It’s here—the season that everyone has been waiting. Throw all of the preseason accolades out the window, it’s time for the University of Utah to prove everything on the field. The school with the most preseason All-Pac-12 honorees. That’s Utah. The school that’s projected to win the Pac-12 South. That’s Utah. The school that’s expected to win Pac-12 title. Yes you guessed it, that’s Utah.
As the Utes embark on their first day of fall camp, none of that preseason recognition matters. Instead, it’s time to show all of college football that the Utes have arrived and are no longer experiencing growing pains for jumping to a P5 conference. With that in mind, here are some storylines to follow for week one of camp:
Manny Bowen is a huge add... Wait. What?
Well that was a big early blow. As the team reported to camp on Tuesday, there was one glaring absence. Penn State transfer, Manny Bowen, has decided to walk away from football. Now the Utes will dive into their linebacker depth, as Devin Lloyd looks to be the next man up. This also will provide earlier than expected opportunities for Sione Heimuli-Lund and Andrew Mata’afa. Trennan Carlson is another option, but an early impact from him is less likely due to the complexities of the position within the defense.
How about a return of Donavan Thompson who entered the transfer portal. Don’t count on that. I also, at this time, wouldn’t count on a Joe Williams like return, from Bowen. There’s no way to twist it, it’s a big early and unexpected blow.
Waiting on Bam, who else steps up on the offensive line?
Highly-touted JuCo offensive lineman, Bam Olaseni, is on track to join the team about a week into camp, putting him behind the other linemen. Nick Ford, Darrin Paulo, and Orlando Umana are all locks to start, but who else in the other two spots. If Kyle Lanterman or Paul Maile can prove capable at center, that is a best case scenario so the team can slide Umana over to guard. Washington State transfer Noah Osur-Myers also has experience at center. Other candidates to watch will be: Braeden Daniels, Simi Moala, and Alex Locklear.
How much more fluid will the offense look under Ludwig?
Well, unfortunately this is something that will be hard to gauge until the Utes line up for their first game against BYU, due to the practices being closed to media observation. There will be plenty of coach-speak and over-excitement from the players. So, what’s it going to be won’t be fully known. What we can say is that these players have already bought in more under Ludwig than they did Troy Taylor.
