of respect.
23:57
Speaker 3: You know, first year head coach, you lose your whole
24:00
Speaker 3: people just look on paper, you lost to your two
24:03
Speaker 3: starting tackles, to the NFL draft, and your entire offensive
24:06
Speaker 3: line and your entire defensive line and most of your
24:09
Speaker 3: secondary Like, there's no way you're going to be good.
24:11
Speaker 3: Is going to be what people outside of the state think,
24:13
Speaker 3: and they're not going to pay close attention to practice
24:16
Speaker 3: reports and stuff like that. So they'll probably pick Utah
24:20
Speaker 3: to finish in the top half of the Big twelve,
24:23
Speaker 3: but maybe not in the echelon, the upper echelon. And
24:27
Speaker 3: I think that that's not founded in reality, but it's
24:32
Speaker 3: understandable by white people would think that. But yeah, to
24:35
Speaker 3: your point, there's going to be a lot of people across,
24:38
Speaker 3: you know, across that spectrum. But I think the average
24:41
Speaker 3: Utah fan is going to expect at least eight wins,
24:43
Speaker 3: especially with this schedule. It's not the toughest schedule in
24:46
Speaker 3: the world, and so it's a nice on ramp for
24:50
Speaker 3: Scally for his head coaching career.
24:51
Speaker 2: In my opinion, if you think you're a Utah football
24:55
Speaker 2: junkie or just a football junkie in general, you got
24:58
Speaker 2: nothing on Dan Sorenson or Sammy Moore or any of
25:00
Speaker 2: the ut Zone people. Because you also previous to the
25:03
Speaker 2: fan event, you were up at the under Armour Next
25:06
Speaker 2: showcase that was at West High School on Saturday. Obviously
25:11
Speaker 2: in an elite event for recruits and for people on
25:14
Speaker 2: the rise, for players that hopefully we'll see some of
25:18
Speaker 2: them in Utah uniforms and other local schools getting some
25:21
Speaker 2: rep of there as well. What'd you see at under
25:24
Speaker 2: Armour Next?
25:25
Speaker 3: Oh? Man, it was a great event. I was a
25:27
Speaker 3: little worried when we got there because the cold front hit,
25:30
Speaker 3: and you know, it's it's football in shorts. It's a
25:33
Speaker 3: lot of combine activities, so you see more athleticism and
25:37
Speaker 3: those types of things. Then you do you know what
25:40
Speaker 3: you would see on the field, and when it's cold,
25:43
Speaker 3: it's you know, guys get stiff, they pull hamstring, stuff
25:46
Speaker 3: like that. But it was a great event, really impressive.
25:50
Speaker 3: Look there is every year it seems like the talent
25:53
Speaker 3: in the state of Utah in the high school ranks
25:56
Speaker 3: just gets better and better, and there's some amazing players
25:59
Speaker 3: that we saw in the twenty twenty seven class. Body Sparrow,
26:02
Speaker 3: he's the number one ranked recruit in the state out
26:05
Speaker 3: of Davis High School. He looked every bit the parts.
26:09
Speaker 3: He did repsit at receiver, he took reps, a defensive back,
26:13
Speaker 3: fantastic athlete. He's big body, he's aggressive, he competes, he's
26:19
Speaker 3: a leaders Dan.
26:20
Speaker 2: I don't want to interrupt you. I don't want to
26:22
Speaker 2: interrupt you. I played with his dad at Weaver State.
26:25
Speaker 2: I have never wanted Utah to get a player more
26:28
Speaker 2: than I want them to get bodies fair like.
26:31
Speaker 3: Oh, I get it.
26:33
Speaker 2: His dad was an unbelievable guy, unbelievable athlete, two sport
26:37
Speaker 2: athlete at Weaver State, played basketball and football in college,
26:40
Speaker 2: which is incredible. And you only hear great things about
26:44
Speaker 2: his son.
26:45
Speaker 3: Yeah and yeah, he's an impressive young man both on
26:50
Speaker 3: the field and off the field. Yeah, and if his
26:52
Speaker 3: dad was anything like he is, I would have loved
26:55
Speaker 3: to have watched him play. But yeah, he's a football
26:57
Speaker 3: player through and through. Look, census is the Oklahoma is
27:01
Speaker 3: probably the leader for him. Both Utah and b yu
27:04
Speaker 3: are shooting their shot. He's going to take an official
27:07
Speaker 3: visit to Utah and June and he's he's a top
27:11
Speaker 3: priority recruit for the Utes and he was awesome on Saturday.
