First of all, I need to preface this by saying that it’s always tough to tell anything about a team after a scrimmage. For every great play made, it means someone else on the other end blew it. Furthermore, almost none of the starters played at all, so basically, all that could be seen was where we’ll be deep, and what the overall scheme will be like.

Offense: It looked on Saturday like Ver Steeg is doing exactly what I hoped he wouldn’t do. I was afraid that he’d come in and try to make us run a Notre Dame/Big-10 style offense. However, after watching Saturday, I’ve changed my mind, and I think we may actually be able to pull it off. It certainly plays to our strength. We’ll wear down the opposing D with a barrage of different ball carriers, and throw enough passes to keep the D off-balance. While the Utes run with primarily the same personnel every down, (a half back, a full back, a tight end and two receivers) it really is a multiple formation scheme where the fullback will line-up in the slot, or in the “I” or in the bone. The tight end will also line-up in the slot occasionally, giving more of a 4 receiver set when the fullback is lined-up outside.

The running game looks like it could be really good. Benton and Peroulis both played really well. Peroulis is incredibly quick to the corner, and made some moves on a couple of early runs that just juked a couple of linebackers right out of their jocks. Benton had some really good power runs, and caught a swing pass (that’s right, a RB caught a pass) down the right sideline where he lowered his head, and got absolutely leveled by Bolinger, but only after about a 16 yard scamper. If I were to predict right now, I’d say that we won’t have a single RB in the top 5 in the conference in rushing, yet we’ll be competing with Air Force for top rushing offense. The Utes could conceivably have 6-7 different ball-carriers within a game. (not counting the QB’s) The beauty of this is that there is a lot of versatility in the running game. The team ran a variety of counters, pitches, fake-counters, sweeps, etc. in addition to the normal power game. This means that opposing D’s cant just pack 8 in the box, or Peroulis or Hunter will get the corner on them. They also can’t just key on the single back since Fortune or Sirstins can be effective on the dive.

As for the passing game, well it didn’t look really good, but you need to understand that none of the top 4 or 5 receivers played. The receivers did drop a lot of balls. Eric Neslen looks like he could be good in a few years. He has good size – 6’2 or 6’3 – and good quickness, but his hands need some work. Scalley is good. He’ll be in the mix this fall. Vialpando is quick, but really small.

As for the delivery system, I must say, the QB’s do look better than last year, but there are still a LOT of ?????’s. The scheme is different. There are a lot of slants, quick passes, and the occasional bomb. Saturday, Elliot looked better than Rice. He actually made really good reads. He didn’t throw many balls, (he was 3 of 6) but two were TD’s and one was a perfectly thrown fade to the end-zone. 2 of his misses were drops by the receivers. One of those drops was a sure Touchdown as Justin Walterscheid had gotten behind the secondary, but dropped an absolute bullet. It was a really pretty pass that got a rise out of the crowd. Rice just didn’t look sharp. He tried to thread the needle a couple of times, and threw into coverage a lot. He was picked off in the end-zone when he mistimed a lob. It would have been a critical mistake in a game. I was hoping to have a starter named in spring-ball, but with injuries to Breska and Elliot, it’s probably better not to make a snap judgement. Ver Steeg states that he’ll only go with one guy this fall.

Otherwise, the line looked good. Tevita Vakalahi looks like he has some potential to be a quality player. He was getting some good pushes. Sean Souza got his hand stepped on, but if he could keep from getting knocked down all the time, that wouldn’t happen. The line was opening some nice holes for the backs, but made a critical error that nearly got Edwin Benton laid out.

Defense: Not much to say here other than the front seven looks really good. I fully expect us to have the best D-Line in the conference, and none of those guys played Saturday – except for Savage and Marcus Jones who only played about 6 plays each. Kasey Jackson, and Corey Dodds both made some good plays. At LB, Zach Tune impressed me. I hope we can get Payne next fall, though, since I see a startling lack of depth at LB. I didn’t see Kaufusi at SLB, so I’m not sure how he looks in coverage, but I’m pretty confident he’ll be effective against the run.

As for the secondary, the news isn’t that good. Despite the fact that we were using scrub receivers all day, the CB’s were constantly letting the guys behind them. Morgan Scalley in one warm-up just left one of the guys gaping at him with his mouth wide open. There’s decent speed with Scott, Nagahi, and Crockett, but the technique needs some work. Also, HOW IN THE HECK DOES TAZ DECKER – A CONVERTED OFFENSIVE LINEMAN - OUTRUN THE ENTIRE SECONDARY FOR 70 FREAKIN’ YARDS? That was just ridiculous. If our front 7 can’t pressure the QB next year, we could be in for some long games. On the positive side, Anthony White does look like a solid player at FS, and Bolinger is a solid hitter. He could turn out to be a solid Jeff Kirkman-esque player some day.

As a whole, I’m not holding my breath for a conference title next year. Nevertheless, we’re VERY good on both lines, and have some raw talent and good speed at the skill positions. We’re going to be very dependent on our running game next year, but will see some wrinkles in our passing game that should be intriguing. I like Ver Steeg. He’s not wide-open or pass happy, but I like our offensive potential. There’s a lot of versatility in his offense, and we can hurt the opposition in a lot of different ways. The definite weak link is in the secondary. If Kyle can make something happen there, we’ll be a contender – or at least a spoiler - in the conference.

GO UTES!!!!!!!

Just a few impressions from yesterday.

1). First of all, props to everyone who was there. You know you are a true Ute when you would rather sit in the rain and watch a scrimmage than sit at home and watch a Jazz playoff game.

2). As far as the team goes, you couldn't really tell a whole lot from the scrimmage because very few of the starters actually played. All you could see was the positions where we have some quality depth. But there were a few players that stood out.

3). The running game looks good. They've installed some nice plays that we never saw in the Tommy Lee scheme. We'll see some counters, traps and sweeps/pitches in this two back set. We're very deep there, too. Peroulis and Benton looked strong and we know what Tate and Hunter can do. We'll get even better as Sirstins gets some experience and if Tommy Hackenbruck ever gets healthy.

4). The passing game struggled, although there were a few nice plays. Personally, I liked Elliott over Rice--he's got a much better arm and made better reads IMO. Overall it didn't look real good, but keep in mind that 4 of our top 5 receivers come spring didn't play (Russell, Lyman, P. Jackson and hopefully L. Jackson).

5). We didn't see many of the top guys on the front seven, but some of the guys who did play looked good, so we should have good depth. Corey Dodds made a very nice play, catching Peroulis in the backfield from behind. Jess Hacker also had a very nice hit.

6). In the secondary, we played a lot of guys as only Arnold Parker has his spot secured. Yohance Scott and Cody Weight looked like the best corners to me. Joey Bolinger had the hit of the day when he took Edwin Benton's helmet off.

7). Our kickers didn't miss any field goals. But they also didn't make any field goals.

Overall, the thing that impressed me most was that the guys seemed to portray a better sense of unity and focus. There wasn't as much scuffling as there has been other years and most of the guys on the sidelines seemed to have their heads in the game as opposed to other years where nobody on the sideline is paying any attention.

Go Utes!!!! Here's to a good Fall!!!!
 

Last modified .