If there’s two things that Kyle Whittingham is known for as a football coach, it’s physical play and having a knack for developing underrated prospects. Blake Kuithe, number 91 on this year’s team, fits that description to a tee.

When healthy, Kuithe has plenty of ability and loves to push the guy across from him around. As a true freshman, Kuithe made quite an impression in his first fall camp, and was making a strong argument for early playing time. However, he suffered a knee injury late in camp, which led to him redshirting and also caused him to miss spring camp this year. Kuithe has continued to work on his rehabilitation and should be healthy in time for fall camp, assuming he doesn’t have any setbacks. If that’s the case, and if he can stay healthy, it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see him work his way into the two-deep at defensive end.

A healthy Kuithe would bolster an already impressive defensive end group, giving the Utes the ability to rotate similar to how they can with the defensive tackles, without much drop-off.

Andrew Fronce's Take

There’s a lot to like about Kuithe’s game. Though film from his senior year was limited due to injury troubles, Kuithe showed that he was strong as an ox on the edge and that his motor was constantly running. He may not be quite as twitchy as some of the other defensive ends on the team, but he makes up for it with strength, sound technique, and sheer will. That he was able to earn so much praise from the coaches as a true freshman, especially considering that he wasn’t able to graduate early and participate in spring camp in 2018, should be a testament to Kuithe's potential. In many ways, his game is similar to Hunter Dimick’s, though Kuithe is longer than Dimick was.

Alex Remembers Kuithe's Recruitment

A one-time commit to Rice University, Kuithe signed with Utah in 2018 after he and his brother Brant committed just a few weeks before signing day. Although he wasn’t heavily recruited, Kuithe did have some quality offers from such teams as Boise State, Colorado, and Iowa State. Had he not got injured in fall camp, Kuithe was well on his way to being another in a long line of under-the-radar true freshmen defensive contributors.