-This year’s team has already spent a lot of time together which was intentional with 8 new guys.

-There’s a lot more physicality to this group and a lot quicker to the ball. He expects them to be a lot better rebounding team.

-This year’s team has more room to make mistakes and recover from them.

-Leaders have been: Anthony, Carlson, and Brenchlet. Gavin Baxter has been great even though he can’t play yet. Of the young guys, Lazar is really trying to be vocal as a leader.

-He talked about just focusing on being 1% better each day. He said he took a long trip recently that allowed him to watch all of their practices and the incremental improvement in each practice was really evident.

-They’re really excited to have Chris Burgess on the staff. He feels like that hire is already paying off.

-He has a really tight staff with camaraderie and chemistry. It’s okay to disagree and be respectful about it. He also talked about, as a staff, what it’s like to learn the league.

-They should have the versatility to play a lot of different ways.

-They’re always going to have their core, culture, and what they believe in. But, then you need to adjust to your personnel.

-He echoed what Carlson and Anthony said without being told what they said about the new guys. He said they’re all doing great things—and different new guys step up each day.

-They’re coming into the season with one open schedule. It’s not a philosophical thing.

-Boston Holt recently got cleared to play. Baxter is close to being cleared in about 3-4 weeks.

-Smith won’t say any one specific guy who did better improvement wise than any others. He did say the freshmen don’t look like freshmen. He won’t say it’s all roses though, either.

-Because of the transfer portal, it’s tough to really know which opponents are going to be good.

-Unlike Larry K, Smith is insistent on playin BYU every year.

-He thinks the fans will like the product. Smith likes it, says he doesn’t completely love it, but it’s great for where they’re currently at.

This was the pickup we were discussing last week. I really like Jonah’s film and with Utah’s development on the defensive line, he could grow into a force…

https://utah.rivals.com/news/what-it-means-utes-land-bishop-gorman-hs-de-lea-ea

-Both say there’s a lot of good things happening and that the team put in a lot of good work over the summer.

-Neither would pick a newcomer to watch out for. They both acknowledged that all of the guys do different things great in unique ways.

-Year two is great because they all know the culture now. (Anthony)

-Carlson and Chris Burgess go way back and it’s been great having him here and learning from him.

-The entire team just loves playing basketball and they’ve already done a lot of pickup games. (Anthony)

-According to Anthony, the physicality is what will set this team apart. He also said he’s been on an NCAA Tournament team every year but last year, and he said this team feels like it can reach that point. They’re a lot bigger, stronger and faster. He doesn’t believe they’ll get bullied more.

-Carlson was down to 205 at the end of last year because of his appendicitis attack. He’s put to 220 now.

-Anthony says he wants to get to the free throw line a lot more. In the offseason, he stayed in Utah and got a lot more shots up.

-Last year’s team seemed to focus on the future, while this year they focus on the day that they’re in.

Bishop Gorman DE

This sucks.

This sucks for Brant, this suck for the offense. This sucks for the fans.

Whittingham did say Kuithe can come back next season, but he’s already flirted with the NFL twice… Let’s dedicate an appreciation thread to one of Utah’s all-time great playmakers.

Here are the takeaways from Utah’s Pac-12 opener. Let’s hear everyone else’s takeaways, as well:

https://utah.rivals.com/news/takeaways-utah-at-arizona-state-1

Any of you insiders hear anything yet?

That was a thumping, and that defensive effort was unreal. Cole Bishop might just be the Utes’ second-coming of Eric Weddle. The reversal on the targeting was the correct call. Utah is extremely fortunate for that. And that goal line interception was one of the more impressive ones we’ll see. Oh and let’s not forget the sideline hit. He had one helluva game.

Rising adjusted well when they lost Kuithe. Everyone needs to await for official word, but it doesn’t seem like it’s good. Yassmin gave everyone a glimpse of his ridiculous talent, but Kuithe would be a giant loss. Also, his INT he threw was because of Solo.

10 receptions from the receivers tonight was necessary, but it was a nice improvement to see. They still dropped

Gabe Reid is exceeding expectations. He had another great game.

Everyone on the defense was just so locked in.

I wasn’t a fan of Tavion’s body language in the first half. If he can take the punishment and use it as motivation, Utah will benefit from it, but that could be asking a lot, to be honest.

Micah looks like he’s on a bit of a pitch count because of the cramps that he had dealt with through fall camp and the first couple games.

