I’m told an assistant hire announcement is expected as early as today. It’s not Andre, and it might be viewed as an underrated one, but among basketball coaching circles, it’ll be a really nicely viewed one. In my opinion, it’s a no-brainer hire and it might shut the door on retaining any current staff.

This is a big blow, Mays had the potential to be an immediate impact player for Utah and fit the mold of a Sharrieff Shah CB perfectly. Utah is going to have to do their due diligence in the transfer portal again.

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Here’s a breakdown of what Whittingham discussed today:

-The offense is doing better and really tightening things up.

-They need to take advantage of the six practices they have left and keep refining things.

-The offensive line is absolutely the group that he feels the most comfortable with.

-Flicklin and Wilson are the only QBs outside of Dampier getting reps right now.

-Whittingham answered without hesitation that if game one was today, Zach Williams would be WR1. He’s making the most plays, running the best routes, catching the football clean and he’s really dangerous after the catch — one of his main attributes. Whittingham also said that Williams is really good at the jet sweeps and could play running back if they asked him to.

-Isaac Wilson has gotten better, but he’s still not where he needs to be. Whittingham said that in fairness to Isaac, he is learning a new offense. He’s doing a better job getting rid of the ball, making his read progressions, and making decision decisions.

-Defensive line wise, they feel really good about the ends where they believe they have six guys that they could throw out there in the rotation. Defensive end is a work in progress and Aliki Vimahi has missed a few spring practices. Dallas Vakalahi and Jonah Lea’ea have both done a great job, but they really don’t have anything behind them. He says they’re really going to need some of the freshmen to step up.

-The 22 Forever Game might be a little different than most years, but Whittingham still sees a lot of value in it for getting the young guys reps. Like typical and probably even more so this year, you really won’t see starters in it.

Here’s the notes from what we saw today during the media viewing period:

• Quarterbacks we saw today were Dampier, Ficklin, and Wilson.
• Dampier: Continued to demonstrate his ability to throw on the run and make quick decisions on when to run or throw. He’s especially good at throwing while rolling to his right.
• Dampier had a fantastic pass today to Creed rolling out to the left for a 30+ yard gain. That play was unfortunately negated by an offensive penalty.
• A lot of the snaps to Dampier from #79 Alex Harrison were low today. A couple of these Dampier was able to pick up quickly and run the play, but there was at least one play where the result was a 5-yard loss.
• Dampier did take one sack today
• Ficklin: Had a good showing today as well. He orchestrated a productive drive and appears to be developing good command of the offense.
• He had solid completions to Zacharyus Williams and Hunter Andrews
• He demonstrated a natural ability to avoid pressure/sacks. One play in particular, it looked like the D-Lineman had him pinned, but Ficklin made him miss. (Byrd is not wearing the white non-contact jersey)
• Byrd also had nice gains on a run, including one 10+ yard run and another where he had about 5 yards after taking contact. Byrd is a true dual-threat QB who seems to fit in very well with Beck’s system

• Wilson: Had the best showing we’ve seen so far this spring, taking the offense on a 60-70 yard touchdown drive.
• He was connecting very nicely to #5 Otto Tia today. One of these passes was just a beautiful throw to hit Otto perfectly in stride in tight coverage down the right sideline for a 30-ish yard gain.
• This play was followed up a few plays later by a pass on the scramble and a fantastic catch and toe tap by #19 Luca Calderella to put the team on the 1 yard line, where Wilson ran in a touchdown to the left after taking the snap under center.

• Running:
• We really started to see some of the capabilities Wayshawn Parker has as contact ramps up. He broke from multiple tackles today that left the defense not sure how he got away. He’s fast and hard to tackle. He’s definitely a guy that will keep the defense honest.
• Hunter Andrews also took some runs today including a direct snap for a nice gain.
• Daniel Bray also had some runs today.