27:14
Speaker 3: Crew Jones, the Oklahoma recruit at Orham High School, incredible. Look,
27:18
Speaker 3: it's the edge rushers that are in state this year
27:22
Speaker 3: are fantastic. Between Crew Jones who we saw Menass Brown's
27:27
Speaker 3: at Corner Canyon who I think is probably a b
27:29
Speaker 3: y u Lean at this point, but he was really
27:31
Speaker 3: really impressive. Jaggiywane out of orm High School was incredibly impressive.
27:36
Speaker 3: He's a guy that he's he's going to be visiting
27:39
Speaker 3: Utah and Washington and Michigan and a few others, but
27:42
Speaker 3: the Utes are in on him. But yeah, the the
27:45
Speaker 3: edge rusher classes is awesome. One guy that YOUT fans
27:49
Speaker 3: should probably pay a lot of attention to is Jackston
27:53
Speaker 3: and I'm going to butcher his last name e Tai
27:56
Speaker 3: Howe out of Davis High School. He's a four star
27:59
Speaker 3: kid by twenty seven. An athlete could play receiver or
28:03
Speaker 3: defensive back. We think he's going to be a receiver.
28:07
Speaker 3: He's very very high on the Ute and the Utes
28:10
Speaker 3: are pushing hard for him. He was awesome on Saturday.
28:13
Speaker 3: Another kid Utah fans should pay attention to Ian Aluisio
28:17
Speaker 3: out of timp View High School. He's the top rated
28:19
Speaker 3: offensive lineman in the state for this class and also
28:22
Speaker 3: a guy that is very very high on Utah, Arizona
28:26
Speaker 3: Arizona State, Nebraska. They're all after him as well. But
28:30
Speaker 3: he's visiting Utah on that June nineteenth weekend, which is
28:33
Speaker 3: the last big official visit weekend, and he was very
28:37
Speaker 3: impressive at the camp as well. Just great feat a
28:42
Speaker 3: good body, moves well, he's got a great punch, and
28:45
Speaker 3: he's a guy that could be a high level offensive
28:47
Speaker 3: lineman and I think he's got a great shout at
28:50
Speaker 3: being a youth. So we saw a lot of kids.
28:53
Speaker 3: There were probably just in the twenty twenty seven class,
28:57
Speaker 3: probably twenty to twenty five kids that are going to
28:59
Speaker 3: be playing high level FBS football. Twenty twenty eight class
29:04
Speaker 3: was maybe even better represented. Tyo Fano, who fans is.
29:09
Speaker 3: That's a name that most Ute fans will know, of
29:12
Speaker 3: course because of Spencer and Logan, but he's the next
29:15
Speaker 3: and he's a four star kid in the twenty twenty
29:17
Speaker 3: eight class and was awesome. He's a little lean still
29:21
Speaker 3: and he needs to grow into his body, but from
29:24
Speaker 3: a technique perspective, he's as good as any offensive lineman
29:27
Speaker 3: in the West. And I had a chance to spend
29:29
Speaker 3: maybe ten minutes talking to him, and look, his brothers
29:32
Speaker 3: were just impressive humans and really easy to cheer for
29:36
Speaker 3: in terms of the kind of people that they are
29:40
Speaker 3: and the mindset that they have, and Tyo is cut
29:44
Speaker 3: from that same cloth. Yeah, the final family that mom
29:49
Speaker 3: and dad should be very very proud of their sons,
29:52
Speaker 3: not just because they're good football players, but they just
29:55
Speaker 3: seem like smart, solid humans and Tyo is very much
29:58
Speaker 3: that way. Utah's absolutely going to be in it. He's
30:01
Speaker 3: got schools from all over the country that are coming
30:04
Speaker 3: after him as well, and so he's got a long
30:06
Speaker 3: ways before he's going to commit, but but he's somebody
30:08
Speaker 3: that that's that Utah is gonna have a great shot
30:12
Speaker 3: at and they're going to be in it until the end.
30:14
Speaker 3: And look, it could be a really great class in
30:17
Speaker 3: twenty twenty eight with Tyofano Engage webbel you know that
30:20
Speaker 3: there's potential for some really really big legacy kids coming
30:24
Speaker 3: in and continuing the tradition on the hill.
30:28
Speaker 2: Dan, appreciate your time and your encyclopedic knowledge. We'll chat
30:32
Speaker 2: again soon. Thank you, sir, it's my pleasure.
30:35
Speaker 3: Thanks for having me on and and enjoy your summer
30:38
Speaker 3: as you get ready for fall camp.
30:41
Speaker 2: We will do that for sure. That is Dan Sorenson