This was meant to auto-push yesterday, but it didn’t, sooooo with 27 days left, let’s talk about No. 28 Sione Vaki.

https://utah.rivals.com/news/utenation-countdown-to-kickoff-no-28-sione-vaki-1

Conzano was on Bill's ESPN 700 show. Says (my take) complete warfare amongst the TV networks right now. Planted stories meant to sabotage negotiations and destabilize talks. Says Year 1 and 2 of the P12 - whatever will be low to mid 20's in year 1 and 2 AND THEN WILL SETTLE INTO A DEFINITIVE amount greater than the B12.

Now Stanford and Cal are OUT of B10.

Utah likely DOES NOT have to have a board/regents meeting to announce intent. That is why there is silence and nothing should be read into that.

I know some very large boosters of the program. Asked what they knew.... Randall and Harlan "not saying anything" right now. Randall and Harlan NOT idiots so something is cooking but they are playing it close to the vest. That is a positive..... I think.

Crazy, crazy times. I get sucked in, then settle down, then get panicked, then don't care. I am totally losing productivity right now in the rest of life. THIS HAS TO STOP FOR SANITY SAKE.

If extended conference drama moves throughout August and Fall Camp, it will effect Utah's chances to win the PAC Championship.

USC and UCLA have no drama about their future and can focus on just football. That said, there are always distractions in SoCal. Nonetheless, Utah has too much swirling around that is likely to negatively effect football production and preparation on the field.

Also don't downplay the chip on the shoulder that Oregon State and Wazzu are going to have. Plus UO and UW have more excitement than angst about their future in my opinion.

How is all this drama going to effect the football season? Hell, we are into August now and 90% of our fans are intoxicated with the BIG, PAC and academics drama over football.

Here’s Cole’s linebacker preview. Swan is gonna have fun sorting out this depth chart. They’re stacked.

https://utah.rivals.com/news/utenation-fall-camp-preview-linebackers

Alex, based on the articles about day 2, it sounds like Pittman is fully participating. Is he back or going to be back for the opener?

-Vaki really came on strong towards the end of 2022 and Bishop said that he pushed himself too.

-Experience is where Utah is going to be better this year. They lost a lot of guys, but they still have a ton of depth at every position.

-There’s always going to be someone you replace and they’re doing their best to do that. Before replacing Clark Phillips, it was them needing to replace Jaylon Johnson and then Phillips stepped up.

-Preseason hype doesn’t mean anything. At the end of the day, it’s all about the postseason stuff.

-Bishop believes that his leadership is what’s grown the most since coming to Utah.

-Good to have Nate Ritchie back. He was a little rusty after his mission, but every day he’s getting better and better and it’s good seeing that.

-Bishop said the Florida was last year and they’re focused on this year. He said obviously they want that one back and that they had a lot of missed tackles against them last year.

-He’s running and cutting, just not doing team plays

-He worked on his accuracy and throwing motion, specifically his throwing shoulder. He’s doing this to get more velocity and long throws.

-Rehab gets tedious and long, but you’ve got to stick to it and get through it.

-Matthews, Pittman, and Vele were highlighted by Rising. He says Pittman will be one the best in the country at underneath routes and turning them into big plays. Emery Simmons can win over the top as a deep threat is a Jack of all trades — good at getting open.

-Kuithe is moving around looking good right now.
-Yassmin has the confidence now and knows how good he is.

- On his mentality:
“Go attack this third one. Go get a third one.”

-The backup QBs are a lot more relaxed in the pocket now.

-The intensity stayed from spring, to summer, to now.

-Cam says he’ll talk to the doctor and go from there. It’s about taking care of the knee and continuing to get it stronger.

Let’s start a thread of our best guesses of what might happen with conference realignment relating to the Utes and the PAC or at least how we would like it to go from this point on.

I’ll start:

Arizona leaves

The rest of the PAC sticks it out and they add:

Rice
SMU
San Diego State
Fresno State

TV deal comes in north of 20 million per year and the Utes take revenge and go to the Rose Bowl for the 3rd straight year.

