What’s top of mind for Utah defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley as he begins fall camp?
The same things that were at the forefront in spring camp, namely the defensive tackle and cornerback positions.
Senior Aliki Vimahi and sophomore Dallas Vakalahi will start up front for the Utes, with redshirt sophomore Jonah Lea’ea filling in the DT3 spot. Aside from that, there’s going to be a lot of freshmen in the mix for rotation time, including Karson Kaufusi, Sione Motuapuaka, LSU transfer Dilan Battle, Pupu Sepulona and Semi Taulanga
“Good to have a few new tackles, Dilan Battle transferring from LSU, Pupu Sepulona, Semi Taulangam,” Scalley this week. “So those bodies will help out a lot in the depth category. Now it’s just a matter of developing them and seeing if they can play right away.”
“One thing we can do a better job of is taking the football away. If there’s a knock on last year’s defense is we did not create enough takeaways and that’s something that will help out the offense tremendously.”
— Utah coach Kyle Whittingham
It’s certainly not ideal to have rotation players up front that have no collegiate experience, but the Utes are working with what they have. The players have done their part this summer in the weight room, packing on the pounds, and now it’s all about continuing to learn the defense and proving that they belong in the defensive tackle rotation.
“The good thing is we’re not having to do much physically with them. Their weight’s where it needs to be, it’s just learn the defense,” Scalley said.
Additionally, Utah needs to shore up a starting cornerback spot — Smith Snowden has locked down his spot at nickel and Scooby Davis on the outside — and decide who will be lining up opposite Logan Fano as the Utes’ starting defensive end.
Aside from position…
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Publish date : 2025-08-02 22:45:00
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