As Utah wraps up spring football this week — the Utes still have two more practices and the “22 Forever” spring game left — coaches’ attention will be on more than just developing their current roster.
The spring NCAA transfer portal opens on Wednesday, providing players the opportunity to find a new school and programs the final opportunity to add to their roster before the 2025 season begins this fall.
Earlier this month, Utah had two defensive players announce their intention to enter the portal on Wednesday — sophomore cornerback Quimari Shemwell and redshirt freshman Sammie Hunter. Shemwell played in all 12 games last season, mostly on special teams (he played 37 snaps on defense) and Hunter did not play last year.
With Smith Snowden, Scooby Davis, Blake Cotton, Don Saunders and LaTristan Thompson in the room, there’s only so many reps to go around, and Shemwell and Hunter left to try and get opportunities elsewhere.
Utah coach Kyle Whittingham says that, in terms of losing players, indications are that the spring transfer portal “shouldn’t be too crazy,” but that “time will tell.”
“Typically if a guy’s going to go to the portal, they are not going to go through the entire spring ball. Typically, they usually opt out prior to. That doesn’t mean that it’s not going to happen, but that’s usually the indicator when they say, ‘Hey, I’m not going to practice anymore,’” Whittingham said.
Historically, few top-level players have been available in the spring portal. Due to the truncated time frame until fall camp starts, it’s tough to transfer into a new program after spring camp, get up to speed and win a starting job ahead of the season beginning.
Aside from a few big names — Tennessee starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava entered the transfer portal after reportedly sitting out…
Source link : https://www.deseret.com/sports/2025/04/15/utah-utes-spring-transfer-portal-needs/
Author :
Publish date : 2025-04-16 03:24:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
