Utah’s offense has rarely been known as one to emphasize a high-flying passing attack. Every once in a while, the Utes will have a receiver with around 1,000 yards, such as Darren Carrington, Dres Anderson, or David Reed. However, due to a few different factors, the Utes generally don’t see any one dominant receiver emerge and become the go-to target that will go off for 60+ catches and 1,000 yards in a season.

While having a bunch of reliable receivers to spread the ball around to is an approach that has its virtues, there’s also something to be said for having a true number one option on the outside that defenses always have to account for. It’s not hard to think of examples of this kind of player in recent years in the Pac-12: A few names that come to mind are N’Keal Harry, Juju Smith-Schuster, Marqise Lee, and JJ Arcega-Whiteside. While Utah doesn’t necessarily need a receiver of that caliber to have a successful, explosive offense, it’s a luxury that no coach in their right mind would pass up.

Fortunately for the Utes, there are a couple of guys on the roster that have all the traits that you want in a number one receiver. One, Bryan Thompson, is already somewhat of a proven commodity that will make his case for WR1 this year. However, there are a few other up-and-comers that Ute fans are familiar with, who have had buzz around them since last season—one being Solomon Enis.

Solomon Enis | 6-foot-3, 205 pounds | 2019 stats: 14 catches, 158 yards

Getting Enis was a big deal for the Utes for the class of 2018. He was the type of receiver that Utah historically has not landed. Aside from that, he chose the Utes over Penn State, his father’s alma mater. Enis held offers from 18 schools, all of them P5, and unsurprisingly competed for playing time right away upon joining the team. Since then, Enis has played in all 28 games, starting four of them. His career stats are modest—27 catches for 337 yards and one touchdown—but he has a great opportunity to improve on those numbers this year. Given the rebuild going on with the defense, Utah’s offense may have to carry their counterparts, particularly early in the year, and that should open the door for Utah’s receivers to put up some good numbers.

While Enis may not match someone like Thompson or Jaylen Dixon in flat-out speed, his size, strength, and strong hands allow him to be a threat downfield nonetheless. He’s the type of receiver that can fight off defenders downfield for 50/50 balls, or can make a tough catch away from his body in a critical situation. Enis is also an excellent blocker from the receiver position. While he may not have had the spotlight on him as often as he would have liked, there were plenty of times throughout the 2019 campaign that Enis’s blocking sprung a big play or prevented something from getting blown up in the backfield.

If Enis can perform consistently in practice like he plays in the games, his reps will increase and his production should skyrocket. The prize if he does that? Utah is likely to rely heavily on their passing game in 2020.

Part of Utah’s struggles recruiting big-time receivers is how the offense has generally been executed under Whittingham, with an emphasis on the run game and ball safety. If Utah wants that to change, they’re going to have to prove that they’re willing to give their receivers plenty of chances to be stars and make plays. With an experienced and talented receiver group on the roster this year, the Utes have an opportunity to show that last year wasn’t just an outlier when it comes to passing game production. As for Enis, now is his chance to step into the limelight and prove that he can be the type of threat on the outside that the Utes have lacked in recent years.