How Utah creatively utilized its tight ends in win against Utah State, plus clarity at RB and a special teams bounce back

Utah Utes tight end Caleb Lohner (84) scores against Utah State Aggies cornerback JD Drew (3) in Logan on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

There’s a reason why Utah listed six tight ends on its two-deep ahead of the season — the Utes planned to use all of them.

Through three games, that’s been the case.

Three of them — Dallen Bentley, Brant Kuithe and Miki Suguturaga — have played over 70 snaps, while three others — Carsen Ryan, Caleb Lohner and Landen King — have played 23 or more.

In Utah’s 38-21 win over Utah State, receivers Dorian Singer and Money Parks led Utah in targets — Singer had his best game as a Ute with five catches for 66 yards and Parks had four catches for 49 yards and a score — but the impact of the tight ends was felt throughout the game.

All six Ute tight ends saw the field in the win, with Kuithe leading the way with three catches for 68 yards, including two chunk plays — a 28-yard completion in the first quarter and a 33-yard completion in the second quarter.

After just one target in the previous week’s game against Baylor, there was a concerted effort to get Kuithe the ball against USU, and it paid off.

Offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig got creative with Kuithe, direct snapping the ball to him under center in the early fourth quarter for a five-yard gain on first-and-10 in the red zone.

Earlier, on a two-point conversion, Ludwig dialed up a shovel pass — former Ute quarterback Lee Grosscup is credited with inventing it — that looked exactly like something out of Andy Reid’s playbook with the Kansas City Chiefs.

After Micah Bernard powered his way to the end zone to put Utah up 26-14 late in the third quarter, the Utes opted to go for two to make it a 14-point game.

Initially lined up like he was going to block, Kuithe instead took two steps to…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/utah-creatively-utilized-tight-ends-010008565.html

Author : Deseret News

Publish date : 2024-09-16 01:00:08

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.