Here’s Halie’s article on Ole Miss transfer Miles Battle:

https://utah.rivals.com/news/battle-ready-to-make-the-most-of-his-time-with-utah

Here’s Halie’s article on Mikey Mathews…

For context on Matthews right now, he’s really turning heads. Utah believe they have a special talent.

https://utah.rivals.com/news/utah-wr-matthews-is-making-a-name-for-himself

Trejan Bridges, former Oklahoma WR. Working more in Utah’s favor, I’ve been told he’s not a fan of Lincoln Riley.

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Well there’s a team that’s easy to hate! Man I hope Lynn Roberts and Co. get another shot at them next season with everyone coming back. Couple of free throws and the Lady Utes might be bringing home a Natty. Can’t wait!

The Red Rocks have made it through to Nationals again. They again beat UCLA (UCLA does still advance) to take first. Missouri made it difficult hanging around for awhile but faded on the bars when we went to the floor. So excited for this team.

It may feel like a foregone conclusion but the Red Rocks outpaced the regional competition today and advanced to the regional final. It’s fun to have a national power in your backyard.

On a side note, my daughter is a MASSIVE fan. We flew home from Florida Wednesday and the Red Rocks were sitting at the gate waiting to board their plane. My daughter was scared to ask so we both went and I asked if they might take a picture with her. I figured maybe one of them would but the whole team sitting there got up and gathered around her for a picture. One of them even commented on my daughters clothes and that they were cool (paraphrasing here). They were absolutely so genuine with her and so kind to her. It costs nothing to be kind and I was nothing less than impressed with the entire team and how they treated the situation. So cool.

Then I congratulated them and told them good luck at nationals….when they quickly corrected me and told me it was regionals (I knew that but was a bit flustered trying to make my daughters dream come true), so I felt a bit stupid!!

I love when athletes get “it” and make their fans feel awesome…especially the young fans that look up to them in a different way.

Congrats and good luck to the Red Rocks!!! The regional finals are Saturday!!

I caught up with new team captain Cole Bishop, who is feeling confident about the safety room, so far:

-He’s feeling good at the start of spring. He said his body feels good. He’s just trying to help everyone learn the playbook and make plays.

-Being named a spring captain is an honor. He mentioned that Scalley always says, “Leadership isn’t based off of the position you’ve been given, it’s the trust you’ve earned.” Bishop says he’s trying to do his best to lead by example and help the young guys learn the playbook.

-He really likes the leadership that this team has on it.

-Bishop said there was no hesitation last season when he was asked to play nickelback. He played it a little initially in his first bit of action as a freshman, as a nickel/stud linebacker as the third safety. He said it was nice for him because it helped him learn the defense even more.

-This spring it’s important for him to learn the free safety position, especially with Isbell now gone. So, the group is trying to get reps everywhere to see who fits where.

-It’s only week 2 and he’s already feeling comfortable at free safety with the QB reads and everything. He’s watched a lot of film on Utah’s previous free safeties, breaking down their reads and it definitely helps.

-Him and Vaki are interchangeable at free and strong safety right now, and it’s likely something that’ll remain the same whenever they’re on the field together. This is something Bishop views as a huge advantage. From there, it’s letting Scalley see the film and decide on the best approach.

-He’s not too concerned about the offseason love for other Pac-12 schools despite Utah being back-to-back conference champs. Utah's mentality is to just put your head down and work and prove everything from there. Him and every Utah defender just need to worry about their individual “20 square feet” and things will take care of themselves.

I had a nice conversation with Sione Vaki. Here’s some of what he had to say:

-He’s feeling a lot more confident with a year under his belt. The defense makes a lot more sense to him now, after being kind of all over the field last year. He continued to add that the defensive unitas a whole just seems much more comfortable in spring ball.

-His late emergence and success showed him the importance of film and all of the small details outside of the football field. You can be as athletic as any of the guys out there, but if you’re not in the playbook, it won’t matter too much.

-Losing Clayton Isbell is a big loss and it’ll take some time to replace him, but Vaki feels like they have enough depth and they won’t really miss a step going into the season.

-Someone in Vaki’s circle had talked him up on Twitter about being a great nickelback this year. Despite the safeties filling in there a lot last year, Baki says Tao Johnson and Eijah Davis (Scooby) are looking really promising there.

-Scalley always talks about knowing the grand scheme of the defense — kot just knowing your position, but everyone’s position. Having him as a position coach, our defensive coordinator, and also him being in our room all of the time — Vaki thinks that’s the reason the room is so versatile.

-Perfecting man coverage is a big goal of his this spring and offseason.

-He’s looking forward to being more comfortable on the field this season with his football IQ and flying around making plays.

-He’s goal is simple going into the season, it’s to show that they’re the best defense.

