New-look offense the emphasis as Utah opens spring camp – Deseret News

For Utah coach Kyle Whittingham, the 21st opening day of spring practice was “eerily similar” to the last 20.

When you’ve been coaching football as long as Whittingham has, there’s going to be some deja vu feeling, but even the veteran coach had to admit that this year was different.

“A little different this year in the respect that we had a new offense that we’re putting in,” Whittingham said.

The biggest of this offseason’s changes was the hiring of New Mexico offensive coordinator Jason Beck, the school’s first new play-caller since 2019. Beck’s offense was successful at New Mexico, generating 484.2 yards per game (No. 4 in FBS), and now the former BYU quarterback will get his chance to try and try around a Ute offense that struggled in the absence of Cam Rising over the past two seasons.

Compared to last season’s team, which had a lot of familiar names, in part due to the COVID-era rules allowing for extended eligibility, there’s plenty of new faces on the offensive side of the ball.

The only constant from 2024 is the offensive line, which returns every starter from a season ago — Spencer Fano, Micahel Mokofisi, Jaren Kump, Tanoa Togiai and Caleb Lomu.

New projected starting quarterback (Devon Dampier)? Check.

New projected starting running back (Wayshawn Parker)? Check.

Add in a new-look wide receiver room and a tight end room that is without Brant Kuithe for the first time in a while, and Utah is going to need every one of the next 14 spring practices to learn Beck’s offense and gel as a team.

Thursday wasn’t the first day that players were exposed to Beck’s offense, thanks to loosened NCAA rules that allowed walkthroughs, but there’s still going to be a learning curve as the players adjust and install the former New Mexico offensive coordinator’s playbook.

“I thought for the first…

Source link : https://www.deseret.com/sports/2025/03/20/utah-utes-offense-first-spring-practice/

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Publish date : 2025-03-21 02:14:00

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