• Offensive Penalties are still an issue. It’s hard to catch what some of the calls are (they don’t announce it) but there was at least 1 false start and what I believe was an illegal man downfield. I don’t think this is too much cause for concern yet, given the Offensive line is working with an unfamiliar style of offense and likely a different snap count, but something that definitely needs to get worked out.

• Defense seems to be able shutdown most pass attempts over the middle. The offense is finding the most success passing to the outside.
• D-line and O-line is a battle. Defensive line did manage to get multiple pressures but only one definitive sack that I saw.

Brown averaged 20.6 ppg this past season and he recently did a Zoom meeting with Utah’s staff. The Utes are being careful and strategic with their push for commitments, so the fact that Brown committed through a virtual meeting tells you what they think of him.

More to come.

One quick observation during drills is that they aren’t going to do the square peg in a round hole approach. All of Dampier, Ficklin, and Zurbrugg are doing the read-option motion before they throw. Wilson is just loading up and throwing, he looked smooth for the most part too. Ficklin is showing off a nice arm too.

Dillon Curtis missed a 51-yarder but put it past by about 20 yards. Then he hit a 51-yarder that you could tell he tried to control it better.

No real surprise. I’m sure Alex made a fair offer for what they thought his value was but Ezra is looking for a huge payday.

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One quick observation during drills is that they aren’t going to do the square peg in a round hole approach. All of Dampier, Ficklin, and Zurbrugg are doing the read-option motion before they throw. Wilson is just loading up and throwing, he looked smooth for the most part too. Ficklin is showing off a nice arm too.

Dillon Curtis missed a 51-yarder but put it past by about 20 yards. Then he hit a 51-yarder that you could tell he tried to control it better.

I’m not getting the warm fuzzies reading about WR’s. What the plan? Can’t go in with this group!!!

Rabbit Evans is a senior in the Safety position. He played 11 games last year after transferring from a JUCO. He recorded 34 tackles last year including 12 against Iowa State

- His goal this off-season has been to keep growing in his knowledge in the defense and grow his relationships with defensive teammates. Last season, especially toward the end, he felt he’s started to build a lot of confidence with the defense. He’s feeling comfortable with his responsibility and knowledge within the defense, whereas last year he wasn’t really that comfortable.

- Says Coach Scalley’s message to the team has been heavily about consistency. Running to the ball, finishing the play, and especially tackling how they’re supposed to with missed tackles being a problem last year.

- Talked a lot about his relationship with Tao, called Tao his brother and said that relationship has really grown over these past several months. He also spoke highly of Nate Tilmon, a 4-star recruit new to the team.

- Said it’s been a lot of fun going against this new offense, he called it “Tricky” and “Electric.” He said it’s a lot different than last year’s offense.

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Here’s my notes from what I saw yesterday during the 20 minute practice viewing.

- Creed Whittemore: Creed was a standout WR this week. He took several nice catches for nice gains today from both Dampier and Wilson. He looked like the “go-to” guy today finding ways to get open and bring in the catch. His speed is what sets him apart. He gave some covey-esque looks today.

- QBs: From what we’ve seen in spring ball so far, it looks like Dampier is taking the 1st team reps while Wilson is taking majority of 2nd most Reps. Ficklin got one series at the end.

- Dampier: Had some solid looks yesterday, through the air and on the ground. He had one nice 30+- yard completion to Zipperer and a couple nice runs. He did have one pretty bad overthrow. He showed good pocket presence and seems impossible to catch when he rolls out.

- Wilson. Had some nice throws today, including a great throw to Hunter Andrews. He did fumble one snap that, while a bit low, looked catchable and went off his fingers.

- Offensive Penalties were an issue. We saw 3 or 4 offensive penalties to include False Start and illegal man downfield. A couple of the penalties killed what were otherwise sizable yardage gains Including one that looked to be a deep touchdown.

- Nate Johnson: Didn’t see a lot of him yesterday, but we did see him lining up at WR and take a direct snap for a 10+ yard gain.