I have been in the business world for quite awhile. I have transacted deals where companies are bought and sold. I work in the PE space so I know a bit about the "art of the deal." I know very little about what is going on in this particular instance but I do know/sense some things.

• I know Taylor Randall - not personally and no continued interaction but I had a lot of interaction with him from my DESB days. Had lunch with him a number of times. I KNOW he is no dummy. I am very, very confident he didn't take the approach of, "Golly George. Go work this media deal and just get back to me whenever you like." Randall and Harlan, and ASU, and Arizona, AND... have all seen the money and they have known about it for a long time. ALL of the folks are under STRICT NON DISCLOSURE AGREEMENTS. They cannot, legally, breathe a word about it. But they have a solid strategy in place.... Rest assured there.
• The money is likely to be within a couple million of the B12. This is great.... But then why is CO, UA going to bolt? See a few bullet points below.
• The conference WILL IMPLODE. It is just a matter of tomorrow or 5 years from now. There is only ONE WAY the conference stays together.
• Take care of the current BRANDS. Those brands are Oregon, Washington, Utah. You take care of the brands because it is the ONLY WAY the conference has a modicum of a chance to survive.
• You will take care of the BRANDS until you cannot - which means B1G expansion. BUT...
• If you close the revenue gap with the B1G (never will) BUT you might be able to split non-TV revenue unequally - this favors the top programs over the lesser programs and keeps them entrenched. The lesser programs are the one bolting because the mountain to climb to the top of the P9 will be tougher than in the B12 (because of the unequal revenue share in the P9).
• OREGON, UTAH, WASHINGTON COVET CFP ACCESS. That access is greater in the P9 than anywhere else.... In close second is the B1G and the new world order that they covet.
• SO.... Look for stability for the next 5 years with ten teams (SDSU and SMU) with Utah, Washington, and Oregon battling out CFP access each year and increasing their brands even more. UNTIL....
• The B1G expands to 20 or 24. At which time the Ducks, Huskies and likely Utes will move to form a new Tier in college football. IF UTAH DOESNT....
• The SEC and B1G separate into a new TIER of football. Utah will then be welcomed into the B12 because, at this point, the B12 will be on the outside looking in and will need to reform a new league around the best available teams. Utah would be pivotal in that.

The point.... Utah's best bet is to ride it out and prepare for a B1G invite by increasing their on the field brand and take the shot at B1G inclusion. The B12 will always be there.

-Both Rising and Kuithe are practicing with limitations. They’ll gauge as they go along how they can gradually pull back those restrictions/limitations. They’re both right on schedule, though. With Rising, they don’t want him getting hit right now and they want him to avoid sudden movements when reacting to the defense.

-Whittingham was noticeably excited when he was talking about transfer Mycah Pittman. He also liked what he saw from transfer Emery Simmons. Two other newcomers Whittingham briefly mentioned were tight ends Dallen Bentley and Landen King.

-He joked that outside of quarterback, the biggest focus would be quarterback. He did say after that that the pecking order at WR was an important focus.

-Both Nate Johnson and Bryson Barnes are doing a nice job, but Brandon Rose is taking the reps with the twos and also the reps with the ones on the plays that Rising isn’t asked to do right now.

-Whittingham said he still believes super conferences are inevitable, whether it 3, 5, 7 years down the road.

-Without hesitation Whittingham said defense is what he’s most confident in right now.

-The offensive seems set right now, but it’s very competitive and Whittingham highlighted both freshmen Caleb Lomu and Spencer Fano as guys that could have a say.

-Lander Barton is 15-20 pounds heavier than he was last year and Whittingham is excited about his progress and the impact he sees him having this year.

-Even with the loss of Phillips, Whittingham says the position reloaded and that it’ll be a great battle. He specifically mentioned Smith Snowden and Miles Battles.

-Their strength staff is the best in the country, not just from a strength and fitness standpoint, but also a mentality standpoint.

-Utah has everyone in camp other than one guy that Whittingham says he expects soon. He couldn’t say who it was, so…. (Alex take: Surprise, he’s talking about Trejan Bridges)

-Ja’Quinden was a saving grace for the team last season. He’s locked in and everything you want as a running back. He’d be the No. 1 option today. It’s TBD if they go RB by committee with 2-3 guys or if one guy gets 25 carries a game.

