It's frustrating to think what other teams have behind qb1. I'm still wondering what in the world made Whittingham stick with Barnes until the end of the Vegas bowl.

I don’t even know where to start, but I know everybody wants to vent. That was one brutally awful performance at quarterback. Utah had guys open all game just like they’ve had guys open all season and he couldn’t get them the ball. Props to him, for how far he’s come, but there’s no excuse for that performance with the amount of games he started.

The defense did everything they could, but they can only do so much. I feel the frustration of all the fans who traveled to this game.

Vent away…

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Friday I heard things were trending back to Utah. Something must have happened between then and now.

Utah’s passing game needs work but that is what comes from burning through the stable. No one was there to play.

The biggest area of concern to me is…. The running back room. A lot of angst if JJ stays or goes. Love the kid. Want to see him thrive but if you cannot stay on the field then you can’t play. He seems more prone to injury than any back I have ever seen come through Utah. The reason…. He isn’t a running back.

Utah’s run game is the worst I have seen it in the Whittingham era. I’m hoping we find some serious help there soon.

Happy holidays all.

I've been tracking the Utes in the portal, and the destinations and/or offers have been interesting...

Committed:
Nate Johnson: Vanderbilt
Justin Medlock: SMU
Mack Howard: Samford
Jadon Pearson: Utah St

Not Committed:
Owen Chambliss: San Diego St, Utah Tech
Mikey Matthews: None reported
Makai Cope: None reported
Bryson Barnes: None reported
Noah Bennee: None reported
JaTravis Broughton: None reported
Fabian Marks: None reported
Kenzel Lawler: None reported
Darrien Stewart: None reported
Hayden Erickson: None reported
Jocelyn Malaska: None reported

Does anyone have any additional info that I'm not aware of?

A few quick thoughts:
1. I'm a little surprised that the best Chambliss has been offered is SDSU and UT Tech. Sounded like he was doing some good things in camp before the season, maybe didn't progress as hoped?
2. I'm also surprised that so many guys don't appear to have any offers, or at least nothing has been reported or announced for them. This could be because teams are still chasing guys a tier or two above them, and not wanting to use an opening on them yet...if that's the reason, they may not be a bad loss for the Utes.
3. The transfer portal is a risky place to be. I get that some of these guys were probably told to go, but it appears many of them might not get picked up at all.

Welp, watching the news here in Vegas this morn and apparently Northwestern messed something
Up and didnt show up to the food drive and Utah had to handle both sides of it! Lol. Ooopsie. Not good PR for Northwestern!

Merry Christmas and sending love to all of you. Everyone enjoy your families today.

Anyone in the know have insight to why rose wasn’t even give. A shot tonight? We were god awful, were we saving something? We have an epic failure on QB backup developments. I sat in the end zone and there were so many guys open tonight is was just baffling the missed. Even Bottarinfor a Play. I am so glad this year is over. So much drama, QB situation mishandled and an online that struggled most the year we thought was gonna be a strength. We need QB development, they score points in the BIG12. I wanna say a lot but wanna vent and trying g to be repctful. I m good with Harding leaving after this year.

Well, we wrote about it… Here ya go…

https://utah.rivals.com/news/takeaways-utah-has-las-vegas-bowl-to-forget

It's here! The final game of the 2023 season!

This could be a lot of fun. JJ should be fully healthy, and the Utes should have their way with the Wildcats defense.

it’s game day! Here’s my Q&A with Wildcat Report publisher Louie Vaccher:

https://utah.rivals.com/news/las-vegas-bowl-q-a-northwestern

Alright guys, I'm headed to Vegas in a couple of hours. For anybody else driving today or tomorrow, please feel free to use this thread if you want to meet up or let other travelers know of issues. I won't be much help with that, since I'm driving from Phoenix, but if there are any others driving up from AZ, I'll give you any heads ups that I see. Also, the food between Phoenix and Vegas is mostly terrible, but there's a halfway decent Thai place and a decent BBQ place in Kingman if you're there around dinner time.

See you all tomorrow!

So I know we're all thinking about the transfer portal, but I wanted to take a quick look at HS recruiting. Here are all the players with Utah offers who have either committed to Utah or are currently uncommitted, by position. Committed players are listed first and in bold, underlined players are uncommitted but have visited (according to Rivals or because they're local)

Quarterbacks:
Isaac Wilson (4*, #155 nationally, #8 QB)
TC Manumaleuna (3*)

Wide Receivers:
David Washington (4*, #65 WR)
Zacharyus Williams (4*, #61 WR)
Gatlin Bair (4*, #45 nationally)
Jordan Anderson (4*, #71 nationally)
Aaron Butler (4*, #115 nationally)
Keonde Henry (4*)
Tei Nacua (3*)
Debron Gatling (3*)
Hunter Moddon (3*)
Axzavian Alexander (2*)

Tight Ends:
Kalolo Kaihea (3*)