- Byrd Ficklin: The true freshman took reps with for the last drive of practice and looked great. He had a a couple good passes including a very nice pass under pressure on a rollout to #34 Rayshawn Glover for a 15 yard gain, followed by a run the next play for 10-ish yards. He’s looking fast and confident with his decision making. Whittingham did mention he’s added 15 pounds so far, but he could probably use a few more.

- RB Devin Green had 2 very nice runs through middle. Didn’t see a lot from Parker in the viewing period.

- Defense: I did not catch the number, but there was one play where a blitz up the middle was not picked up by the offense and Dampier was sacked before he had a chance to do a thing. Snowden continues to dominate and shut things down over the middle.

Dillon Curtis ended the practice with a live 50 yard field goal completion (with the entire team surrounding him and yelling). It was somewhat right of center but well left of the post. The kick had some extra on it, I would say it would have been good from 55 at least.

Hall is much more valuable than his general stats indicate. I anticipate Utah making him a priority. Hall, I’ve heard, prefers staying close to home.

This is huge news. Utah had been trying to get this done without Dawes going into the portal because it was all his and Jensen‘s preference for him to return to Utah.

Now Jensen has a guy that should be able to be the focal point of an offense.

The Grand Rapids Gold have their last game on March 29th. Things have began to move in a positive direction, again. I’ve talked to with three sources close to the program that expect it to go down next week.

My only caution is that the wheels were starting to fall off on this last week, so it’s just a patience game over the next few days to a week.

This game still feels so weird right now, but here we go… Chillious and Wilcox were considering flying out to show support at this game, but I know they’re knee deep in recruiting and evaluating the transfer portal.

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With my digging on what lies ahead for Alex Jensen’s staff, I know there will be a local tie & likely a foreign one.

With Jensen’s desire for quality over quantity, these are the credentials: strong coaching resume and strong recruiting ties.

Where this could put Andre in the picture, we’ll see. That’s a continued yo-yo.

I’ve noticed he hasn’t been in any of videos or pics of the team preparing to play today. Anyone else notice this? Did he just decide to not play in this event?

The brother of one of our former writers, Alec Simpson, Colby committed on an unofficial today. More to come, this is a nice get for Utah:

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As mentioned, he’s wanted to return. I think he’s smart to maximize his value in the portal, but I do know Utah has a good offer awaiting him.

I’m a little surprised that he’s in the portal because I figured it would have been announced sooner.

Keep in mind, this comes from a different angle than the others that I’ve been hearing basketball news from, BUT a solid source nonetheless.

I know that Alex Jensen has made guys like Keanu, Dawes and Jake Wahlin a priority to return. Wahlin is obviously in the portal and leaning towards returning to Utah. That’s his preference. With Dawes, I was told that he would enter the portal, but recent developments have me hearing that Utah has it in place to pay him extremely well Could he still go in the portal? Sure. However I’ve heard enough to get the sense that both sides are happy with what Utah is able to do for him.

-The first day of pads was very spirited, very competitive.

-It was different, you see more critiques when people get a little tired, but one thing he stresses is that, “When you’re tired, nobody cares.”

-On Nate Johnson: Hopes he’s a contributor, that’s why they brought him back into the program. “He’s a Multi-faceted Athlete, he’s going to be doing a bunch of stuff, he’s got great speed and good size.” Kyle also said that’s exactly why they welcomed him back.

-On Dampier: Embraced the leadership role very well. “He is the leader of the offense as far as knowing what to do, making sure everyone else knows what they’re doing”. Said Devon made the leadership council after only being here for 2-3 weeks and is assumes he will be captain this season.

-Mentioned he thinks we’re in relatively good shape as far as leadership amongst the many new athletes

-Most intense position group is Wide Receiver, said there’s a pecking order forming as they sort out who the real playmakers are. From there it’s cornerbacks and who is gout to line up opposite of Scooby Davis. Lastly, he mentioned running backs saying that Wayshawn Parker has the inside track, but it’s by no means guaranteed. (Alex take: Everyone will be floored if Parker isn’t the starter)