More to come.

Matt broken down some of the key nuggets that Whittingham discussed:

https://utah.rivals.com/news/utes-fall-camp-recap-day-one

Here’s your fall camp preview from a media man I’ve always enjoyed conversing with, Bryan Brown. We’re both also overseeing a fun project that’s about to drop, so stay tuned…

https://utah.rivals.com/news/utenation-fall-camp-preview-offensive-line

I’ve bounced this off multiple sources who are either hearing or telling me the same thing…

The belief at the moment — and things can change like Colorado doing an about-face — is that they’ll add one more if everyone else stays. Two more if Arizona bounces. The remaining teams would sign shorter term TV deal and the new team(s) would take a decent amount less. If it’s one team, it very likely could be SMU and not SDSU, because the belief is it’s easier for SMU to get out of their current deal.

Additionally, something that’s been talked about on the board by me or others close to it, is that I’ve been told in the last year that Utah has had B1G discussions, where they’ve been given guidelines on what the B1G wants to see for their next round of expansion. 1) Increase the research funding by a few million per year (doable). 2) Maintain their football competitiveness, being in the top 12-16 or better of the CFP conversation and in the thick of it for the Pac-12 title. They’re not looking for them to win the Pac every year. It’s really reasonable expectations. Also, USC, Michigan, and Ohio State are among the B1G schools that are advocates for Utah.

Can all of this be flipped on its head in a week? Sure, but Utah and other top schools like Oregon, Washington, and Stanford, have eyes towards adding and not making rash decisions.

Breathe, don’t panic. No one at the U is really panicking, nor is there really any need to.

Tim Patrick - Just gutwrenching for Tim after the ACL tear! Hope he can heal up!

Zach Moss - Very unfortunate as a feature role was pending

It’s time everyone! I just got back from assistant coach interviews, so I’ll have some notes up shortly. Additionally, Whittingham will be available tonight after the first practice, but no players today.

No surprise at all
Login to view embedded media

Can the wide receiver group step up in 2023?

https://utah.rivals.com/news/utenation-fall-camp-preview-wide-receivers

Arguably the deepest position group on the team, let’s talk about the defensive ends:

https://utah.rivals.com/news/utenation-fall-camp-preview-defensive-ends

This thing seems to be all over the place recently. Cole and I had mentioned he was a heavy USC lean. Then their OL slots filled up. Stanford seemed to emerge and it’s a school he’s long had his eye on. I’m also told that Utah still believes they’re in it… A wild card to watch is that USC had a OL recruit decommit today. It’ll be interesting to see if that can throw a late surprise at everyone.

Today we’re talking about a guy still relatively new to football, but has loads of potential, Jocelyn Malaska:

https://utah.rivals.com/news/utenation-countdown-to-kickoff-no-33-jocelyn-malaska

Here’s what it means:

https://utah.rivals.com/news/what-it-means-utah-lands-local-standout-garcia

What if the folks getting played is Colorado? The only angst over the Buffs leaving is egg on the face of the conference getting jilted by a dog program that could never compete.

What if:

1. There is a deal in hand but it has been kept tight to force Colorado's hand? A hand they know will lead to their withdrawl without being "kicked out."
2. What if the conference really wants to secure SoCal and add SDSU and that there is NO viable partner with them?
3. What if the SDSU invite is predicated on Colorado leaving then?
4. What if the TV deal only wants to pay for 10 west coast schools and save the $30M it would have to pay to a school like SMU that adds little to nothing? The TV angle gets exactly where it is today without adding a plus 1 dog and they save $30M as a result - not small change.

A go forward conference with NO Colorado and PLUS San Diego State is a better conference than it was yesterday.

It is entirely possible this was a set up. The REAL ISSUE will be if the second school coming with Colorado is SDSU. If it isn't then I am actually QUITE alright with what is happening. If SDSU goes to the B12 then the P12 demise is imminent.

Remember.... P12 disolving is still at hand. Same with the ACC. Same with the B12. It's time to be steady and smart and position yourself for the next 5+ years.