Running Backs:
Hunter Andrews (3*, #44 RB)
Anthony Carrie (4*, #133 nationally)
Hershel Turner, Jr. (3*)

Offensive Line:
Isaiah Garcia (3*, #74 OL)
Rustin Young (3*) (decommitted from ORST on 12/6 after getting a MSU offer)
Kalolo Ta'Aga (3*) (announcing this weekend between Utah, Arizona, USC, and Cal)

Defensive Tackles:
Jericho Johnson (4*, #132 nationally)

Defensive Ends:
Kash Dillon (3*, #37 DE)
Carlon Jones (3*)
Jaylin Jones (3*)
Kinilau Fonohema (3*). (announcing his commitment between Utah, BYU, ORST on 12/20)

Linebackers:
Naki Tuaokoi (4*)
Ephraim Asiata (3*) (this is Matt's son, not sure when he's committing)

Defensive Backs:
Jeilani Davis (3*, #56 S)
Ashtin Kekahuna-Lopes (3*, #69 S)
Sammie Hunter (3*)
LaTristan Thompson (3*)
Maurice Evans (NR)
Faletau Satuala (3*) (announcing at the All-American Bowl 1/6/24 between Utah/UCLA/BYU)
Elyjah Gordon (3*)
Jaden Pettway (2*) (decommitted from Houston on 12/7)

Athletes:
Davis Andrews (3*)
Quimari Shemwell (3*)
Jason Mitchell (4*)
Kobe Boykin (4*)
Andrew Brinson (3*)
Ajon Bryant (3*)
Marquawn McCraney (3*)

Woods had had back-to-back solid seasons for Idaho. He’s definitely a lot lighter, listed at 5-foot-10 and 185 pounds, but this is a nice pickup for the Utes:

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Here’s Dustin’s look at Northwestern:

https://utah.rivals.com/news/inside-the-numbers-northwestern-1

Better late than never on this one, as I was waiting to hear from my friend and his high school coach, Ray Stowers. He provides a great breakdown in this:

https://utah.rivals.com/news/utah-signed-nli-elijah-elliss

That was a nice get by the Utes tonight. So does it foreshadow anything?… Over the last two days I’ve had multiple people familiar with the situation tell me that Utah has a shot to keep JJ, but that it still might be an uphill battle. Sounds to me like there’s around a $200k NIL difference. What JJ needs to weigh out is the role he’d have at each place and if that difference justifies that kind of gap. Oklahoma State just had a RB commit from South Carolina, so they might be out now. TCU could still be an issue and a potential surprise with SMU.

If JJ comes back, there are zero questions that he’s THE guy next year for Utah. Buckle up, but I still lean towards it being an uphill battle for Utah.

I know some of you are underwhelmed, but there is some really good talent in this class as well as some intriguing under-the-radar guys.

Let’s hear everyone’s thoughts… I’m on my way to Vegas right now.

Utah had a very good non-conference performance. 9-2 against a very strong strength of schedule and a NET ranking in the 30s.

The PAC as a whole underperformed in non-conference, especially UCLA and USC. Sucks for Lazar Stefanovic who is doing his thing (shooting like crap with a FG% in the mid-30s) in Westwood.

So, a real opportunity for the guys to finish top 4 (Arizona, Colorado will probably finish 1-2)

We start off league play with home games against the Washington schools. WSU has a very good coach and outperforms every year. They've played a fairly weak schedule so we'll see if they're legit or not. Washington seems to underperform but not for lack of talent.

BC has been everything we've hoped for so far.
Lovering played great last night but remains at risk of losing minutes to Keiba
Keiba is a a force but fouls have limited his minutes. Last night he stayed out of foul trouble but had 3 TO's which limited his minutes.
Ben Carlson is much improved on the offensive end and is a tough defender and rebounder.

Our front line is very good.

Madsen is a force this year.
Bajema has been up and down but will want to play well against his former team and WSU.
Rollie is better than he gets credit for.
Hunter has been up and down
Deivon Smith looked good last night and adds a needed dose of athleticism .

Those are the guys in the rotation. Make your March Madness plans now.

Jeilani Davis’ NLI is in:

https://utah.rivals.com/news/utah-signed-nli-jeilani-davis

Post thoughts and comments on the game here!

The big fella in the trenches is locked in:

https://utah.rivals.com/news/utah-signed-nli-ike-garcia

Another 4-star is locked in. There a lot to be excited about with Williams:

https://utah.rivals.com/news/utah-signed-nli-zacharyus-williams

This is the slowest signing day I think I’ve ever done. Plus I’m running on fumes with 3.5 of sleep and then riding to Vegas in about 5 hours.

When all is said and done, I do think there will be some good bumps in this class that’ll help with the final team rankings. As you all can tell from the evals, there’s a lot of excitement.

I’m told that there’s no concern yet that 3-star WR Zacharyus Williams hasn’t sent in his letter. The USC push isn’t the cause for any delay.