Utes Spring Ball Recap: Utah’s Defense is Still Loaded

It’s only the third day of Spring football practices for the Utes, but with most of the defensive starters from last season back on the field, the team is already looking ready for the new season. This is especially the case with the starting trio of linebackers, Karene Reid, Lander Barton, and Levani Damuni. Although, Barton will be limited this spring as he recovers from his season-ending foot injury.

“It’s really impactful (to have everyone back),” Reid said. “It’s really helped our leadership. We’ve been able to spread out and develop the group faster as a whole. Just leadership and maturity has been huge so far.”

The defensive line returns all four starters as well, including defensive ends Connor O’Toole and Van Fillinger, along with defensive tackles Junior Tafuna and Keanu Tanuvasa. Several other rotation guys, like Simote Pepa, Aliki Vimahi, Logan Fano, and Tevita Fotu are also back this season. Due to so many returners, the veterans are treating this camp with plenty of motivation.

“Everyday they’re battling to start,” defensive line coach Luther Elliss said. “That in itself is a huge motivating factor. They want to be great, they want to play at the next level. So, there’s a lot of factors to help them stay focused and to stay motivated.”

Elliss is making sure that even though he has plenty of veterans on the defensive front, they don’t lose focus on how important the basics of the game still are.

“It all starts with fundamentals,” Elliss said. “You’ve got to be great at fundamentals. It doesn’t matter how talented you are, if you don’t have the fundamentals and the technique we need you to play with, you won’t be great, you’ll be average.”

Unlike the linebackers and defensive line, the secondary has had to shift some guys around to fill the voids left behind by the departures of starting safeties Cole Bishop and Sione Vaki, as well as cornerbacks Miles Battle and JaTravis Broughton, but it seems like things are starting to click already.

“It’s good to have football back, we’re having fun,” Utah senior cornerback Zemaiah Vaughn said. “The new guys are getting to know the coaches, and the young guys are coming along well.”

Vaughn, the lone returning consistent starter from last year’s secondary, will remain at cornerback, but Tao Johnson has now moved to free safety, and Nate Ritchie is returning to strong safety, where he was the starter in 2020 prior to serving his mission. Smith Snowden, who played in 11 games as a true freshman last season, is looking like the current starter at nickelback, and Kenan Johnson, who started eight games last year for Georgia Tech, is the front-runner to start at the other corner opposite Vaughn.

In his interview on Tuesday, Kyle Whittingham already pointed out Tao Johnson and Kenan Johnson as guys in the secondary that were already making positive impressions.

“Tao Johnson, we moved him to safety, he looked really natural there today,” Whittingham said. “Kenan Johnson, the corner, looked good.”