The first of many preseason awards for him.

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Battles said what helped him make the decision to come to Utah is the history of DB’s being prepared for the league. Noting the amount of DB’s they put in the league; coach Shah, coach Scalley and their defense are the best for the next level.

•During the recruiting process he was able to reach out to Clark, ask about the coaches and program. Clark told him Utah is one of the best groups to prepare him for the league and well respected too. He said that really helped in his decision making.

•Switching to the Pac-12 he says the size of the players are different, but skills are always going to be the same; speed out here is a lot faster than the SEC in the skill positions.

•He also noted the group plays a lot of man, Battle’s come from a quarter system. Playing a lot of man is a little bit of a change but he feels like it’s the best option for him and it will prepare him the best for the league.

Here’s what Whittingham had to say in his weekly spring interview today:

-He's seen incremental progress from the quarterbacks, says they still have a ways to go but seeing a little bit of separation.

-He’s hoping as they get a little deeper into spring ball that they’ll see more separation in a good way. He said players always separate and emerge from the pack — Whittingham also noted that is the objective for spring ball to solidify it but if not to have a really good start on it.

-Things he’s looking for when it comes to that separation at quarterback is how well they take care of the ball, make sure they possess the ball and not turn it over. Also mentioned intangibles; being able to move the chains and getting them in the end zone, leadership, it factor, field general — ability to command the huddle.

-He also spoke about Ole Miss transfer Miles Battle having a really good practice. Had some live work with the two’s, noted he really showed up, made some plays and he’s looking forward to what he’ll do this fall.

-Safeties are looking good, Cole Bishop and Sione Vaki are running with the first group. Nate Ritchie isn’t ready to go as of yet, Whittingham noting he’s a week-to-week thing(Nate was included in Whittingham’s first three, even though he’s not working out as of yet) but still figuring out who the backups are at four and five.

Frustrating watching UVU look good and athletic. Hope Utah can get more athleticism to be at least in NIT next year. Go Coach Smith!!!

What are you doing?

1. It’s March after a year of pretty frequent snowfall, and half the drivers look like they’ve never seen snow before. People just giving up and parking in the middle of a street or intersection. I know people will blame that in CA transplants, but that doesn’t hold for….
2. Why does NO ONE in SLC know what to do with a flashing red traffic signal? Whether it’s at a pedestrian crossing or an intersection I have yet to see a single driver handle a flashing red signal appropriately. Do people really not know what a flashing yellow or flashing red signal means?

Rant over.

Right here:

Alex, I’d love to know the mix of traits, qualities, personality, etc that the Utah staff places emphasis on as they’re looking at players. For example, how much do grades matter? I’m curious about what are seen as higher priorities for the staff that aren’t shown on film as easily: speed, height(measurables), work ethic, grades, good team mates, etc. Also, how much “due diligence” does the staff do on recruits? I know the NFL prods and background checks everything, but what about Utah? If they see someone they like do they talk with the players high school team mates, coaches, teachers, etc. as a background check for offers?

I’m just curious about the behind the scenes process the coaches go through as they’re making offers.

Here are some standout moments from my Mikey Matthews interview:

Matthews wants to make a name for himself. He feels he was pretty under recruited before playing in the UA game but noticed a burst that came out of nowhere after that recruiters noticed.

He kept himself humble noting he wants to keep his head down and trust god, let him lead the path.

He said going from high school to college is a whole new ball game. Finding it mentally challenging, a lot of different concepts from high school to here. Little details, getting into his depth, making sure he crosses the backers face; all that stuff is all mentally challenging.

Improving his game everyday is a focal point. He says he’s always trying to get better, like they say 22 percent everyday. If he can get that everyday, he knows he can be a great asset to the team.

His goal for spring ball is to continue to work and learn the playbook. Get with the guys and build that chemistry with the quarterbacks; building with the team and get the three-peat.

The media was able to observe practice briefly today. Here’s what we were able to see:

The defense had a great day. They got good pressure on the offensive line. Rose was sacked a couple times. Of the two sacks the media saw today, one came from defensive end Chase Kennedy. Unfortunately I didn’t catch who got the other sack because it was at a distance.

There was limited viewing when it came to watching plays today. There were a lot of short routes on the outside that were thrown. The longest pass play came from Rose to Vele for 15 yards. The offense ran a lot of hurry up, really focusing on getting off the next play.

In our limited early viewing this spring, it’s definitely a battle between Rose and Johnson like we expected. Rose was getting some nice looks today, and seemed to flow well with the offense and grasping it.

The media didn’t see a ton of Nate Johnson, who only came in for a couple plays. One was incomplete on a crossing route that wasn’t thrown well. The other was from about 7 yards out for a touchdown.

Halie caught up with Karene Reid. Here her article on the returning starting linebacker:

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