Some key things out of today's scrimmage… first off, the media can’t report on injuries, schemes or lineups, specific stats or position changes — unless Whittingham already discussed it.

Defense definitely won the day. They absolutely destroyed the offense.

There was a lot of interchanging between Cole Bishop and Sione Vaki at the safety spots. Elijah Hughes (Scooby) also saw a lot of time. Miles Battle continued his strong spring and it seems like he’s hitting his full potential at Utah. He was a standout. Bishop and Vaki are emerging as one helluva combo. Johnathan Hall also had his moments.

Defensive ends Chase Kennedy and Logan Fano performed well, only adding to the depth that the ends possess. Fano looked good, but with limited reps.

Both Brandon Rose and Bryson Barnes were up and down. In my opinion, in the fall I still expect the No. 2 to be either Rose or Johnson. The QBs weren’t live. Rose did have the better day despite throwing an INT to Bishop that was on 4th down in the red zone during the two minute drill. An INT is an INT regardless, but he had to get rid of it. Rose ran it well at times, but he’s definitely not going to be the runner that Cam Rising and Nate Johnson are—still sneaky effective though.

Both Jaylon Glover and Charlie Vincent had TDs. Vincent had one receiving and one running.

Vele hooked up with Rose for the play of the day. It was a deep ball that Rose let Vele high-point and get it, before toe-tapping near the sideline. Luca Caldarella was the only other receiver to really stand out. He had a ways to go though to be one of the main guys in the rotation. Overall, the receivers have a long way to go and they really struggled gaining separation. Mikey Matthews was a non-factor. The TEs were also non-existent even though Yassmin participated in the scrimmage. Suguturaga was effective in run blocking, though.

Spencer Fano looked elite today, but to caution, it was against the No. 2 defensive line. In regards to the DL, Connor O’Toole would have had sacks if the QBs were live. Chase Kennedy also had some nice moments. Keanu Tanuvasa also did well in his reps, showing he should provide good DT depth. Junior Tafuna was Tafuna and the belief is he’s back to his 2021 form and better.

The center position had some shaky snaps today, but a lot of that can be attributed to the defense stacking right in the box and applying a ton of pressure.

With two weeks left, here are my thoughts on spring ball so far:

https://utah.rivals.com/news/utah-spring-thoughts-with-two-weeks-left

Shocked when I heard this. I don’t see him being a factor there, at all.

Anyone know the backstory on his decision to leave? He got a ton of minutes here and seemed to have a lot of freedom.

He made some nice plays for us and is an excellent free throw shooter. But, he missed a ton of open threes.

Big opportunity for Exacte and the kid from SLCC.

This is so awesome to see. If I remember correctly the reason for his initial retirement was something with his shoulder. He was beginning to be a force for the Lions before that happened.

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Men’s basketball adds 7-1 transfer Lawson Lovering from Colorado for the 2023-24 season.

SALT LAKE CITY – Utah head men’s basketball coach Craig Smith announced the addition of Colorado transfer Lawson Lovering for the upcoming 2023-24 campaign.

Lovering comes to Utah after spending the last two seasons in Boulder with the Buffs where he averaged 3.8 points and 4.7 rebounds with a .488 shooting clip.

“We are thrilled to have Lawson join our Runnin’ Utes family,” Utah head men’s basketball coach Craig Smith said. “His experience and success in the Pac-12, along with his strong work ethic, makes him a valuable addition to our roster. Lawson’s decision to come to the University of Utah speaks volumes about his belief in our coaching staff, system and the resources we provide to help our student-athletes succeed both on and off the court. We’re eager to see the impact he’ll make in our program and can’t wait to support his growth and development as a key contributor to our team’s success.”

The 7-1 center started in all 34 games he played in for Colorado this past season where he averaged 23 minutes on the floor – a jump from 10.7 minutes per game his freshmen year where he only played in 18 games. On the year, Lovering averaged 4.9 points and 4.7 Boards to go with an effective .554 shooting clip.

His best game of the season came in the second round of the NIT against Utah Valley, scoring 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting with seven rebounds and two steals. Lovering also picked up his first-career double-double on the road against USC, scoring 13 points to go with his 14 rebounds on 6-of-10 shooting from the field. In his two games against the Utes last season, Lovering averaged 5.0 points and 5.0 rebounds

The Cheyenne, Wyo., native was a three-time all-state and East Conference first-team selection at Cheyenne Central High School. He led the Indians to a state championship his senior year and averaged 14 points, 10 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.0 assists that year. Lovering was named the 2020 East Conference Co-Player of the Year after shooting a state-best 69-percent that season while averaging 13.6 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.7 blocks.

