Today’s starting 5:

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Watching Mississippi and Penn State in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. Dart has really grown under Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss. As I recall, he was very good coming out of Corner Canyon HS and was recruited by USC.

Is there a backstory on Utah and Jaxson Dart? Did we recruit him, or was there no interest by either party?

Anyone have a stat of how backup QB’s have done in bowl games and or conf champ games? I haven’t had time to research just selfishly curious…. Seems some 2 have done ok but at the 3rd level not so well, think FSU, Ohio St, Utah, etc. Maryland also, they look good.

Can’t help but be super proud/happy for the kid. A true Ute…if I was in Utah I’d be at every home game. I enjoy watching this team….

Craig Smith's group team away with this one in the second half:

I was listening to SiriusXM radio the Pac, 12 network channel while out driving around today and they made a statement. They believe that Money Parks would enter into the spring portal. They suggested he was not happy at Utah and will be looking for a more pass friendly offense.. I’ve done a search and cannot find anybody else making that prediction.

Has anyone else heard or read something related to Parks?

The wide receiver room, and the running back room at Utah are going to be depleted of talent come next spring.. One can’t help but wonder is the long successful streak that Utah has been on will come to an end first year in the Big 12.

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.