Glover showed glimpses, but needs time. Ja’Quinden showed more than his 3.5 yards per carry indicate. It wouldn’t be surprise to see him assume a Kuithe type role.

Let’s hear everyone else’s initial reactions…

Let’s get this thing rollin’!!!

Tavion had yet to be on the field. Ja’Quinden has been running with Glover and Bernard just got out there, too.

It is obvious you’re vaguely alluding to something specific here, so who and what exactly are you referring to, Alex?


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Here are the position battles for the AaSU game. Let us know where you agree or disagree…

https://utah.rivals.com/news/position-battles-utah-at-arizona-state-1

Here’s Dustin’s deep dive into ASU…

https://utah.rivals.com/news/inside-the-numbers-arizona-state-2

I caught up with my buddy and ASU publisher Hod Rabino, to talk about the Sun Devils. Give it a read…

https://utah.rivals.com/news/opponent-q-a-arizona-state-6

Does Joseph predict a closer game or a blowout against ASU?…

https://utah.rivals.com/news/statistically-speaking-utah-at-asu-1

Not good - that program is a disaster.

A look here:

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Hey folks! Here's an early look at this week's win probabilities. Little change for most teams as they mostly did what was expected in terms of outright results. Arizona State is cratering from a promising preseason projection, but the rest of the top of the PAC looks exceptional this year. USC's odds of an undefeated season actually went down (a tiny bit), despite an impressive performance. That's the result of a deep and competitive conference with few gimmes on any conference schedule.

Here’s a career to play attention to. The man is a basketball savant, he could be on the fast track…

https://www.denverpost.com/2022/09/22/andre-miller-named-grand-rapids-head-coach-nuggets/amp/

Here’s Sean’s Arizona State preview…

https://utah.rivals.com/news/opponent-preview-arizona-state-6

NM

The word on CougarBoard is that their star tight end is entering the transfer portal and wants to come to the U. Apparently he is doing it now to save his redshirt year so he will still have two years of eligibility starting next season. ARod has called Holker the team’s second most explosive playmaker behind only Puca Nacua.

What, if anything, do we know about this.

Dustin breaks down the PFF grades for Utah against SDSU:

https://utah.rivals.com/news/inside-the-numbers-utah-pff-grades-vs-sdsu

Eagles rookie says parking security barred him from game-day players lot: 'I've gotta prove myself in Philly'​

Jason Owens
Wed, September 21, 2022 at 7:49 PM


Britain Covey's not exactly a household name — or face — in Philadelphia.
But he is a member of the Philadelphia Eagles. Lacking proper credentials, that fact didn't help him with parking security prior to Monday's game against the Minnesota Vikings. The first-year Eagles punt returner says he showed up to park in the players lot at Lincoln Financial Field before the game. But security didn't recognize him, so he parked with the fans instead.

He explained the situation to Philadelphia sports journalist Howard Eskin on Wednesday. He wasn't upset about it.

"To no fault of theirs, I had the practice squad pass," Covey explained. "My teammates told me 'just tell them you were elevated to the active roster, and they'll let you in.' But I could tell they didn't quite recognize me when I told them I was elevated.

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"They said 'look, you don't have the pass for this.' I said 'I'm a player.' They said 'we're sorry man.' I totally get where they're coming from."

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The Eagles signed Covey this offseason as an undrafted rookie out of Utah, where he was an All-Pac-12 punt returner. He started the season on the practice squad, but was elevated to the game-day roster prior to Philadelphia's Week 1 win over the Detroit Lions. He was elevated again for Monday's home opener against the Vikings. He understands why security might not recognize him.

"I've gotta prove myself in Philly before I deserve to be there," Covey added.

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Britain Covey's not exactly a household name in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Doug Murray)
So for his first NFL home game, he parked a half mile away and soaked in the tailgate scene on his way to work.

"I liked it," Covey continued. "I had to park with the grinders out about a half mile away with the tailgaters and walk through. I thought it was a blast, honestly. It's kind of like college."

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He said that some fans actually did recognize him and were able to point him in the right direction. Photographic evidence backs his story up.

Covey made it to work on time, and he returned three punts for 14 yards in Philadelphia's 24-7 win. He'd like to play better next time, acknowledging that he "didn't play my best on Monday."
But first on the agenda is getting parking access. Here's guessing he'll find an easier time when the Eagles next play at home against the Jaguars on Oct. 2.