He was a consensus four-star prospect out of high school with Rivals listing him as the 59th best player in the country and the ninth-best center in the nation while 247Sports had him as Wyoming’s top player and 63rd best player overall. He also checked in at No. 72 on the ESPN100 list coming out of high school in 2021.

Lovering joins Hunter Erickson as the second newcomer to the Runnin’ Utes program. Erickson signed with the Utes last fall after spending the 2022-23 season with Salt Lake CC by way of BYU.

For the latest news and information on the Runnin’ Utes men's basketball program, fans can stay connected online at www.UtahUtes.com and on social media by following @UtahMBB on Facebook,Twitter and Instagram.

Elliss discusses his health, what he's working on, and the defensive end room in Halie’s article:

The spring will be focused on figuring out who will fill in the gaps on the offensive line:

Be safe, enjoy your families, and make it the best day possible. Thanks for everyone on here and your contributions.

Happy Easter!

Does this news mean we shouldn’t give any credence to statements made by university presidents?

Gotta believe that the big 12 wall ramp up even more pressure on Pac 12 schools to jump to their league.

Hey heartless

Any update on the media deal?

Seems like an important topic.

I know early enrollees are on the kids and if they can graduate early or not. I wanted to see who Florida brought in this class as an early enrollee and noticed they have 16 early enrollees. So I looked at the top 25 recruiting classes this past year.

This seems pretty impressive that consistently the top 25 programs are also getting a half of their recruits to enroll early.

Alabams-24....Georgia-18.....Texas-14......Oklahoma-14......Ohio st.-11......LSU-13......Miami-15.....USC-10.......Oregon-16.....Tennessee-19.....Clemson-11.....Notre Dame-12.....Penn St-11.....Florida-16.....Texas AM-10.....South Carolina-12.....Michigan-9.....Auburn-9.....Florida St-9.....TCU-9.....Utah-5.....Arkansas-20.....Michigan St-7.....Nebraska-7.....Washington-10.

Just curious is there anything that our coaches can do to try and bring kids in early? Does anyone know if our staff puts an emphasis on this?

Michigan just finished their spring game, and in The Athletic it is reporting that Jack Tuttle is quite possibly the number to quarterback heading into the 2033 season for Michigan.

The latest on his visit schedule:

Good luck to Caine. The writing was really on the wall after Bernard was moved to CB for the 2022 Rose Bowl.
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NOTE: sorry for the delay. I didn’t realize I didn’t hit send last night.

There was a lot of QB talk from Whittingham. Here you go:


-They spent the first half of practice in the snow, for a bit of a mental toughness drill.

-Brandon Rose got the majority of the reps in practice and at this point in time he’s the one separating himself out of him and Johnson. Whittingham also noted that there is a lot of time and nothing should be taken for granted or read into right now.

-Johnson has been slowed down a little bit by a nagging leg injury, and that’s one of the reasons he didn’t get many reps.

-Johnson can gain ground by beginning to run the office a little bit more effectively and Understand his reads in progression soon become more accurate.

-Whittingham says overall they’re happy where the quarterback battle has gone as well as the team as a whole. Ideally they wouldn’t like for the competition to go into the fall, but the plus to that is they already know who the starter is. They’re looking for 2, 3 and 4. Right now the eyeball test favors Rose, but they are still going to go back to the tapes when all is said and done and do a deep evaluation.

-At Utah, the same as expected of you every day. The two things expected from you are that your coach needs to believe that you can do what you need to do and you need to prove that you can do it.

-Even though Rising‘s out, he continues to be a big benefit to the quarterback room being able to see things for the guys and give them advice and coach them through it.

-Lander Barton is exactly what they expected him to be when they recruited him. He’s one of the veterans now and he’s one of their big leaders on defense.

-Vele is their absolute No. 1 at wide receiver. Money Parks is continuing to flash a ton of intriguing potential, but still too many drops. Whittingham says Parks has good hands, he’s just got to concentrate better. Mikey Matthews also received praise from Whittingham.

Porter Larsen broke the news. This is awesome to see and not a big surprise since Isaac just decided he wanted to get into coaching with Herriman HS.